“Please, have a seat. Unless you wish to do this somewhere more comfortable?”

Eyes wide, Bridgette shook her head. “I’m fine wherever you want, My Lord, but aren’t you worried about someone interrupting?”

I look at her in confusion. “It’s not exactly a secret, Bridgette. I’m sure the whole moon knows by now, thanks to Su and Hannah, except maybe those two poor bastards out in the cold right now.” I pointed towards the roof, indicating the Chinese astronauts currently poking around without any knowledge of what’s below their feet. I made my way over to the dining room. “I’m just going to get some coffee. Would you like some?”

Another head shake just before I disappeared around the partition. My standing rule was to always maintain a pot of coffee in the dining room. I don’t need it for the energy or caffeine anymore, but I’ll fight anyone who tries to tell me coffee isn’t life.

“My Lord? If I may ask, why did you include me earlier? You don’t know me at all, and I acted so poorly in front of you.” Her voice floated to me around the partition as I stirred in some sugar. I considered how to answer that. I hadn’t realized what I’d said when I said it, but thinking on it, there was really only one way for them to walk “at my side,” as I had said previously. They were all of the mind that I was the god and they were my servants. Elevating them to equals, as they’d all interpreted it, could only mean marriage. I rubbed my temple, a habit I’d developed, like I was trying to dislodge a thought. During my earlier “proposal,” I’d even gone as far as mentioning Bridgette by name and expressed confidence in her future contributions. I wasn’t lying when I’d said any of that. I truly felt she’d be an immense help in the upcoming issue with the asteroid ship. However, the intended message and the received one didn’t quite match up, and now this shy and traumatized woman and I were engaged, sort of.

Trying to sort out my thoughts, I realized I’d added too much sugar. Far too much sugar. I’d also kept her waiting too long for an answer. As I prepared another cup, I finally gave her a reply.

“Consider it good faith on credit. In six years, despite not trusting me, you’ve never made any attempt to harm me or anyone near me. I’m told Ryo loves you, and that goes a long way in my book. I trust her judgement of someone over mine. I think the clincher was this morning, when, despite how terrified of me you were, you still begged me to save myself. That tells me that somewhere inside of you is someone who’ll have my back if I need it.” I took a sip of my new mug. Perfect.

“Is that so? I’m honestly still scared, but after watching you for six years, and seeing how everyone cares for you, I think I can control it. If Mistress Rhia can throw herself at you with all her heart like that, you have to be a good man, right?”

I started making my way back to the living area. “I try to be, but that’s a subjective opinion, isn’t-”

My words immediately cut off and I nearly dropped my mug at what I saw upon stepping around the partition. Bridgette stood in front of one of the couches. Her maid uniform was pooled at her feet, along with her underwear. I took a second to take in her body. Her long, sleek legs that reminded me of a track star’s. The short, soft looking white fur that ran up her abdomen to the valley between her breasts, which were easily a C cup, possibly a D. Light grey fur covered the rest of her body, interspersed with thin black tiger stripes. She really did look like a tabby. She’d let her hair down out of its ponytail and draped most of it over her right shoulder. Her right arm was trying to cover up her tits, but I could still see a quarter sized pink nipple peeking through her loosely splayed fingers, while her left hand was firmly covering her lower half. It was all very Birth of Venus. It was also very confusing.

“Um…” I began.

“My Lord,” she started, voice quivering. “I only ask that you be gentle. The men who took me in the past were rarely so.”

“Bridgette,” I said softly. “What is this?”

She looked at me, lip quivering. “Am I not to your liking, My Lord? I understand that if I’m to be one of yours, I must give myself to you, as the others have.”

I slowly approached her, placing my mug on the coffee table as I passed it, until I was right in front of her. She tried to look me in the eye but kept looking away at the floor. Slowly I dropped to one knee in front of her. I reached a hand out and it brushed her leg. I felt how remarkably soft her fur was, but I also felt her tense up. My hand continued down, where her dress was puddled around her feet. I grabbed it, and then pulled it up her body to at least cover her chest. I then took her hand and made her hold it in place. I gripped her softly by the shoulders, absently noting again just how soft her fur was, but also noting the tenseness of the muscles beneath that fur. I lowered my head until I was eye level with her.

