That night saw a meeting between the Saints and the gods of our pantheon. More details to go over as pns altered, more potential problems to consider, but all with an air of optimism.

  The morning came and I found party waiting outside of the yurt, the entire Encve District was there to send us off with a smile. The celebration was brief, we had too much to do to linger, but the warmth I felt from my fellow followers of the Path was profound. Hugs and kisses and promises of returns were given by my tribe and many a tear was shed. Then they helped us pack up our things and move them into a wagon to take to the ship.

  Brigga went off on her own for a bit, we weren’t going to be able to bring the vardo with us and she wanted to give it a proper goodbye before she handed it off to one of the other Path encves for safe keeping. I had been looking forward to riding around in her again, I was going to miss her a lot. But I knew that the dwarf was saying farewell to a major part of her life for many years. That rolling home was her means of escape from her family, from the war, from the person her cn had wanted her to be. It was more than a pce to lie down, it was a part of her heart. I silently promised to see what I could do to make it up to her, or get the vardo back somehow? I didn’t know, but I knew I needed to figure it out.

  As we all boarded my ship, loading not only our own things but supplies for a trip, I noticed that several of the Path folk that had come to help us were also carrying personal effects with them as they boarded. I turned to Dekarru who smirked. “We still needed some more crew, I found some volunteers for some of the support jobs. Like chef’s assistants,” she said as she gestured towards Mahrk and Divh hauling a trunk onto the ship.

  “Is Weren the head chef then?” I asked with a smirk. “Because she’ll be happy to have those two on.”

  “Of course, you really think she’d let anyone else do the job?”

  More and more people boarded, mostly the vetted crew we’d interviewed yesterday. This trip to Father’s Fingers was going to work as a test run of sorts. The Uvtrayl crew was going to be more or less there to observe, advise, and jump in if shit hit the fan. But otherwise the crew we’d brought on was going to do the actual work as they were taught. Additionally thirty shaman with combat focused cssed and ten with support and healing abilities joined us. This meant that the ship was crowded. Not nearly as bad as if it had been a dedicated front-line warship though. The excessive room for VIP transport and comfort meant that there was room to move and breathe, but not a great deal.

  Viranatta came to bid us good luck, she would join the trip to Uvtrayl in several days but was not required for this mission. She was also busy being trained as a priestess, both by some of the priesthood of the Blue Father and Green Mother in the general kinds of duties and expectations of the job and by Vei’Ryn in her sleep at the specifics of the Dreamer’s church and teachings. I was also in those lessons, as while I knew the heart of our Goddess I needed to learn the ‘fine print’ as it were of the official religion I was to have a major hand in founding.

  Sellian and Olivia boarded, both with a small escort which I assumed to be the first of their guard. A fair guess considering that Hrefna and her gryphon were the first that I saw and there was a simple but very telling new addition to the rider’s armor. A patch over her heart with the symbol of an open book on it. Knowing Sellian and the Mentor, that would likely be the goddess’s holy icon. Knowledge open and avaible for all. Along with them was, of all people, Oscar. Also wearing the open book next to the red butterfly marking him a healer.

  “You bitch!” I barked at Sellian as the three of them boarded, a broad grin on my face. “I was gonna nab him!”

  Sellian ughed and gave me a rude gesture. “I offered him effectively the same work, along with a few extra benefits your gay ass isn’t willing to provide.” She winked at me and then gave the faun an overtly lustful gaze.

  Oscar coughed and averted his eyes, Hrefna did the same. I sighed. “Fair. It’s not like I don’t already have a healer with my group anyway. I’m just grumpy that you get to hang out with probably the most entertaining fellow in Willow Creek more than I do now.”

  The faun fluffed in pride and embarrassment before he gave me a hug. “Don’t be like that Esme, I’ll still come and give you grief about being a pale weirdo any time we’re in the same neighborhood.”

  As they moved past to find a comfortable spot for Hrefna’s mount, I smiled at the trio. The Mentor’s church was in good hands.

  Olivia had three with her. Qwil Ironeyes, a patch with a simple round shield and raised hand with an open palm in the center of it on her uniform now. There was someone with the red butterfly as well as the shield next to her, a human man with curly brown hair and a babyface. Trailing the group was a tall elf woman that was not fighting any allegations of being a generic fantasy NPC. Long flowing blonde hair, angur features, a slender build, all encased in leather armor that had decorative leaf ornamentation stitched into it. There was a quiver and bow on her back, a curved sword at her hip and she carried herself with a light grace as she boarded with the rest of them. The patch with the shield on her armor looked very out of pce with the decorative nature of the garment, but she didn’t seem to care.

  “Ironeyes, moving up in the world.” I said, shaking her hand.

  “More like being dragged up. Between you and Saint Shieldheart, I feel like my chances of a quiet life working on a peaceful training base are all but dead. Woe is me, my days of boredom are over.” She winked at me, smirking.

  Liv patted Qwil’s shoulder. “She’s a damned good NCO and I’m smart enough to know how valuable that makes her. My guard is not likely to be small and having someone like her as my second in command will make life a great deal easier for everyone involved.”

