A Real Goddess Would Let Nobody Die

Once again, Suri was playing Her harp, while Zyriko listened from Her bed. This time, She was playing in an attempt to calm Her nerves, in advance of the upcoming meeting with the Goddesses. The other Goddesses.

Today's meeting had originally been planned, weeks ago, to show Her a set of items enchanted with the Violet Goddess' magic, but Suri knew that a very different topic would be discussed at the start, after the Red Goddess saw Her memories, and Zyriko's.

"She's here," he warned.

Annnnnnd all of Her progress in achieving something resembling calm was rendered completely pointless. She was right back to vertigo.

"They're going to be thrilled," Zyriko tried to reassure Her.

If Suri didn't believe that, didn't know it in Her core, She would never have taken such an audacious step. Whether They would approve wasn't the problem.

She just felt so ridiculous, a candle about to meet with stars after declaring Herself to be fundamentally the same. But, She had made Her choice. That declaration and commitment had been anything but frivolous.

The Blue Goddess teetered over to Her bed, laid next to Zyriko, emptied Her pool as much as She could without disrupting the tunic, and for the second time in Her life, went limp as She was flooded with the Essence of Love. As nervous as She was about the meeting, She had been waiting nearly two months to experience this all-consuming sense of being cuddled again.

<Mmmm?> The Red Goddess' voice hummed. <Oh! What's this?! Aha! Prosperity and War!?> She giggled. <Well done, Zyriko! I like it!>

<I do my best.>

Suri's pulse was racing.

The majestic Temple of the Stars appeared once again, viewed through the Red Goddess' eyes.

"Welcome, Sister."

Suri had known this was coming, had prepared Herself for it, had even predicted the exact teasing tone, but even so...no non-mage could fully understand the nature of the deity Who had just called Her 'Sister.' It felt simultaneously utterly preposterous and infinitely flattering. Suri had accepted that She was comparable to the Violet Goddess, objectively, but being once again completely at the mercy of the immeasurable Red Goddess, falling toward the irresistible star, only reinforced how very, very far She had to go.

"And You will get there, because You have time, time that You have given Yourself with Your Own abilities," the star reassured the candle. "If You and I were to swap places, I would be lucky to make it to My 8800th birthday. You are what I was, eight millennia ago. None of Us became Who We are without any help."

Suri nodded to Herself, mentally.

"I am glad that You have recognized how important it is to be proud of what You are, not ashamed of what You aren't. Thank You for taking My question seriously. And Zyriko, I haven't missed or forgotten your importance, and you shouldn't either. It is not yet time for you to make this choice, but regardless of what you ultimately decide, don't fall into the trap, now or over the next few years, of thinking you are beneath Suri. She's just a little older--that's all it is."

<I will try, but I've been thinking: I'm married to the Sky Goddess, and while at first that makes it seem like I must be pretty special, it did take me twelve minutes to convince Her to marry me. Don't You think a real God could have done it in eleven?> Zyriko joked.

The Black Goddess snorted, then applauded dramatically. "I am surprised She held out so long. The man has such refined tastes."

Zyriko had clearly decided that, one, he wanted to be cool, two, the Black Goddess was cool, and three...Well, there were worse role models.

The Red Goddess turned Her attention to Her Violet Sister, Who was in the process of bubbling over.

Many of the Violet Goddess' mannerisms were shared with the White Goddess, but not bouncing on Her toes with fists clenched near Her shoulders. This tic was Hers alone. Being so excited seemed like it must be painful.

"Suri claimed something?!" She was breathless.

"She did," the Red Goddess confirmed, nodding. "Suri is the Goddess of Prosperity when She can be, and War when She must be."

The Violet Goddess repeated the same jumping spin of volcanic joy as when Suri had told Her that She played the harp. This time, when She landed, She sang, "Lit-tle Sis-ter!"

All of this embarrassing use of 'Sister' notwithstanding, Suri had to take care of Her highest priority for this meeting as soon as possible, before getting sidetracked.