“Bridgette, when it comes to matters like this, I will never ask you to do anything that you don’t want to do. The others sleep with me because they want to. There are also times where they don’t want to, and that’s fine too. No one has been forced, coerced, or raped. Sex isn’t a requirement, my dear. I am willing to wait as long as you need. And if it turns out that you’re never ready, then that’s okay, because that’s not what I want from you. I want that beautiful mind you have up here.” I placed my hand on her head between her ears. They twitched slightly, but she didn’t pull away from my hand. “I sense you’ve been through a lot, been through some unthinkable things, and had any number of unforgivable things done to you. I can’t make that disappear, I’m sorry to say, but if there’s anything I can do to help you, please, let me know. You’ve got a lifetime worth of pain inside of you. Do you want to vent it? I’m probably the only person in the system that can take it. Give me your worst. Hit me. Scratch me. Do what you want to do to those guys to me. I’ll be your punching bag.”

She looked down, her hand not holding the dress balling up into a fist. She drew her arm back and then thumped me in the chest. Not hard, just a soft thump. Then she collapsed into my chest, sobbing. I’m sure her wails could be heard throughout the complex, but no one disturbed us. I sat us down on the couch and just held her as she released who knew how many years of built up pain. My shirt was soaked in tears, her right had a death grip on my shirt, her left had let her dress drop as she wrapped it around my back. Clinging to me like that, I let her cry until exhaustion took her and she fell asleep. I quietly laid her down on the couch, then fixed her dress with a thought. I almost snapped my fingers out of habit, but then reconsidered. I didn’t want to wake her right now. I produced a blanket and tucked her in to the couch, before quietly leaving my residence to see what progress Su and Hannah had made.

Bridgette slept. It was a peaceful, dreamless sleep. Most of her nights were nightmare filled and unsettling. Memories of what she’d been put through after escaping her homeworld. Thoughts of what might happen to her if she were caught again. Terror at each new person brought within her presence. Each one could be someone that would abuse her, rape her, torture her. Her childhood was not one she looked upon with nostalgia. Being forced to run for the crime of asking “why” too many times. Sold into slavery by the very smugglers her mother had paid to help her escape the counselors. Five hundred years of the most heinous treatment suffered at the hands of men who considered her and others her age a plaything. A dramatic escape that cost the lives of half of her fellow slaves, but it was ok, because they no longer felt any pain. Another five hundred or so years of doing what she had to for survival. Selling her body to escape one wretched planet after another. The other maids here spoke of a peaceful, enlightened galaxy, but Bridgette knew otherwise. She knew what happened beneath that peaceful façade, and she swore to never return to that life. Her travels had brought her to this abandoned corner of the galaxy, and she’d found a home near this unremarkable planet, away from the slavers, smugglers, counselors, and above all, men. Men that could abuse her, rape her, and torture her.

Inton had given her the space she needed, and while she had eased her way into trusting some of the women around here, she could never get over her paranoia of men, who had done the most damage to her psyche. It was a peaceful life at last. Then Inton was gone, and this new man had replaced him. She’d observed him for years, watched how he took women one by one until he’d surrounded himself with the most beautiful women she’d seen. They didn’t seem to mind it, but Bridgette had seen harems before, having been sold into one and then handed around like a game piece. The girls always went along with the master’s desire, because it was easier to do so than to fight back. Fighting back meant torture, even death. Bridgette had incorrectly assumed that was the case here. When he’d offered to bring her into his harem, as she’d interpreted it, she found she couldn’t refuse. It was ingrained in her now to do as master wished, and this master was a god. There was no way she’d escape punishment for refusal. So, after everyone had left, she’d prepared herself for him. What she hadn’t expected was his refusal of her.

No man had turned down a chance to take her once offered. He said he didn’t want her if she didn’t want him. He even said he’d take the punishment for those who’d wronged her in the past. She wanted to. She wanted rip everyone to shreds who’d ever abused and raped her. When she went to exact that revenge on him, however, she couldn’t do it. She didn’t want to hurt this kind man. This man who only wanted to comfort her. Before she knew it, relief had washed over her. A torrential downpour of grief, exhaustion, and happiness all welled up inside her and came pouring out over his chest as he held her. He’d said he wanted her mind, not her body. He hadn’t tried to take advantage of her when she offered herself. He’d offered to help her instead. Could she trust this man? Yes, she decided. She would take the leap so long denied her. His simple acts of kindness were more than she’d ever known. She’d repay that kindness. If her friends and Ryo loved him that much, could she? She’d like to try. She was going to try.