  “I liked working at the War District.” Qwil sighed dramatically with a smile she couldn’t quite hide.

  “Dreamsinger, these are the first few members of my guard. Ironeyes you know, the medic is Bob Silvers from the rescue unit and my scout is Lithendal Oakchilde.” I covered my face to hold in the completely inappropriate ughter that Dani’s memories was causing to bubble up within me. Olivia paused, then leaned in close and whispered. “Have I made some mistake?”

  I pressed my face against her shoulder and let out a small guffaw before regaining control and whispering back. “Other world dumb joke thing, you’re fine.” Which she simply accepted with a raised brow before moving on.

  The st of the folks to board where my inscribers. Apparently they were up te preparing and forgot to set any kind of arm. Thankfully Tulip gave them coffee and breakfast and a kick in the ass when they didn’t meet her as they’d pnned. The faun researcher was giving copies of her own work to Liru, the two were going to explore two reted but different paths of research and compare notes whenever they could.

  But it was Ollie that got the emotional farewell when Tulip said goodbye. The young half-faun researcher and her were growing close. Close enough that as they were parting and Tulip made the young woman promise to visit, Ollie responded, “well yeah. Starting to learn what it feels like to have a big sister, I promise to come back for more of that.”

  Tulip froze, then slowly stepped forward with tears running down her cheeks as she hugged the inscriber tight. “You’re right. You come back little sister.” Then she turned to look at me, her gaze deadly serious. “You keep her safe. I won’t forgive you if you don’t.”

  I nodded to her. “I swear it upon my Goddess’s name.”

  Tulip let Ollie go and then kissed my cheek before quickly retreating. I think she needed to process her feelings alone for a while. Oleander looked at me, her ears drooping. “Did I do something bad?”

  I shook my head and patted hers. “No. But I think you’re going to want to have a talk with Oscar, he’s with Sellian’s group so once you get settled in maybe go find him.”

  As she and Liru left, Tendri rested her head on my shoulder and squeezed me. “Henna stopped to say hello two nights ago. All night. What kind of crazy life have you dragged me into?”

  I chuckled. “The kind where you’re not really compining and having fantastic sex with a gorgeous woman.”

  She kicked my leg softly. “So what are the sleeping arrangements? Do they have one giant room with a bed covering most of the floor or are you all going to have get used to sleeping in smaller groups?”

  “Hmmm, maybe I can request that when they do the refit?” I teased her as I walked into the ship with her on my arm.

  “You get to make requests?”

  “I certainly hope I do. They may be unhappy about losing a ship, but in exchange for it they’re getting peace with Pitrak, an alliance with them AND Willow Creek, divine protection from the Thundering, being on the good side of at least one Fae-Lord, and the gift of my very presence.”

  She chuckled. “I see humility isn’t a tenant of your goddess.”

  The ship was filled with activity, alive in a way I had not seen in this world before. It reminded me of Times Square, but more focused and with people being more actively cooperative with everyone they passed. Once I had my things packed in my quarters (alongside Tendri’s, Luvetra’s, and Carmil’s who would all be sharing a room with me), I made my way to the bridge to greet the captain and ask about our departure time.

  We were slightly behind our official schedule, but Captain Yntradam assured me that any captain worth a damn accounts for such things when dealing with civilians. So we weren’t really running te.

  “Captain, I do want to apologize-”

  “Don’t ya dare.” He interrupted me, grinning at me like a madman. “See, I hate this assignment. Not you I mean, this VIP escort nonsense. I signed up to go TO a fight, not run from it. You getting this admittedly lovely girl let me raise a stink and make them promise me one of the new Battleships they’ll have out in a couple of months.” He ughed and patted my shoulder with nearly enough force to knock me over.

  “Well its good to know that you’ll be getting something out of this at least.”

  He nodded with that infectious grin still on his face. “Oooh and I hear war with the Hegemony is inevitable now. Can’t wait to bloody those bastards’ noses good!” He cackled.

  “You know, I think you might like one of my gods,” I said as I leaned against a wall and watched the bridge crew go through their ready checks before take off. “She’s already given the Hegemony’s gods a bit of a thrashing and is eager to do so again.”

  “Ooooh, you’ve got a goddess looking to crack the Thundering’s teeth do ya? Sounds like my kind of dy.”

  “Then I will be happy to tell you of my Goddess.” Olivia’s voice spoke as she walked over to us. “Captain Yntradam, a pleasure as always. They promised you one of the new Boar-Tusk csses, right?”

  He grinned and gave a crisp salute to the Saint. “That they did ma’am. They told me you looked different but this look is a bit more than I expected. The hair hard to deal with?”

  She ughed. “No, thank the gods. I’d go mad having to learn a whole new routine just to wash my hair. Are we on time, Captain?”

  He nodded. “By civvie reckoning, aye. By the time they’re all confirmed strapped in or otherwise braced, we’ll be ready to soar.”

