The crew were heading back upwards as Stathis went down into the dark hold, her eyes taking a moment to adjust. Where would Janaxia be? Almost certainly in her own cabin. Stathis tried to steel herself for the imminent conversation – Janaxia had been strangely quiet since Belazaan. She’d barely even complained about having to travel by ship!

The cabins were clustered together at the back, all small rooms, the captain happy to take gold for the private spaces. As she got closer, she heard quiet whispering from behind Janaxia’s door, what seemed to be a one-side monologue, although it had pauses, as though to allow for responses. Stathis paused, feeling slightly guilty, but interested in whatever Janaxia was talking about. Darkness flickered, an unevenly-pulsing shadow that could be seen beneath the poorly-fitted door.

The sounds were very quiet, a barely-audible whispering, as Stathis moved as close as possible to the door.

‘Well, it was certainly a rather tiresome fight. Quite unappealing denizens of the sea!’ There was a silence, before she spoke again. ‘It seems like conquering them would be rather a lot of work. Especially given that their settlements would be beneath the water, and likely rather cold and wet. Well, at least it made for a brief diversion from the otherwise interminable travels.’

Another pause.

‘Oh, I’m sure that won’t be a problem. Although it would be nice…’ Her voice got quieter, and Stathis leant herself forward, pressing closer against the wood of the door. The shadows at Stathis’ feet rippled and pulsed again, before Stathis pushed two far forward and knocked against the door, making it creak slightly open.

The whispering immediately stopped, the shadow pulsing before vanishing, revealing simple, plain decking beneath. Stathis tried to recover herself, knocking on the door with her knuckle before pushing it open.

Janaxia was sat on the bed, tidying her hair, sweeping it into a glossy, black tie, using a thread of silver to bind it in place. She looked up at Stathis, face forming into a frown.

‘Stathis? This is something of a surprise.’

‘Who were you talking to?’ She looked around – the place wasn’t large enough for anyone to hide, and Janaxia seemed unlikely to be conducting an affair with one of the sailors, nor would she bother hiding it if she was. Janaxia’s eyes glazed for a moment, a film of darkness obscuring the green before vanishing, as Janaxia frowned.

‘I am, as you can see, alone – there is scarcely anyone worth having a conversation with on board. And you have been most… standoffish.’ Although there was some bite in her tone, she mostly looked tired, as her tattoo twisted into vision, the darkness seeming to gleam in an accusatory fashion. Stathis had to resist the temptation to reach out and push the darkness with her finger, wondering if she would encounter flesh, or if her finger would penetrate through into something, or somewhere, else.

‘Well, I’ve been meaning to talk to you for a while. But the last time I saw you, we kissed, and then you almost killed me, or something. I mean, the kiss was nice, at least up until you sucked my soul out or whatever. I’m guessing you didn’t know that would happen? You didn’t have some sort of really odd and specific protection spell put on you by your family to prevent you, um, mixing with people they didn’t approve of?’

‘That would involve rather more concern that is typically put forth. No, I imagine that some curse laid upon you by your enemies struck you down. With, admittedly, rather awkward timing, that would seem to implicate me, but that is simply a coincidence. Scarcely a reason for assassins to be sent against me!’

‘No, I’m pretty sure that it’s you. And Carissia isn’t exactly an assassin – I hope I can talk her down, but it’s easier just to avoid her until I’ve properly got my body back. Which does mean sneaking into Per Tolith, which is going to be awkward.’

‘The gentleman, and I use the term in a very loose fashion, who assaulted me at the dance! He had a marking of gold, and a mystic signature undoubtedly similar to your own.’ A touch of colour had come into her cheeks, indignation seemingly lending her vigour.

‘I… Oh shit, was it like a magical tattoo thing? Not like yours, but a more normal marking, in gold.’ She ran a hand down her chest, over her heart, describing a wide curving arc. ‘That kind of shape?’

Janaxia nodded. ‘He was most unchivalrous! Knifing me in the middle of a dance, scarcely an honourable act. And most painful.’