Bridgette slept, a peaceful smile on her face.

With the girls’ preparations underway and my one source of intelligence sleeping in the living room, I found myself alone and with nothing to do for the first time in a while. So, I retreated to the media room to rewatch one of my favorite anime. It’d been a while since I’d been able to sit and enjoy something by myself. I got a good three hours into the show before it came to stop, however, as I’d heard some movement from the living, and soon a form with distinctive ears filled the doorway.

“My Lord?” Bridgette inquired, looking into the dark room, my face lit up only by the screen.

“Bridgette,” I said, pausing the show. “Come in, have a seat. How are you feeling?”

Strangely confident, she entered the room with a taller stride than I’d yet to see out of her to this point. Then again, my previous sightings of her generally consisted of her skulking in dark corners watching me from a distance, or when she was dragged into the living room against her will, so I honestly had no idea how she carried herself when she wasn’t around me. She took a seat on the couch next to me. Closer than I expected, but not as close as she could have. It’s ok, I thought. Things take time, and you really don’t know much about her anyway. Stop getting your hopes up, John. What can I say? Catgirls are a weakness of mine.

“I… I’m better. Much better than I’ve felt in a long time, My Lord.” A bashful smile played across her lips, despite how closely she held herself. She looked me in the eye. “D-did you mean it, My Lord? About wanting to help me with whatever I needed or wanted?”

“Of course,” I replied. “I try not to make promises I can’t keep, and my wish is to see you and everyone around us happy. So, whatever I need to do to accomplish that, if it’s within my power, I’ll do it.”

She smiled at that, and then seemed to consider something. Her hands were clasped in front of her chest up to this point, but now they reached out, then pulled back. Reached out again, then pulled back again. She closed her eyes, took a deep breath, then finally reached out and took my hands in hers.

“Th-then me too, My Lord. I mean, if there’s anything I can do to help you, or… or,” she stumbled a bit here, blushing, “or make you happy, then I shall do it as best as I can.”

I gripped her hands in mine. “Just be yourself, Bridgette. I ask nothing more than that. Don’t try to be anything you’re not, or do anything you’re not ready to.”

She looked away, looking like she was wrestling with her thoughts. Her eyes fell on the screen. On it were characters dressed in Army uniforms and various women dressed in maid uniforms. “What are you watching, My Lord?”

“Oh, uh,” I paused, briefly embarrassed about what she saw. One of the maids happened to be the anime version of a catgirl. She stood tall and proud, a small pair of glasses perched her nose, purple cat ears stood atop her head, a long purple tail sticking out of the small of her back in complete defiance of actual biology, which, as Bridgette’s own body proved, should be coming from the base of the spine.

“It’s a show from Earth about a group of soldiers who travel to another world. There they meet humans living in a primitive feudal society, along with elves, beast folk, dragons, etcetera. It’s one of my favorites.”

She scrutinized the screen some more. “This woman,” she indicated the catgirl maid, “she has ears and a tail like me. Are humans familiar with my race? I thought none had gone further than the moon?”

I laughed. “No, they’ve never met anyone from your race that I know of. The only way they’d know is if one of your kind had visited Earth a hundred years ago, since that was about when the first catgirl showed up in a Japanese manga.” I seriously knew WAY too much about this topic.

Her eyes widened. “Did you say a hundred years ago, My Lord?”

“Yeah, about that. Why?”

“Mistress Rhia once asked me to accompany her on a visit to Earth about that time. She wanted my help to find survivors of a big earthquake that hit an island nation back then. I’m sure many people saw me.”

Raising an eyebrow, I pulled up a window in front of me and searched for earthquakes in the 1920s. One of the hits was the Great Kanto Earthquake of 1923. The timeline worked. It was the right country. Who’s to say the author of that manga wasn’t one of the survivors? I started laughing. Bridgette looked at me in confusion, which caused me to laugh harder.