<Before We move on, I owe the White Goddess an apology,> She announced. <I did not fully appreciate what it would be like to have terminology like 'Sky Goddess' and 'Empyreal Armory,'> Her parents now refused to call Her armory anything else, after hearing Zyriko use the phrase once, <actually applied to Me, not hypothetically and not as a joke, and I am truly sorry for using those kinds of names for things like Your tunic. It won't happen again.>

The White Goddess sighed.

"As much as I appreciate what You're trying to do, You shouldn't..." She sighed again, resigned. "Just get it over with, Izena."

The Black Goddess didn't waste a second, clearing Their throat theatrically. Suri braced Herself.

"O gorgeous Sky Goddess, Divine Avatar of Abundance, Blue of Noon incarnate!" Suri had to admit that She deserved this. She really did. "We come bearing offerings, sacred items whose coming was foretold by Your Sister the Star Oracle, She of Twinkling Twilight," the Violet Goddess appeared next to Her Sister, in a suitably twinkly pose, "and humbly present them unto You. We offer these gifts that they may gleam, everlasting and unclouded, in Your Empyreal Armory."

The most omnipotent Being in the entire Universe bowed, with an elaborate flourish, while Her eyes rolled.

Well, regardless of the consequences, the apology had needed to happen.

"Only now are You truly One of Us," the Red Goddess sympathized, under Her breath, then switched to private telepathy. <Menelyn not-so-secretly likes being teased, so Izena teases people Who remind Her of Menelyn. It's how She shows Her love.>

...Did She mean that Suri reminded the Black Goddess of, of--

<How could You not? You have basically the same attitude, toward Your roles, toward accepting Who You are.> The Red Goddess' amusement was thick. <It really is fascinating how You and Menelyn both show only calm composure to most people, but are so very...vulnerable to the people You trust and respect.> She giggled, of course. <The Goddess of the daytime Sky would be similar to the Sun Goddess, wouldn't She?>

Suri belatedly realized that the Red Goddess knew exactly what She was doing with these repeated comparisons to the White Goddess. This was Goddess hazing, wasn't it?

"Yes. We'll get that feeling of being a ridiculous imposter beaten out of You soon enough."

Great.

She could hear Zyriko snickering, next to Her on Her bed. Traitor.

"Welcome to the family, and everything that comes with it," the Red Goddess said. "Giggles, teasing, and benevolent interstellar omnipotence. Enjoy Your stay! It will last for the remainder of eternity."

Oof.

"Wait! I have an idea!" the Violet Goddess suddenly called, transitioning instantly from grouching on the ground about how She couldn't meet Suri in person yet, to standing with Her hand stretched above Her head. "Suri felt bad that She can't pay Us back, right?! So, I have a way to repay Me! Use My name! Or nickname! Or best of all, a new one! Just for You!"

Suri swallowed. Well, was She a peer of the Violet Goddess, or wasn't She?

<I can do that, Twilight,> She promised. <I don't want to force a new nickname, but if one starts to feel natural, I'll use it.>

"Deal!"

"Fabulous, Twilight!" praised the Red Goddess. "Thanks for reminding Me! I nearly forgot to tell Suri the rule."

"Meeemff," Suri squeaked when...Twilight suddenly appeared in front of the Red Goddess to receive head pats of praise. Those eyes! She was just impossible. Beauty incarnate.

Anyway, what rule?

"My younger Sisters call Me Keekee."

Ah. Um. That one would be harder.

"Twilight does it. Are You peers or not?"

This was, ostensibly, the Goddess of Mercy.

"So, Suri, I gather that You have fully committed, and embraced the role?" Suri was nearly certain that the White Goddess had spoken, right at the critical moment, with the express intent of saving Her. Truly, She was the Goddess of Goddesses, Compassion Herself. "You intend to serve permanently?"

<Yes,> Suri replied, firmly. <I could not find a meaningful difference between Myself and...Twilight, aside from how We viewed Ourselves. I decided to focus on Who I am, and to be proud of that, instead of focussing on Who I am not, and being ashamed of it.>

"I know the feeling," the White Goddess said...approvingly? That was approval, right?

Deep breaths. Calm. Keep the fangirling under control.