  The two then gnced at me and I could see the embarrassment in their faces. “No no,” I cut off any words from them. “Proceed as you are, this may be my ship now but I have no idea how to do any of the… running it stuff. So continue with what you were doing so I can learn, please.”

  They nodded and then proceeded to effectively ignore me as checks were made and orders given. I absorbed every word as best I could but I knew this was a task a bit outside of my wheelhouse. I was going to need a dedicated captain for this ship. After about ten minutes, Yntradam grabbed something I took a moment to realize was a microphone and spoke into it, his voice coming from the speakers within and without the ship to brace for ascent. He looked down at the watch on his wrist and waited one minute exactly before he gave the order and we rose from the water with a light tremble.

  A few minutes ter we were at cruising altitude and turning south-east towards Father’s Fingers, a nd primarily made of marshes, swamps, and the long and life filled delta that gave the region its name. The rivers cutting through wetnd like long blue fingers making the pce one of the preferred homes of the Blue Father’s priesthood, his sacred order of undead hunters included it seemed.

  Once we were off and moving to our destination, I saw something interesting that made me smile. Stepping out onto the deck, I watched as Hrefna and Azuriel flew alongside the ship, the wings of nephilim and gryphon beating hard as they moved in a variety of formations and maneuvers. The way my obsidian lover followed Sellian’s guard through some of the acts told me that Hrefna was helping her practice some more advanced flying. I leaned against the railing as I watched them, time becoming more of a background concept as they swooped and swerved a dove and banked. The aerial ballet drawing my focus in much like [Heavy Heart Piercer] did.

  So I nearly jumped out of my skin when a pair of long arms wrapped around me from behind. I calmed at the familiar warmth and the voice behind the chuckle at my reaction. I id my head back on Luvetra’s chest and sighed. “Sorry about that Luv, caught up in watching them and the world just faded away.”

  She kissed my cheek and squeezed my close. “It is l-lovely, almost hypn-notic.”

  Her voice sounded off, or at least to me it did. “Is everything alright?” I turned in her arms to look up into her eyes.

  “B-been a l-long time since I was back in the F-Fingers.” Her voice was distant, scared. Her original homend, where she had nearly fallen into feral rage from her abuse. Nearly became the monster that so many saw her as in their ignorance.

  I wrapped my arms around her. “You are not who you were then. You have a Mended Heart now, don’t you?” I spoke, reminding her of the change to her css recently.

  She nodded and took a slow breath. “Still feels…” her words trailed off.

  “Memories are going to dig themselves free from the depths of your mind and your feelings over those memories are going to likely be difficult, painful, shameful. But you have a tribe, you have years of growing and becoming a better person, you have the deep and powerful love of a Saint who will fight the whole world to see you smile. My lovely, incredible, sexy, giant protector.” I grinned up at her before pulling her into a deep kiss, my body trembling against her own. The kiss sted much longer than I’d originally intended, but I could not get enough of my stealthy guardian. When we parted, I shivered. “Gods, I’ve been too busy. Tonight you and I are going to test the structural integrity of that bed.”

  She flushed that lovely light shade of violet that I had missed tely and nodded. Then, a pause. Chewing on her lip as she pondered something. After a few long moments, her eyes found mine and she spoke. “Sh-should I stop taking the root?”

  My heart nearly jumped out of my rib-cage, when that failed it tried crawling up my throat, when both proved ineffective it simply started madly hammering in my chest. I took a moment to breathe and calm myself. “Do you want to?” When her response was a mumbling mess of avoiding the question as she looked away, I took her chin in my hand and made her look at me again. “Do. You. Want. To bear my children?”

  She slowly nodded. “But I’m s-scared that they m-may be like I w-was.”

  I kissed her softly. “You did not have a home filled with love. Any child we have will. Any child you and I have will be a blessing to us and the world. I promise you this.”

  Tears fell down her face as she nodded. “Then I w-want it. I want it so much.”

  I held her close and whispered into her ear. “Then so do I.”

  It took so much control not to drag her away at that moment. So much to not lock ourselves in the bedroom and not come out until I was certain she was pregnant. It was honestly a shocking feeling. I hadn’t felt this strongly with Jaina or with any other partner I might potentially have a child with. But I also knew that Luvetra had a powerful pce in my heart. A pce right next to Carmil, who’d been literally altered by a goddess to be a nearly perfect partner for me. A pce I wondered if Azuriel was starting to reside in. I loved her, so deeply and profoundly that it was almost frightening.

  I felt a small spike of guilt over how I didn’t feel that way about my other lovers. But I supposed that Redagga and Briggavel were the same way. I bet if Red knocks someone else up, she won’t be nearly as happy about it as with her dwarven wife.

  All I knew in that moment was that I wanted to make something with Luvetra, something made from love. Something that would go on to carry the love we had into the rest of the world, something incredible. Fuck I loved her so much.

  We held one another as we turned to watch the flying dance, the warmth of our bodies and beating of our hearts a beautiful reminder of the incredible phenomenon that was ‘us’.