“Um, My Lord?”

“You’re kidding me,” I said, looking at Bridgette. “Sweetheart, look at this.” I pulled every memory I had of any catgirls I’d seen in anime, manga, cartoons, comic books, and video games, and then projected them around the room for her to see. Her eyes widened as she took in the view.

“There may have been occasional images of half cat half human women and men throughout history, among other animal combinations, but they never really captured people’s attention until the last century, thanks to the growing popularity of anime. Anime comes from Japan, where the catgirl as we know them today originated. Do you know when the first catgirl showed up in Japanese manga?”

She shook her head, dumbfounded.

“1924. A year after a large earthquake hit the island nation of Japan. I’ll have to check with Rhia to be sure, but Bridgette, my dear, it just may be possible that all of what you’re looking at now is based on you. You could very well be Earth’s first catgirl.”

“But I’m not a ‘catgirl.’ I’m a Junaian.”

“They don’t know that,” I said, projecting an image of a gray tabby for her to see. “As far as they know, you’re a humanized version of this.”

Her eyes lit up. “It’s so cute!” She spun around and grabbed my hands again. “My Lord! When this is all over, can you take me down there to see some more of those?” She pointed back at the cat.

Taken aback by her sudden attack on my hands, I gaped before pulling myself together. “Uh, yeah, sure. But we have to get through this first. Which means I need your help. We can’t go play with the cats until we find out what’s up with that asteroid.”

She drew herself up straight with a serious expression on her face. “Yes! For the sake of the cats, we’ll stop them!”

“Y-yeah. And every other living thing on the planet.”

“Of course! Them too. Also, My Lord, could I ask that you give me a name?”

I blinked at the abrupt change in topic. “What? You have a name.”

“This name is one I do not wish to associate with anymore. Bridgette was the old me. The one tormented by her past. The one who couldn’t trust. I want to start fresh. To do so, I must cast off my old self completely.”

“I don’t think it’ll be that easy. I’ve seen men struggle for years over an event that lasted seconds. This morning you were still struggling with events that I’m guessing lasted far longer than that. A nap and changing your name isn’t going to help you with what you’ve been through.”

Her determined look softened. “I know this, My Lord. I may never fully recover, and even now I’m fighting my instinct to run just to remain in the same room as you. But it’s a starting point. You’ve already done so much for me without even realizing it. To me, a renaming is a rebirth. A chance to start over fresh. A new me, one who’s not afraid of her own shadow. That purple eared one you were watching. She looked dignified and proud. I want to be like her.”

The character she was referring to was that, indeed. Also mischievous, and a terror on the battlefield. The anime didn’t go into detail about her, but the light novels did. However, if she all she saw was dignified and proud, and wanted to emulate that, I saw no reason to deny her observations.

“There are definitely worse characters to look up to, I’ll give you that. Her name is Persia, by the way.”

“Persia. Persia…” she rolled the name around a bit, then smiled. “My Lord, would you call me Persia from now on?”

“Is that the name you want? Something taken from an anime character?”

“Is that not how you named Ryo?”

“Naming my dog and naming you are entirely different things, and how do you know that?!”

“Mistress Rhia told me.”

Damn that woman poking around in my head.

“My Lord, I like this name, and if you were the one to give it me, then I would follow you no matter where you go.”

I sighed. If she loved the name that much, who was I to deny her? I raised my hands in surrender.

“Alright, alright. From now on, your name is Persia. Bridgette is no more. Happy?”

Bridg- no, Persia smiled, then grabbed my right hand and pulled it to her face. She sniffed at the back of it, then licked it before rubbing the palm of my hand with her cheek.

“I am most grateful, My Lord.” She released my hand, then grabbed the sides of her dress and gave me a deep curtsy, bowing her head. “From now until my dying day, I shall do my best to bring you nothing but happiness and joy.”

I was trying to wrap my head around this enigma of a woman. A few hours ago she was desperate to escape my company. Now she gave me an oath until death. I couldn’t just leave her hanging though. I had to respond.

“Um, yeah. Same here. I’ll do my best to do the same for you.”