<I also accepted the practical reality.> Suri was proud of how well She had maintained Her composure. <People will sincerely believe that I am a Goddess--it has already happened--because of My appearance and what We are doing, in the future because of My immortality, and because many will want it to be true. Denying that belief will reduce the number of people We can help. Nothing can justify that. I can accept Your definition of 'Goddess,' and by that definition, I am the Blue Goddess. I want to be Her, and always have. If people feel the need to revere Me for what I am doing, so be it. If they don't, fine. I am Who I am.>

The White Goddess was silent for a moment, collecting Her thoughts. Her Sisters waited.

"It is strange," She said at last. "This feels so very different from Izenakee and Kennalaria. They had close personal relationships with Us, knew Us well, before choosing to follow Our path. They were already part of Our family, and chose to remain part of it, permanently. With You, and also Zyriko, I feel more like We've inspired a kind of third party to join Us. We've inspired many people to help before, but We've never helped someone to understand what it means to be a helper of the highest class, and to choose to accept that responsibility. It is...nice. I feel like We've fundamentally altered the pattern that seems to dominate the stars." She smiled at Her Daughter. "The sparkle of Our world is spreading, to another, for the first time. Thank You, for that."

Suri was moved, but the White Goddess wasn't done.

"Now, there's something You should know about Me, something not many people know."

She had Suri's undivided attention. The Sun Goddess was as radiant as ever, the Light of True Divinity outshining the Sun and stars behind Her, yet leaving Her perfectly visible. It was as if the glow was highlighting Her, circling Her, to make clear to all with the privilege of beholding its Source that to be a Goddess was to be This. She was the definition.

...Was She trying to suppress a grin?

"I can play offense," the Goddess of Goddesses bragged, and lost Her battle against Her grin. "My Sisters call Me Menelyn, but You know what I'd prefer?" She leaned in. "It's been a while since I had a baby Sister call Me 'Mennie.'"

...It seemed that the White Goddess was perfectly capable of replicating Her Daughter's trademark toe-bouncing, clenched-fist, beaming smile routine, after all.

"How'd I do, Izena?" She gushed. "That was perfect, right?! It was, right?! I built Her up, an-and made Her feel safe, like it was all over, like She could let Her guard down, and then, and then, wham!" She uppercut the air in front of Her. "She never saw it coming! I got Her, right? I bet She's blushing! Oh, I just know it!"

Her Sister didn't answer.

"See, it's normally so unfair, because You and Izenakee and Kennalaria are all, You know, You're all so unfair, b-but I can do it if the difficulty is normal! I can!"

The Black Goddess finally found some words.

"Well done, Mennie. I am proud of You. And thank You, Suri, for being so fair."

'No problem,' Suri thought, with a sigh of resignation.

"Alright, that's enough hazing for today," the Red Goddess declared. "Ready for the items, Twilight?"

Twilight was suddenly in front of the Red Goddess, with a small medallion in Her hand.

"Of course!" She chimed. "So, there are three items because not having access to My mapping ability is a serious limitation on jumping. It really is too bad that items can only cast a single kind of spell."

She shrugged in apology.

"This first item," She held out the medallion, "does simple jumping. To use it, a non-mage connects to the simulated pool like they would with any item, and wills the mana to flow through the enchantment, with their destination in mind. The difficulty is in the visualization of the destination."

She did a short jump, for demonstration purposes.

"Little jumps like that, where the jumper can see the target and has a good idea of the exact distance, are easy enough. The problem is long jumps, or jumps through walls."

She held up one hand, and cocked Her head that way.

"A jump is only as precise as the jumper's sense of the location of their target. Basically, it's kind of like a jump's accuracy is set by the jumper's ability to move to the target location with their eyes closed. So, it's pretty much impossible to go to the exact right spot over long distances. I make a call and pick spots on My mental map when I need to be precise, but only I can do this. Someone who only has the jumping ability either needs to have a precise feel for the exact distance to the target, or be okay with missing by a lot."

Then She held up the other hand and shifted Her head.

"Going through a wall, or any blind jump, is dangerous. At least, I expect it is. I'm not about to test what happens when I jump inside a table or something. Fabulously painful is not My kind of fabulous."

