A Real Goddess Would Let Nobody Die

Nyrkatess stood beside Villacqui, both of them staring west, with their hands on the railing at the stern of the Keyic yacht. They were in the same outfits as they had worn for the duration of the investiture ceremony, except they had removed the flowers from their hair, since the stiff ocean winds would steal them.

The palace disappeared over the horizon at about the same time as the Sun. Over their shoulders, the top of the Pearl Moon edged above the ocean in the east, off the yacht's bow--they were headed straight toward it. Tonight, it would be completely full.

This was far from their first voyage--they had traveled to the Keyic domain by the same route one year ago!--but none had ever felt like this one.

Nyrkatess leaned forward, onto the railing, as she was struck by a wave of relief.

Everything was packed, safe and sound. Their flowers. Their wardrobe. Their shoes and jewelry. Their brushes, and Villacqui's favorite chair. Everything they wanted, plus everything they needed to make it all look convincing.

It no longer mattered if her father had second thoughts. Their course was set, and they were well out of reach.

Villacqui was safe. Forever. A lifelong goal, achieved.

She would be treated with the respect she deserved.

And Nyrkatess would be able to marry her.

This was good enough. Anything more would be a bonus.

Drunk on bliss, the world's newest Heiress turned and wrapped her fiancée in a hug. In public! There was no longer any need to hold back! Nyrkatess could even have kissed her, right there in full view of everyone on the deck of the yacht, and she absolutely would have, except she suspected that her Villacqui would be uncomfortable with it.

After a moment of surprise and hesitation--this was a giant leap from how they had always needed to act, publicly--Villacqui firmly returned the hug.

Feeling the medallion lodged between their chests, Nyrkatess was seized by an idea. Nothing could be more taboo.

"Hold still," she instructed, and leaned far enough back to replace Villacqui's diamond necklace with the golden medallion.

Gold went so well with black. What an inspired idea this was!

Villacqui stared down at the medallion, hanging just below her collarbone, then at the bustling deck, then at Nyrkatess admiring her. Determination and a will to celebrate written on her face, she closed the little gap between them, gave her fiancée a peck on the cheek, on the side facing the ocean, and buried her face in Nyrkatess' neck and shoulder.

Nyrkatess froze, awestruck, believing that she had just witnessed the quintessence of adorableness, and then felt the heat of Villacqui's blush on her skin.

Gahhhhhh!

"Do you think your father would die on the spot if he saw me wearing this?" Nyrkatess' fiancée gushed. After the life she had lived, the poor thing would be squirmy with the thrill of rebellion if she slouched in a chair.

"He would want to," Nyrkatess wheezed, squeezing a little tighter. "It's yours. Mine should be black."

Villacqui fell into a long silence, slowly breathing inside the hug. Nyrkatess began to suspect that they'd both had dreams exactly like this.

"I want to go to our quarters, watch the Pearl Moon together, and talk," Villacqui requested, quietly.

Like a sleeper agent given her code phrase, Nyrkatess quashed her euphoria, released the hug, took Villacqui's hand, and led her across the yacht, straight toward their guest suite. Once inside, they helped each other to remove their jewelry and undo their braids. It was more work, without attendants, but Nyrkatess was certain that both of them preferred it this way.

"Leave it?" Villacqui asked sheepishly, when Nyrkatess' hands moved to the medallion.

Hnnnn.

Once they had finished changing their clothes, Villacqui pulled her favorite chair toward the window with the best view of the rising moon, and sat to watch, with perfect posture. Her fingers traced the medallion and its chain.

Nyrkatess moved to stand behind her, and began running her own fingers through the roots of her fiancée's hair.

For a few minutes, there was only silence and moonrise. Nyrkatess kept her hands moving while she waited.

"Regardless of what happens in the future," Villacqui suddenly began, "I want you to know how profoundly grateful I am, for everything you've done for me, from the very first night. And, I want you to know that I have loved you, and trusted you, for a long time. I was so, so afraid to do or say anything that might ruin my miracle." She swallowed. "Ever since you told me that you'd rather have a wife than a husband...I'd never considered it, but once I did, I realized that I'm the same, because...I wanted...to kiss you...and stuff..."

Villacqui's face fell into her hands. Nyrkatess concentrated on her hair-stroking.

"Do you have any idea what it's like to be the lover of the most gorgeous mortal alive?" Villacqui groaned.

Nyrkatess' eyes inspected her moonlit lover, from shimmering head to glimmering toe.

"Some idea," she breathed. "...You know how I...influenced your appearance, somewhat?"

"Yes? You're so talented! I've always been eager for every session, from the beginning."

"I would have stopped, if I thought you didn't like it," Nyrkatess assured her, very glad that her read had been correct. "What I mean is...I guess I'm a little like an artist who fell for her own sculpture? Do you know what I mean?"

