A Real Goddess Would Let Nobody Die

"Suri and I have thought things over, after speaking with the Goddesses, and concluded that there is no point in hedging for failure," Zyriko told the assembled Keyic leadership.

"No half-measures," Suri summarized.

"Mmm," he agreed. "Our thinking is that if either revolt fails, Keyic involvement will be obvious no matter how we go about it, and no one will tolerate a lineage that arms and incites slave revolts. Suri's weapons unavoidably shine Her color, and will inevitably lead back to Her after careful analysis, if our enemies ever have the opportunity. It hardly needs to be said that any of the weapons that are already publicly known to be in Keyic possession, the originals, would also lead back to us."

There were murmurs and nods of agreement around the table. Zyriko was encouraged to see that everyone was all-in.

"This being reality, the only sensible way forward is to take whatever measures will improve our chances of success, without worrying about the consequences if the revolts fail," he argued. "For example, we could try to conceal our connection to the Goddesses from the people we arm, out of fear that it might leak in the future, but there's just no point. If anything about us arming rebels ever leaks, we're doomed regardless of the details. So, if it would be helpful to present everything as intervention by the True Goddesses, then we should do that, and we think it would be helpful. People will be more likely to join the fighting, believe it can succeed, and fight with high morale, with commitment, if they know that the aid is coming from the Goddesses."

Or rather, One Goddess in particular.

"It will be easier to organize them if I speak to them as the Messenger, and easier for Keyic security to assist rebels during the fighting if they are recognized as agents of the Sky Goddess, rather than as just another set of supervisors. And, crucially, Keyic will be able to assume authority in the aftermath more smoothly and peacefully, which aside from preventing needless tension and, possibly, tragic violence, could also be important for establishing control quickly enough to keep other lineages out of the territory."

He let the room digest the proposal for a while. The Keyics had operated in total secrecy for many generations. Asking them to shift their approach so radically was asking a lot.

"Any weapons we provide, regardless of how we provide them, will still lead back to us if the revolts fail," Vavilly said slowly. "If we try to conceal who we are, don't make our intentions clear, then we may be initially mistaken as enemies when we 'intervene'..." He nodded thoughtfully to himself. "Agreed, in principle, but we can't have people shouting 'for Keyic and the Sky Goddess' or some such line as a battle cry. Even if the revolt succeeds, it would be catastrophic if Emmoyer or Limbot reported something like that in calls for aid."

Before Zyriko could answer, Suri's father did.

"Zyriko can block communications during the fighting," he said. "There's no risk of any information leaking during the revolts. As long as we win and have full control of the narrative afterward, it won't be a problem."

It was nice, being Zyriko of Keyic. Suri's parents had more faith in his abilities than his own mother and father did. To this day, for all his parents loved to flatter themselves about how incomparably illustrious Zyzz was for having produced him, they did not fully understand what having such power meant, especially the strength of his passive empathy. That, they refused to understand. To be fair, Zyriko did little to keep them informed.

The truth was that the Red Goddess had exterminated an entire species of millennial red magic monsters when She had less power--a lot more skill, but less power--than Zyriko had been born with. He was very, very strong. And Suri was stronger!

Currently, Zyriko could feel the Keyics' faith in him pouring out of them--they had stopped using blockers after Suri's transformation.

Before getting married, Zyriko had heard that it was difficult for a man to earn the absolute approval and trust of his wife's parents, but it seemed that all that was required was to put their daughter in interstellar contact with omnipotent, literal Goddesses Who immediately elevated Her to join Their immortal ranks, very permanently.

Hadn't been too hard.

"True," Zyriko confirmed his father-in-law's confidence in him. "Both territories are close enough for me to be able to detect and jam any item they have. I will let them report the revolts, then block everything once the time is right. To the outside world, it will seem as if the rebels have taken communications offline. Furthermore, I can track anyone trying to escape, and guide our forces to them. No information except Keyic's account will reach the outside world."

Zyriko was happy to be underestimated. A world that underestimated his abilities was a world in which he could operate more freely.

"So, what do You have in mind?" Suri's mother asked her daughter. She had been in a haze of euphoric pride and validation since the moment she had first seen Suri in the tunic, even more than Her father. Now, Zyriko could feel how thrilled she was about the idea of Keyic prosecuting a Holy War as agents of the Sky Goddess.

