***The Eternal Palace***

***Seria***

“By everything that’s holy, Lada. Look at them!” I gesture towards the city which is throbbing with life. “The fireworks, the spells!”

An array of fireworks explodes above the city’s centre, setting the cloudy night-sky alight with all the colours of the rainbow. After a second, the pyrotechnics flutter out of existence, painting the clouds with the red light of a setting sun.

The exuberant performance forces me to grudgingly admit that whoever is in charge of the spell proved excellent skill in making the bad weather work in his favour.

Lada sighs and grasps for her heart, overwhelmed with the display as she overlooks the festivities. The light refracts in her shining eyes, making her seem more alive than ever. “I know. It’s so grandiose and heart-warming to know that they are doing it for you.”

We are sitting on top of the palace’s rooftop with me being the one to spoil the mood, as in most cases when it is just the two of us.

“It’s cringe-worthy!” I wring my hands and give the partying people down there the proverbial finger, even though there is no chance of them seeing us up here. “To know that they are practically praying to me, even after their Awakening. Every year I have to endure this!”

My sister and best friend purses her lips, trying to see the situation from my point of view. “I wouldn’t call it praying. Not exactly.” She circles her hand in the air, searching for the right word. “You are more like a celebrity, yes, a celebrity! They are looking up to you. Knowing what you did for them, there will be no escaping that. They don’t know of the full extent of your sacrifice, but what they know is enough to pay their respects.”

“I just wish they wouldn’t celebrate my name every damned year! Once every century would be more than enough!” I mope. “Maybe once a decade. There is no need for all this hustle and bustle!”

Every year, our people celebrate the Awakening, the return of the memories of their former lives – and most of all the return of their godhood. It’s a time of excess and joy for everyone but me. On a normal day, I move around in public pretty unhindered, except for when it is the Awakening. At this time of the year I can’t even walk down a street without people kowtowing to me.

It is embarrassing!

“Hahahaha!” Lada pats my back, laughing all the while. “You are a treasure, but I am afraid that’s the price you have to pay for doing something truly heroic. I wouldn’t be so concerned if I were you. Time heals most wounds and I am sure this is one of them. Just wait another century or two, and things will become better. Right now our people are reaching towards the skies, grand and glorious. Aren’t we living your dream? How could you be angry about that, Seria?”

“They could calm down a little,” I point out. “And I am not angry, not really.” I gesture at the festivities. “But all of this – it is overdoing it a little. Do you think they will forget after some centuries?”

She winces, withdrawing her hand from my back. “Not as long as Chimera remains standing and that might be for a very long time. What I wanted to say is that things should become less intense. People will always bow to you, given who our parents are. Even now, I think expressing their recognition of you is only one part gratefulness and two parts fear of them. Dad never fails to remind the court that failing him has dire consequences, and Mom is…”

“Is Mom,” I confirm, seeing no need to delve further into the matter. Our family is hard enough to describe to outsiders and even among ourselves we learned to better avoid the topic of our inter-family relationships. With Order as a mother and Chaos as our father we had to learn to love and hate equally. “So the best I can hope for is that this will turn into a tradition that’s performed more out of duty rather than true gratefulness.”

“Yeah, better to keep your expectations low,” Lada admits. “At the very least I believe that the friends of the family will get over it at one point or the other.”

“Like Uncle Gabriel?” I scoff. “The last thing I heard of him is that he was chasing down some criminals with father’s fleet. Talk about being busy with the multiverse’s problems.”

“Criminals?”

I dismiss the matter with a shake of my head. “Nothing that should concern us. Blew up some planet, far from being a threat to the multiverse at large. But you know Mom, ‘We have to be a stabilizing factor, or everything might turn to Chaos!’. Someone has to represent our military power to the other factions. Better to be seen doing ‘good deeds’ than to be thrown into some box and labelled as an multidimensional political power which might turn on you in the distant future. We want to be friends with the others – if possible. If only I weren’t a princess.”

Lada nods. “Don’t forget that you have to go back to work in two days. You are not only a figure of adoration to our people, but also someone with considerable political power. You have an entire realm of gods to call upon.”

“Right! Thanks to the holidays I managed to forget about my responsibilities… and it was better that way. Thanks for reminding me.” I shudder, feeling a bit annoyed that my sister had to point that out. As far as I am concerned, holidays are there to completely forget about the real world. There is no reason to bring up the woes of life during a time that should be there to relax. “Sometimes, I just want to be someone unimportant, someone who isn’t treated with… fear.”

“Do you really think that we are afraid of you?” Lada takes my hand, trying to show me that she will always be there for me. “Think again. Do you really think that granny Margerie would be afraid of you? There are Tanja, Sven, Rose, Stephen, Sandra and Iris…”

I stop her with one hand. “Okay, okay, I get it. But it isn’t the same. All the people you just mentioned are like extended family to us. They are also more closely related with our parents than with me. It just isn’t the same.”

Lada nods sagely and taps her temple with a delicate finger. “Now I get it. What you want is to be able to walk down a street without being recognized or acknowledged any differently than the next person.”

“More or less,” I admit and sigh, knowing that my dream is likely beyond a god’s capability to solve. We gods are close to being almighty, but it would likely also require a fair bit of omniscience to solve this little puzzle without a hiccup.