"You're trying to say that I look like your 'ideal of beauty,' because you sculpted me into her?" Villacqui teased.

"Well, it's not all because of what I did! There's limits, you know!" Nyrkatess babbled, now drumming her fingers on Villacqui's neck and shoulders.

"I know how it works!"

She did, of course, but the seal had already broken. A torrent of chatter that only Villacqui could follow burst forth.

"I couldn't make just anyone so stunning. It's like I started with, like you were the finest raw diamond, right? The finest. And I cut a perfect

gemstone! So you--I mean, I know I'm breathtaking, but you--I mean it, I mean what I say: You're stunning! Literally stunning. I see you, and my mind, my only thoughts are, 'Unbelievable! Look at her! Beautiful! So gorgeous!' I just, I want to pamper you, and hold you, and--"

Nyrkatess managed to get ahold of herself.

'Tonight, you will focus, and listen, and she will talk,' she scolded herself.

"I believe you," Villacqui quavered. "I truly believe you, but..." She shifted nervously in her chair, and fingered her medallion again. "All of it, it makes me wonder...I've never understood why you seem completely uninterested in...who I was?" What followed was nearly inaudible. "It bothers me that you never asked for my original name."

Trust took far longer to cultivate than any blossom, and was far more valuable than any luxury.

So beautiful. And so fragile.

Nyrkatess hugged her cherished Villacqui from behind, half to calm her own nerves, and spoke as clearly and evenly as she could.

"I worried that those secrets might be your most precious treasures, that you might want to keep them sacred, and that you might feel pressured if I ever pried. Every night since I learned why we were treated differently, I laid next to you hoping that it would be the night when you would trust me enough to share some of those precious secrets with me. If that night has come, please tell me: What was my Villacqui's name before it was Villacqui?"

"Min-ye," Nyrkatess' fiancée sobbed.

"Minye?" Nyrkatess checked, unsure if it was one word or two.

Villacqui shuddered, and nodded, wiping at her eyes. Nyrkatess cleaned the tears and snot away.

"Should I call you Minye, when it's safe?" Nyrkatess asked, still in the same even tone, still hugging from behind.

Villacqui shook her head.

"No," she croaked. "Even though, even though I, I don't think my parents could ever forgive me, the truth is, I prefer 'Villacqui.'" That confession came with a fountain of guilt. "I'm used to it. Also...I know it's stupid, but...'Villacqui' is...pretty? It feels...sophisticated? Obviously, I know why. It was chosen as...you know, for marketing, to get the best price, but...It's pretty! It just is! And you've called me 'Villacqui' so many times that, I don't know, it's like, like you 'cleaned' it? It feels like your name for me, like you chose it. I know it's stupid." She sighed in frustration, and shook her head again. "Honestly, 'Minye' only lingers because I feel guilty about wanting to be 'Villacqui.'"

Nyrkatess had spent most of her life refining her ability to hear what Villacqui didn't say, and that sense was blaring an urgent alarm. She murmured from her fiancée's shoulder.

"My cherished Minye." Minye shuddered inside Nyrkatess' hug. "You don't need a 'sophisticated' name to be worthy of my love. My wife's name can be 'Minye,' and if anyone has a problem with that, they'll go on my list with all the others."

Nyrkatess waited.

The Pearl Moon had long since climbed well above the horizon. It was fortunate that the sea had been so wonderfully calm, tonight.

"Maybe...maybe sometimes, when we're alone," Minye decided. "You're right, about it being precious. It's all I have left. But, I do like 'Villacqui' better as my normal name."

Nyrkatess kissed her cheek. "As you wish, Minye."

Shudders.

Nyrkatess returned to running her fingers through Villacqui's hair, until she made another request, a little while later.

"I want us to travel around the Keyic territories and talk to people, informally, just the two of us. People like my parents, I mean. I want us to listen to them, and hear what their lives are like, hear about their hopes and dreams, and about their families."

Nyrkatess frowned. If Villacqui wanted to try to connect with her roots, in some way, then Nyrkatess would happily join her, but...

"You understand that you're just as much of a goddess as I am, right?"

"Yes, by your definition of 'goddess' as a woman who is so supernaturally glamorous that she awes people," Villacqui affirmed, speaking with enough self-assurance that Nyrkatess was satisfied. "But forgive me, my opinion is that your definition is incomplete."

Hmm?

"Incomplete?" Nyrkatess prodded.

"Yes. You know how Suri has helped us, out of pure kindness? I believe that a real Goddess answers prayers, like that," Villacqui explained. "And I think you have it in you, to be a real Goddess, because you have always been so perfectly kind and generous to me. The only thing you're missing, is your generosity is entirely concentrated on only me. If you could spread it around, more broadly, you would be a more perfect goddess."