"Instead of trying to smuggle weapons directly, I suggest that Keyic infiltrators smuggle only the Twilight Goddess' jump platforms," Suri answered. "They will be relatively easy to hide, and Emmoyer territory will be relatively easy to get into. Then, getting platforms into Limbot will be easier, once it's possible to move through Emmoyer freely, and the revolts are causing chaos."

"Didn't we want to conceal the Violet Goddess' items?" Vavilly was confused. "I have been drawing up battle plans assuming that we would not be using them."

"We want to keep information about them from reaching the outside world, if possible, yes. Using the platforms to transport Keyic forces in large numbers across Emmoyer territory, to avoid conflict with them, would make it immediately obvious to the Emmoyers that something unusual must be happening. Cloaking? Teleportation? They would investigate, and they would be able to share what they find since, again, We would be trying to avoid conflict with them. Discreetly jumping people to Me, in My Armory, will not raise any similar suspicions, because no one will know that anything unusual is happening, aside from their slaves suddenly having weapons, and they would have no immediate reason to connect anything odd to Us even if they did notice something."

Everyone looked toward the Matriarch. It was ultimately her decision.

"Oh, I like this plan very much," she said, and Zyriko shivered as he felt how very true that was. Her euphoria had intensified. "Everyone who sees You will know a real Goddess is on their side. They will know how fake the pretenders are."

Showing off Suri's majesty wasn't really the point of this campaign, but whatever got Her parents on board.

Vavilly turned back to Suri. "When will the items be ready, at scale?"

"Perhaps a month, for a large supply of all three types?" She estimated. "I will also need to...renovate My Armory, which will take more time. Once I am finished, anyone who enters will know that they are in the Armory of the Sky Goddess." She turned to Her mother. "They will know exactly Who is on their side."

----

Two months later, Zyriko followed Suri as She took one last stroll through Her Armory. Never before had it been so obvious that he was married to the literal Blue Goddess, Prosperity and War Herself.

The entire place resembled Her bedroom in its blueness, but with an eye toward looking magnificent rather than being cozy and livable. What had once been a vast, dimly-lit, utilitarian, warehouse-like box now appeared to be a formless space suspended in the middle of the heavens, bright blue, cloudless sky stretching infinitely in all directions. Walking on the floor gave Zyriko a sense of vertigo, like he was in danger of falling into the open sky beneath him. It was equally impossible to discern where the walls and ceiling were. The effect was disorienting.

Indeed, the Armory of the Sky Goddess didn't look the least bit like the interior of a room. For extra security, the place had never even had a proper door, from the beginning! A blue mage needed to create a hole in the wall, in a random part of a random hallway in the lowest level of the Keyic manor, to access the only passage to the, ironically, underground chamber.

Shelves extending into the distance were lined with items that appeared to be carved from the sky, gleaming his favorite color, organized by function. Rods that shot lightning, spheres that made shields, sculptures of candles that healed, on and on, everything that could be useful in combat could be found inside, more than any army in the world could use. Suri had spent hours almost every day for more than half of Her life assembling this arsenal for the sole purpose to which it would soon be applied. Infallible diligence, on full display.

Zyriko had called it the Empyreal Armory once as a joke, teasing, but now...Maybe the Black Goddess was right, and he really did have a talent.

If the Armory and the arsenal it contained weren't impressive enough, the non-mages soon to be invited here would see Suri walking the aisles, a Goddess glowing the chamber's color, the color of Her Sky, projecting out of the mortal world into the ageless dimension of the divine, ascending to the upper shelves when necessary on a platform of Her mana. Being invited here would cause religious experiences, there could be no doubt. For him, well...

As was his frequent habit, Zyriko looked down at himself to soak in the feeling of wearing the same color that permeated the room. It was barely starting to feel real, almost half a year after arriving, most of a year since seeing Suri's mana, Her Essence, for the first time.

<Memorized every item?> he asked, looking back at Suri. Diligence Herself had been working on taking advantage of Her now-perfect memory while doing Her renovations.

<Yes,> She answered. <I can reproduce anything in here on command, although the more sophisticated items would take some time to finish.>

<Pleased with Your renovations?>

She turned from the shelf She had been examining to look at him, face unreadable, but he could feel a kind of...teasing amusement?