‘Well, I do keep telling you to wear armour. You can even get fancy-looking armour if you want to keep looking nice, but it does help with getting stabbed. Those guys were meant to have been dealt with. Crap, sorry about that. There’s probably going to be more of them, they were my cult, and cults are always annoying bastards to deal with.’

Janaxia’s voice was pure ice, the temperature of the room seeming to drop. ‘A cult? You have a cult?’ She glared at Stathis, her hair-lash glinting with determination.

‘Well, not exactly mine, but more sort of dedicated to me? Most of them aren’t too bad, or at least weren’t, but a couple went a bit nuts with the whole thing. Mother tried to keep it under control, but it’s quite hard to tell people off for worshipping your heir and daughter. I’d have thought that being miles away for however long it’s been since I left Per Tolith would have made them find other hobbies!’

‘Well, they appear to have made a hobby of targeting your paramours. I daresay Brina doesn’t have to face such persecution. This feels like I am being rather unfairly targeted!’

‘Brina never killed me! She stabbed me once, but that was an accident, and she apologised afterwards. You sucked out my soul and dumped it into another world, which is where demons come from. Which is really something we should talk about! Did you know that you were a conduit to some ancient world?’

‘It does seem rather incessantly unfair that I find myself the target of incessant religious fanatics, simply due to my association with you.’

She stood, height shifting for a moment as heels formed beneath her feet to make her taller, but still not on level with Stathis.

‘Janaxia, we’re on a boat. There’s nowhere you can go, unless you can manage to replicate that teleportation spell you apparently did after killing me. So let’s talk that, and then other stuff.’

‘You seem rather obsessed with this “being killed” business! I have scarcely been idle myself – I almost died several times, frequently at the hands of your sister.’

‘Yeah, Carissia’s pissed. She’s not a fan of people getting one over on her, and she thinks that you tricked and seduced her.’

Janaxia snorted. ‘She seemed quite enthusiastic at the time – indeed she was quite forceful, when she…’

Stathis threw her hands up. ‘I don’t need to hear any details! But she thinks this was all some scheme of yours, or your family. Anyway, you sucked my soul out. To start with, I’m assuming you didn’t know that would happen?’ She whispered a brief prayer under her breath, and a warm glow sprung up, settling on Janaxia. Her tattoo suddenly flared, snapping with darkness and the spell blinked out. So much for that! It would have been helpful to know if Janaxia was telling the truth or lying. At least she didn’t seem to have noticed the spell though.

‘I’m not sure why you insist upon blaming me. There are many that have some dislike of your family, and could have laid some curse upon you that simply acted through me.’

‘I’m not blaming you, but… it was you.’ Stathis reached out and touched her finger against Janaxia’s chest, at the centre of the accusing darkness. It felt like flesh, but a slight golden glow appeared around her finger, stark against the deep blackness. ‘I know you’re sensitive about it, but it’s probably time to talk about what you actually are. Because it’s pretty obvious you’re…’ She tried to think of a phrasing that wouldn’t just piss Janaxia off even more. ‘…more than a normal wizard, with a, uh, more impressive range of spells and abilities.’ She withdrew her finger, the digit feeling strangely warm.

‘I have studied…’

‘Yeah, I know, you’ve studied ancient magics and everything. But, well… you don’t actually study. Please don’t get all weird and sensitive about this, but Hakara knows way more about magical theory than you do. But you do all sorts of stuff I don’t know if any other wizard can do – like summoning up that eldritch darkness is pretty much unique to you. But I don’t think you’ve studied or researched anything to do that, you just do it instinctively. So how do you know to do what you do?’

Janaxia’s clothing ruffled as it became more grandiose, lace trimming blossoming into existence.

‘I don’t think other wizards do that, either. OK, most of them are lazy or don’t care about fashion, but even those that do, they have to specially call up magic to do it, not just change their outfits on the fly. So, let’s talk about where you got your powers from, OK? It might mean being able to kiss again. Because that’s not something I want to risk if it might kill me. Again. I don’t want to sound like I’m banging on about it, but I’d rather not die.’

A slight smile came across Janaxia’s face. ‘Oh? So you would be willing to kiss me again?’ She moved towards Stathis, in a flurry of overly-expensive yet somehow scant clothing, lips already pursing, as Stathis raised a hand in her face.