Said the Goddess Who tortured Herself for hours every day, for centuries, for people She had nothing to do with.

She put the medallion away, and circular platforms one pace in diameter appeared in Her hands.

"A non-mage trying to use a mapping item to jump would need to de-link from it, then link to a jumping item. This takes time, and the mental map provided by the mapping item disappears in the process, meaning it only helps with the distance visualization problem about as much as having a normal map would. So, I suggested these platforms as a workaround. Each acts as a fixed target for a jumper standing on the other. The jumper activates their platform in the usual way, and it will jump them to the location of the other platform, no visualization required. The platforms are inflexible in the sense that the user can only jump between two fixed locations, but more flexible in the sense that they can be used without knowing anything about the location of the other platform. I suggest engraving every pair with unique serial numbers or something, to avoid confusion, or worse, ouchies."

Now She was holding a small bracelet.

"And this thing does mapping. A mapper could check the far side of a wall for an ally using one of the medallions, to confirm that it's safe to jump. Or, maybe it will be useful sometimes for reconnaissance?"

Tunic-wearing Suri only needed those brief presentations to memorize everything about the items.

"So, what's the plan?" Twilight asked.

<Yonen provided some information about how things work in the Limbot domain,> Zyriko answered. <It's clear that we can't funnel weapons to them casually. Every non-mage's living space is subject to random inspections, there are regular roll calls, and the Limbots habitually 'question' random people, out of a mix of paranoia and a sadistic obsession with using their 'divine flames' on people.>

<They're at the top of the list for a reason,> Suri growled.

The Star Temple was filled with sounds of agreement.

<So, the question now is whether we should bother funneling weapons to the non-mages at all, or simply attack directly,> Zyriko said. <A complicating issue is that the Emmoyer blue lineage's territory lies between Keyic's and Limbot's. They are not so cruel as Limbot, but they are far from allies. In practice, if we attack the Limbots directly, it would likely mean conflict with the Emmoyers, too, since they would never allow a large army to cross their territory. Maybe the Violet Goddess' platforms could work around this, but even if they could, it would be nice if we could keep our access to jumping secret for as long as possible.>

The Goddesses considered the issue.

"It is strange to feel unfamiliar with an aspect of war," the Black Goddess finally said, after a period of silence. "Menelyn and I grew up in a world at war, but always on the defensive. We never had to consider these kinds of issues." She huffed in frustration. "How important is the political angle? If Keyic is seen as an open aggressor, is it very bad, compared to intervening in a revolt?"

<Certainly, if we are perceived to have marched in and slaughtered mages unprovoked, that would be bad,> Zyriko explained. <Not as bad as being seen as supporting You, but still something it's better to avoid. We would be treated warily in the future. It is inevitable that we will eventually be viewed as warmongering conquerors if all goes according to plan, but that doesn't need to happen so soon. So, it would be very useful to have a revolt to point to, for plausible deniability, especially as an explanation for how the mages themselves died. The difficulty is mostly how to supply the weapons required to make a revolt possible, and also, there is a major downside: Some of the people we are trying to help would die during the fighting.>

"Presumably, Keyic troops would suffer fewer losses, in exchange?"

<Presumably, yes.>

The Black Goddess thought for a while longer, and eventually reached the same conclusion as the Keyics.

"It seems like the best plan, overall, is a revolt that begins in Emmoyer territory and spreads to Limbot, which forces Keyic to intervene to suppress it."

<We agree. The only concern giving Us pause is the strain on Our resources,> Suri explained. <Two at once will put more pressure on Our ability to keep items charged, will mean there are more enemies to defeat, more territory requiring patrol in the aftermath, and most of all, more people who will need to be introduced to the Keyic system, discreetly, all at once.>

"And more people who will be liberated, all at once," the Red Goddess added.

<Yes,> Suri agreed. <We will manage. Thank You, for making it possible.>

"All We did was give You time," the Red Goddess repeated.

"Good Luck!" the Goddess of Luck chimed.

Suri smiled. She was feeling very Lucky, these last few months.