Didn't matter. Regardless of context, he would always be transfixed by that stare. Of all the tics for a wife to have...

<Should I be?>

Zyriko pushed through the blue haze in his mind, and considered his answer carefully.

Well, perfect honesty was always what Suri wanted.

<Frankly, I think You may have done too good a job,> he admitted. <Many will collapse in awe and be too overwhelmed to be able to focus on fighting, and some will ask to stay. Maybe most.>

That sparked a little pride, and also resolve.

<Any who feel that way will be welcome to stay,> She declared. <I will never order anyone to go forth and risk their life for the sake of My plans. I offer the tools of War to those who need them, and wish to use them. Nothing more. I will say as much to everyone who reaches this place.>

Zyriko smiled. What a Suri thing to say! He really did love this...what was it even called? It wasn't exactly stubbornness. Decisiveness? Commitment to principles? Yes, that was closest. Suri stood for certain things, even if She had to stand alone, and that was that.

<Maybe we should set up a platform, so it's easier for people to come in and out, without You or Your parents needing to open the way for them?> he suggested.

He could feel Suri's agreement, but She said nothing.

<Ready to start?> he asked.

<Yes. We can let Vavilly know that he can send in his teams, when he thinks the time is right. I will be here, waiting for you to guide people to Me.>

Then, She only stared for a little while, breathing slowly. Zyriko never minded this. Imagine being married to someone Who didn't randomly and frequently stare straight into your eyes, totally impassive. Couldn't be him. His heart needed the regular exercise.

He had not been able to feel Suri's emotions when he had first arrived, since there had been a blocker active at the time, but he guessed that She had probably felt something like She did now, everything tinged by embarrassment, despite revealing nothing externally. Zyriko waited to see if She wanted to talk about whatever was the cause. These frequent, sudden episodes of careful thought, with absolutely no outward sign of what She was thinking, were a big part of what made Suri, Suri.

Finally, She came to a decision, a cloud of hesitancy disappearing in a gust of...liberation?

"Thank you, Zyriko," She began, speaking aloud in the Language of the Goddesses. "None of this would be possible without you. I don't mean only your magic--communicating with the Goddesses, guiding people to Us, silencing Our enemies, all of that. That's all very useful, but I mean all the rest even more so, who you are for Me personally."

Zyriko's back was tingling, and he prepared his knees. Her nails weren't red today, but it was clear that whatever was coming would be in the same genre as what She had said then.

"I was able to accept Who I am and create this place, make it look like this, with the conscious intent of being the Goddess that Our world needs Me to be, in part because I have been able to see Myself through your eyes, and what I have, and what I can do. The whole time I have been renovating, I have felt proud--a little embarrassed, yes, but not ashamed--of what people will think when they meet Me, in here. A year ago, I would have felt like I have been preparing to deceive people, and would have been ashamed that I'm only offering weapons, when a Goddess worth anything would be offering to fight for them. The Goddesses helped Me with this sort of thing, too, but you are unique."

Zyriko swallowed, and tried to clear out the blue haze so he could pay attention.

"You've never needed Me to be anything but Suri, never squeezed Me into a box that doesn't fit Me. Yes, initially you needed Me to fit the role of 'wife,' but within twelve minutes, your wife box became Suri-shaped. And, yes, you like that I am a powerful blue mage, and you like that I'm the Keyic Heiress, but only because you love Me, and those are some of the things that I am. I became an immortal, glowing Goddess, but what you thought of Me did not change at all, because Who I am never changed, and you did not marry What I am, you only ever wanted to marry Who I am. Contrast that with even My parents, who can't wait to show off What I have become."

Suri let a smile slip through, the corners of Her mouth reaching Her curtain of hair.

"For Zyriko of Keyic, as long as Suri is Suri, it makes little difference what else Suri is. You were happy when I decided to accept My identity, but not because of the status and prestige. You were happy because it meant that I had managed to see Myself positively enough to do such a thing."

Zyriko shrugged. "Can't say I'm upset about being the first person to marry a literal Goddess."

Suri's smile turned into a smirk, before She continued more seriously.