‘When I’m sure it won’t be bloody fatal! And it’d be useful to know what that other world was. So, first point. When did you actually start doing your weird magic stuff?’

‘It seems rather indelicate to ask, but if you must know, then Kinnevar taught me some of the basics. My own family tried, but I found their methodologies incomprehensible and baffling. But his reasoning, of viewing the world as something that should bend to one’s own will, seemed rather more in keeping with my own philosophies.’

‘That… explains a lot, actually. So he gave your that spellbook?’

‘Oh no, it was from Mother.’

Stathis carefully reached out and touched it, wincing in anticipation, fully expecting it to snap at her somehow and draw blood. Instead, it let her touch it, or having Janaxia present lulled it somehow. It felt normal – well, overly-ornate, even for a spellbook, but like nothing more than metal atop leather. Janaxia sighed and unstrapped it from her belt, placing it on the desk with a surprisingly heavy thump. When she went to open it up, the latch stayed resolutely shut.

‘Did it always have that lock?’

‘Hmm? Of course it did.’ That strange filmy darkness rose up in her eyes again, before the lock finally fell open. ‘It would be inconvenient were another to steal my secrets, after all.’ The pages fluttered, covered with incomprehensible writing, in all sorts of different scripts and shapes. ‘You see? A perfectly mundane spellbook.’

Stathis poked it with a finger, hard enough to move along the desk. Was that an annoyed grunt she heard, or was that just her imagination, or a random motion of the ship? ‘We talked about this before, didn’t we? Didn’t you say that you’d had some weird vision of ancient language or something?’ She had to look away from the pages – the Unreadable Tongue covered the pages currently being shown, making her eyes sting and water whenever she tried to look at the symbols directly.

‘That was something of an abstraction. It seemed the easiest way to explain my comprehensive and instinctive understanding of such ancient mysteries.’ Janaxia didn’t step away, leaving the two of them awkwardly close, Stathis having reached around Janaxia, her tattoo narrowing slightly, like a suspicious eye. ‘You have been less than forthcoming yourself, it must be said. I assume you thought it was funny to keep me in the dark?’ Her lash throbbed with a blood-red tinge as she glared at Stathis.

‘That… That was dickish of me. I should have told you, but you got really weird when you found out that I’m an Iristari, so finding out anything else just seemed like it would have been awkward. You place far too much importance on your ancestry!’

The forelock snapped with a bright red almost-flash, Janaxia shifting her balance and using her more stable position to make Stathis stumble, her eyes now looking slightly… moist? Was she starting to cry?

‘That might be easy for the bastard child of a jumped-up mercenary to say!’ Her words echoed strangely, getting doubled up with a telepathic projection, making Stathis’ head swim. ‘Simply because you have no past to be proud of, is no reason to try and drag others down.’ She pulled herself up to her full height, still shorter than Stathis, but the roof of the cabin forced Stathis to stoop. ‘Now, unless you have anything else to say, I think I need to meditate upon my powers. Although you so clearly find them distasteful, they have saved your life on many occasions. And, unlike you, I have never been less than forthcoming about them.’ Her clothing flared and ruffled itself again, sharp-edged gems and spikes protruding from black lace, and forcing Stathis to step away or risk being sliced or impaled.

‘I didn’t mean to, but…’

Darkness started to throb around Janaxia, every shadow in the room pulsing in time, getting noticeably darker as Stathis retreated backwards towards the door. As she stepped outside, the darkness blossomed upwards and around Janaxia, bathing the room in solid-seeming shadow. The door shut behind her, a metallic “click” signalling a latch falling into place. Stathis reached up a hand to knock on the door again, before pausing and thinking better of it – she’d have to try and apologise later. Yes, she had been in the wrong, but…

Feeling despondent, she headed back onto the deck. The crew were back at work, turning sails and mopping up more blood from the fish-people, cleaning the decks. Pajaran was sat on a barrel, having stripped off her armour, checking it for damage.

‘Didn’t go to well? Heard shouting. In here as well.’ She tapped her forehead.