"You're who I'm marrying," Nyrkatess objected. "I'm never treating anyone the same way I treat you. You're special."

"I know, and I don't want that to change. But think about it. It's possible to help people without wanting to marry them. Suri's helping us, and she certainly has no intent to marry either of us! Do you remember how it made you feel, when she said she could help?"

"Yes." Nyrkatess was still feeling it. Strongly.

"I want us to go out and create that feeling in people, and the first step is to go talk to them," Villacqui pressed. "I think Suri does it all the time, like she is helping us, and I think that's part of what she means when she says she is 'a real Goddess.' And, why she's so glamorous despite being power-marked."

Villacqui's points were interesting, but Nyrkatess would never

refuse a request from her, anyway. And even if she would, which she would not, she had realized that this particular request was an inspired idea.

"We'll stroll around talking to people, you and me?" They could openly be a couple, in public, no bigots around! Everyone would see!

"Yes. Well, technically, we'll need a guide to take us from place to place, and introduce us. Suri can recommend someone suitable. But otherwise, yes. No big procession. Just you and me, talking to people like my parents, and helping whomever we can help."

"Alright!" This would be fun! "Let's talk to Suri about it, tomorrow morning!"

"Thank you!" Villacqui was excited, too. "So, um...Could we--"

There was a tentative knocking from the entrance to their suite.

"Nyrkatess? Villacqui?" Suri called, awkwardly. "I'm very, very sorry to interrupt, but--"

Villacqui leapt out of her chair and scurried to the door.

"Coming!" she yelped.

"Wait! Let me clean you up, first!" Nyrkatess reminded her. "And--"

Too late.

Hair more than a little tousled, and wearing only her slip and the medallion--at least the colors matched--Villacqui opened the door, to reveal the Sky Goddess in her full glory.

"...Sorry," Suri apologized again, but Nyrkatess barely heard her.

Suri had shown them sections of her tunic, before, but only now did they see what it looked like in its entirety, with all of her armor removed.

Villacqui froze in amazement, just inside the doorway.

"How?" she exhaled, embarrassment obliterated by awe.

Nyrkatess moved over to the entryway, trying and utterly failing to make sense of the flows of divine power. She had the utmost respect for Suri, but her tunic was not something that a mortal could have conceived.

It was that feeling, fully embodied in clothing.

"Hope for a miracle." Nyrkatess' voice was hushed with awe. "The last shield against despair."

An answered prayer.

"Salvation?" Suri offered.

"Yes!" Nyrkatess burst. "How?--Where did you?--"

Nyrkatess' question was so urgent that she couldn't ask it properly.

"I made copies." How very coy. "The Creator of the original is expecting Us, if you want to meet Her." Suri extended an arm toward her quarters, down the hallway. "Her time is valuable, so please forgive--"

Villacqui fainted into Nyrkatess' arms.

Normally, a sudden fainting spell would have Nyrkatess worrying, but the poor thing had been through some dreadful emotional strain.

"Will she be alright?" 

"I'll have her revived, soon," Nyrkatess promised. "Like nothing happened."

Indeed, it didn't take long.

"I-is she r-ready?" Villacqui stammered. "I don't w-want her to be d-damned."

...Damned?

"Is she evil?" Suri asked, soothingly.

"No! She--It's because she's only ever lived, i-in our cage. She doesn't know anything about, about money, or--There's no way for her to know! She is impossibly selfless, and kind, and generous, at her core, but I, I warped her. It all goes to me. It's my fault for, for being greedy. And a coward."

Suri smiled gently.

"Don't worry. She will Love you both."

"...If She doesn't, would She agree to damn us together?" 

"Neither of you will be damned."

Nyrkatess might not know a lot, but she wasn't an idiot.

"The Red Goddess is real? She showed you how to make your tunic?"

"Yes, the Red Goddess is real, but the White Goddess showed Me how to make My tunic. And, She's the One Who can teach you how to make Villacqui immortal, if you can convince Her that you are qualified."

Nyrkatess was seized by another idea. She had been mistaken, earlier, when she thought that giving her 'tainted' fiancée the Tvokess medallion was the best possible way to spit on her father's wishes. No. It was only second-best.

"How?"

Nothing about this grin was gentle. Nyrkatess was glad they were allies.

"She finds the bigots so very loathsome that She wants them hunted to extinction. She wants to transform Our world into one where you and Villacqui could marry, openly, and no one would see a single thing wrong with it, where Villacqui could take you home and introduce you to her parents. And She wants to teach the wilted remnants of last season's blooms that Villacqui is more divine than any of them. If this seems like a future that you would be willing to work to achieve, then..."

Suri extended an arm toward her quarters, again.

...As long as this White Goddess understood the value of a glamorous appearance, Nyrkatess was going to like her a lot. She was sure of it.

"Could she help me with my shields, too?" she asked.