"I know this, because you have let Me see it all. You hide nothing from Me, and never have. I do not need to hide anything from you, or present anything in a certain way, and never have. I can tell you anything. Maybe you will disagree, but you will understand, perfectly, impossibly perfectly, and it won't change what you think of Me, at all."

She raised Her arms to the sides, indicating Her Armory.

"Instead of needing to marry some least awful option from whom I would need to hide this place for My entire life, I have made it like this, imbued Myself into it, with pride, grinning like an idiot as I worked--yes, I did!--because I knew how much My husband was going to like seeing so much of his favorite color. And you know what that color is?" Suri materialized Her mana in a cupped hand. "Your favorite color is not just some random shade of blue. It's Me, My mana, the color of My soul, and it wasn't your favorite color, not like it is now, until you saw it in My palm."

She reabsorbed Her mana, too soon as always, and stepped toward him.

"Lastly: you are here, with Me, now. It's not just Me against the world, and it never will be, not in any of the centuries to come, because you are here."

Suri tapped Her head on both temples, two fingers each, sky blue nails tapping sky blue ringlets on either side of sky blue eyes with sky blue lashes and sky blue brows, glowing his favorite color everywhere. It really, really, really did go a long way.

"Look deeper," She said, "past the things you're always pulling off the surface. I'm not just giving My permission; I am asking you to look."

Zyriko swallowed again, went to full power, focussed as much as he could under the circumstances, and did as Suri had asked. He knew more about the theory of this application of red magic than the practice, but it was helpful that Suri was not trying to block him out or hide anything like a typical mind would. Rather, She had opened a path to what She wanted him to feel, directly.

His eyes widened when he felt it.

"It has been mutual for a while," She confessed. "It made Me feel a little silly that it only took a couple months, less, after you got here. This whole thing has made Me feel a little silly, for multiple reasons. But, every time I feel that way, I remind Myself that I'm married to Honesty and Trust himself, Loyalty and Patience and Dedication, literally Love's Messenger, so what chance did poor Prosperity ever have?" She started leaning in closer. "I've been in this state, feeling like this while knowing how you feel, but hesitating because you're still a little young for Me..." She sighed out Her nose, and Zyriko was brushed by the air. "You're still a little young for Me, but..."

Zyriko's mind went blue.

Had a True Goddess ever kissed anyone?

<Doubt it,> Suri answered. <Not like this.>

Uh, whoops. Zyriko's mind was in disarray at the moment, and the link was at the strongest level he could manage. That had apparently slipped through.

Suri pulled away, as red as his mana, grinning like an idiot.

"Don't tell Twilight," She murmured, as if sharing a secret, "but as stupid as it is, completely inexplicable, even though it makes Me think your mind might be broken, and fully acknowledging that it shouldn't matter anyway, the truth is, it makes Me happy that you really do think, somehow, that I'm even prettier than the Goddess of Beauty."

Then, for the first time since Zyriko had seen Her, Suri's eyes got shifty, and She stumbled over Her words.

"And...I'm looking forward to seeing you, seeing what you look like after, after...you know..." She waved Her hand at Her face. "After the tunic. I know, I know that I, after...and I, I can tell you don't think of yourself as, like you don't fully realize how..."

Suddenly, She growled in frustration, then kissed him again, more forcefully this time.

Just when he had nearly recovered his ability to think, too.

By the time Suri pulled away, the blush had somehow drained from Her face.

"Look." She was biting off the words, frustrated with Herself. "What I was trying to say was, I know that I am ridiculously, embarrassingly, intimidatingly gorgeous, wearing this thing, and so I am looking forward to seeing what you look like, wearing your own copy."

She let out a puff of air and nodded once to Herself, satisfied.

"There. Sorry for being stupid, at first."

Considering where Zyriko was, it did make sense that he felt like he was in the sky.

Alright, focus. What would the Black Goddess do in this situation?

Hmmm. She wouldn't be intimidated, that's for sure.

...What would most effectively turn the Sky red?

Zyriko stared at Suri for a moment, considering his options. She hadn't budged. Clearly, She was waiting for a return kiss, and mentally prepared for it. So, he should subvert that somehow, add something She wasn't braced for...Minimalism was often best...

Wordlessly, Zyriko tucked one curtain of hair behind Suri's ear, and smiled in satisfaction.