‘Yeah, she’s pissed. Which I get, but I’m still worried about whatever’s going on with her. And the whole other-world, loads of demons and so forth. That sounds like it could get pretty bad. I think I overheard her talking to someone as well, and now she’s “resting” in a blob of magical darkness, and her clothing’s gone all spiky again. How much holy water can you make?’

‘You sure that’s a good idea? She’s pissed of at you already, is getting her soggy going to help? Especially as she seems to like her fancy clothing. But that stuff costs a fortune!’

‘She just summons it up, none of it’s real. Oh yeah, I don’t know if you can, but watch out for any effects that dispel magic around her, they tend to destroy her clothing. I was thinking more maybe heat up a tub full of it, get some wine, tell her it’s to help her relax?’

Pajaran snorted. ‘That sounds more romantic than anything else! Sure you’re not just leading her on?’

‘If I could be sure it wouldn’t kill me, again, then I wouldn’t mind kissing her again! Although might be a bit bloody awkward at the moment, she’s really pissed off.’

‘You were sort of lying to her, for a long time. If it wasn’t for her possibly being a demon or something, I’d be on her side.’ She felt at a patch of metal, magic shimmering around her hand as the dent slowly repaired itself. ‘You’re going to have to do a lot of apologising first!’

Semari swung down, a rope swinging out over the sea with her on the end, before her pendulum arc bought her swinging back, waiting until she had stopped swinging before speaking. ‘Kill her family. That might make her happy. And they want you dead anyway.’ She hung there, slowly spinning around. ‘Pretty sure her mom’s head on a plate would get you more than just some kisses. There’s worse ways to, like, kick a date off. Nice candlelit dinner, wine, then lift the fancy bowl thingie and BAM! Mom’s head, staring back at you. That’d get you some nookie, guaranteed.’

Pajaran nodded. ‘That’s not actually a bad plan. She’s up to something, and it might help convince people, by which I mean Carissia, that you’re not an enchanted minion of Janaxia’s.’

‘Can we at least get my body back first? I’m not entirely sure what would happen if I got caught in something that disrupts magic, and Hakara’s been worryingly vague about it was well. And that gives me a while to apologise to Janaxia, I get the idea she’s going to be holding a grudge for a while.’

Semari started to swing on the rope, hefting her weight back and forth to start herself swinging again. ‘Are you going to turn into a magical cloud or something? Knew a wizard over Crannasack way that happened to – did so much magical stuff he magicked himself into a puff of magical energy. Then tried killing off the local village, not quite sure why. Apparently used to be a nice guy, before, like, before an evil murder-cloud.’ She swung past and extended an arm towards Stathis, making her duck out of the way. ‘Hey! I need to touch you, check you’re not a murder-cloud.’

Stathis sidestepped another swing past, Semari now trying to kick her in the head. ‘I’m not a murdercloud!’

‘That’s just what a murdercloud would say! But yeah…’ Her voice trailed off as she hit the furthest point of her arc, before swinging back, putting the full weight of her body into the swing and slicing through the air. ‘Sort shit out with Janaxia, or she’ll be…’ There was another pause until she was back in speaking range. ‘A sexy evil murdercloud.’

She let go, vanishing from sight and dropping into the ocean. Well, she could probably swim fast enough to catch up, and then clamber back on board.

‘Don’t suppose you want to try and talk to her?’

Pajaran shook her head. ‘Gods, no! I’m not getting involved. You fucked this up, so you need to fix it. Plus, what the hell would I tell her? “Yeah, Stathis is kind of a dolt and gets touchy about the vaguely-angel thing, so she’s sorry for lying to you for years”? Don’t think she’s going to care about it much coming from me. And don’t start with all that “it wasn’t really lying” – you could have told her and you didn’t. You had your reasons, but now they’re biting you in the ass. Hard.’

‘Have I ever told you how much of a pain in the ass you are when you’re right?’

‘Yeah, but I’m pretty much always right. Anyway, want to get some practice in? Got sod all else to do.’ She put her armour down, having finished her inspection and picked up her mace.

‘OK, fine. Just watch out in case Semari decides to join in, as she will try and punch you in the back of head without warning.’