My sister fumbles with her garb, clearly also at a loss. Good advice is expensive – even in the realm of gods. “Just to get our thoughts to another topic for a moment, have you heard anything about our parents’ friends lately? I am a bit out of the loop.”

I harrumph and watch as a formation of deities rises from the large plaza in front of the palace and shoots off into the night’s sky. They spread out above the city, which is normally a no-fly-zone.

“Hmm. The last thing I heard of Margerie is that she finished father’s project with the fleet. She is now sifting through the remains of her library, which might take some time, given its size.”

“Her library?” Lada asks.

“Yeah, you remember her former incarnation? They actually uncovered the remains in the Crystal City. It was still there after all these years,” I clarify and continue with the others.

“Tanja and Sven are still up to doing military stuff, as I am sure you know…” Sven is heavily involved with the fleet, while Tanja is our parents’ go-to girl in regards to everything that involves spying. I also don’t see them changing their occupation any time soon, even if it means that they are often away from home for a long time.

I don’t even bother to mention Rose, who is still impeccably playing the palace’s head-maid.

“… and Sandra is happy with playing house.” I shrug. “Of all of them I think that she is actually the one with the least contact to the old group.”

“That sounds sad,” Lada comments. “Maybe we should organize something to involve her more with the rest of us.”

I laugh. “That might actually be hard to accomplish, given that her house is full of brats to take care of.”

“Again? Are you serious? She already had over twenty on my last count,” my sister comments with an incredulous expression. “I thought she would take it easy after the third batch left the house.”

“Oh, nonono.” I laugh. “I think she actually has something like a schedule going on. Get pregnant with a bunch of kids, rear them until they leave the house, and rinse repeat! If she keeps going like that she will have an army to call upon just by rallying her immediate family.”

“A horrifying thought. I can see why Sven prefers to stay on long missions with the fleet.”

“Think of it what you will, but it seems to work for the two of them. Sven plays the stud and Sandra gets to rear the kids.” I play with my hair and for a moment we stay silent.

Above us, the formation of deities has almost managed to clear the clouds, revealing the night’s sky with thousands of stars and the two moons hanging above us. It’s almost time for the main event of the festival to begin.

“Stephen and Iris?” Lada asks in a contemplative tone.

“Whoa, talk about antisocial,” I comment. “I think that Iris is still seeing Mom on a regular basis, but otherwise they are pretty independent at the moment. Stephen took some job at the fleet-university and Iris became a combat instructor! They are something like a tutoring-duo for our young deities who seek fame out there in the multiverse.”

“A combat instructor? That actually fits her. I never thought of her as the type who would be happy in a truly military or some political career. But for Stephen to give up his research post?” Lada shakes her head. “I thought he would be more like his sister.”

“Funny, eh? I also didn’t think of him as the type to avoid responsibility until I heard that he abandoned his job in favour of a more relaxed lifestyle.” I tilt my head from one side to the other. “Well, maybe it’s just a phase. He was on the fleet-project for over thirty years. Doing the same thing is bound to get boring after some time.”

Above us, the flight of deities has cleared the sky, ready to project our nation's well-wishes onto the twin-moons while the fireworks slowly subside.

“Do you think they will start the remembrance with the good old battle against Tjenemit?” Lada pumps her fists.

I groan, wondering how she can still be hyped about something that she must have already seen over a dozen times. “Spare me. I take Dad’s real story over the re-enactment every time.”

“You know very well that they can’t publicly broadcast something like that. Kids might be watching!” She wags a finger at me. “And I actually think that the censored version is better than the truth.”

I roll my eyes as the show begins, with dozens of deities joining in to project an illusion of the historic events of our ascension onto the moon’s surfaces.

“You know, I might have an idea.” Lada slaps her forehead. “Why didn’t I think about it earlier!?”

“About what?”

“What you need is a vacation!”

I scoff. “I was on a vacation just recently.”

“Not that sort of vacation!” She gestures with her hands. “I mean one to a place where nobody knows you. Change your appearance and go to the far reaches of the multiverse. There must be some backwater place out there where none of the local deities have heard of you.”

I hum. “Changing my appearance? Like shape-shifting?”

“Oh, come on. Our Mom can do it! And given your past, you should be capable too!”

Grunting, I get to my feet and try to imagine myself as a little girl, my form flowing and lessening until a little redhead is standing next to Lada on the palace’s rooftop. “Like that?”

“Oh, yes!” My sister claps her hands. “Now you need a theme for your vacation!”

“A theme?”

“Yes, something you want to do? Like… going somewhere and get drunk like there is no tomorrow!”

Getting drunk? I pull a face. “I am not a fan of that.”

“It doesn’t need to be that. Just think of something that relaxes you. Whoop it up!” She throws her hands up in the air for emphasis. “Unleash your desires!”

I frown, and then I raise my finger towards the sky, trying to think of something. “For- For Mayhem!”

Clearly disapproving, Lada presses her lips together. “You are channelling too much of Dad.”

“Hmm.” I scratch my cheek, and then I thrust my finger once more towards the sky. “For Mayhem and Love!”