Her face lit up as she bounced on her toes, clapping her hands together. Then she bolted from the room.

*

An hour later Rhia smacked John on the back of the head.

“What the hell?!” John said, reflexively rubbing where she’d smacked.

Rhia rubbed the bridge of her nose, frustration clearly evident on her face. She’d just returned from Earth with Linda and Shu in tow, something she could do now thanks to her bond with John, having taken some of his powers as her own. He’d just finished apologizing to the two human women and filling them in on everything that had happened since her departure. She was overjoyed to hear that he hadn’t taken advantage of Bridgette. No, it was Persia now, she mentally corrected herself. She never doubted that he’d ever do such a thing to anyone, but after hearing how Persia had offered herself to him and how he’d chosen to comfort her instead reminded her why she fell in love with him in the first place. What had happened afterward, however, also reminded her that he knew nothing of how the galaxy worked.

“Four hours, John. I was gone four hours. It took me that long to explain to these two,” she indicated the two fuming beauties behind her, “what had happened and how our bond worked to change my appearance. They’re still upset about being left out, as you can see. Now I have to explain to you how the pairing ceremony of the Junai works. We’re in the middle of a possible crisis, and you went and got a second fucking wife three hours after you got your first!”

“Wife? Wait, what?” John’s eyes went wide. He glanced between all three women currently leaning over him, none of whom looked happy. He could almost see the red aura surrounding them. No, there was a definite aura coming off of Rhia. “Second wife? What are you talking about?! I just helped Bridg- I mean Persia, work through some things!”

“Did she request a new name?”

“Yes…”

“Did she make a lifelong pledge of happiness?”

“Uh huh…”

“Did you agree to it?

“Yeah…”

“Did she do anything to your hand?”

“Um, she sniffed it, then gave it a lick. I thought it was weird, but-”

“YOU MARRIED HER! That’s the whole damn ceremony! All that’s missing is the honeymoon and the consummation!”

John suddenly couldn’t look her in the eye. Rhia’s golden eyebrow rose a touch.

“John? What aren’t you telling me?”

Still not meeting her eye, John slumped further into the couch, the media room feeling much smaller and hotter than a few moments ago.

“Uh, I may have promised to take her to Earth after this asteroid business was done with, so she could see and play with some cats.”

Rhia threw up her hands and stormed out of the media room, deciding she needed to be anywhere but here right now. Before she could leave the residence, she heard Linda yelling at John, although for reasons she couldn’t follow.

“Six engagements, two marriages, and a promised trip before going off to possibly face another, more powerful god? Could you raise any more death flags?!”

What’s a “death flag?” she thought as she made her way over to the maid quarters. She paused outside a door and knocked softly.

“Yes?” a surprisingly cheery voice answered.

“Bridg, I mean Persia, it’s Rhia. May I come in?”

The door flew open and a smiling Persia nearly yanked Rhia inside. Even knowing about it, her strength nearly caught Rhia off guard. Persia pulled her in to a tight hug. Surprised, Rhia hugged her back.

“You seem to be doing well,” she said.

Persia released her and fairly danced around the room.

“I am, Mistress! I’ve never felt so free, so, so happy!” She giggled.

Despite her anger at John, Rhia couldn’t help but smile. She knew this was just a temporary high that Persia was feeling at the moment. A thousand years of torment doesn’t disappear in the space of a morning, and she knew Persia was aware of that herself, but she was determined to ride this wave as far as it would take her. There was a light in Persia’s eyes that Rhia had never seen there before.

“He’s great, isn’t he? Our Lord? I know he’ll be able to help me. I can feel it in him. His smell and taste are pure.” Rhia wasn’t sure if Persia was blushing under her fur, but she’d bet good money on it.

“Yes, I’m sure he’ll do the best he can. He wants happiness for everyone, and that includes you, my sister.”

Persia spun to face Rhia, shock written plainly on her face.

“Sister?”

Rhia smirked. “Well, we are married to the same man, aren’t we? That more or less makes us sisters. Although you did jump the gun a bit. There were four others in line before you.”

Persia’s shocked melted in to one of terror. “Oh no! I wasn’t even thinking, Mistress! It just happened. I just wanted a chance to start my life over. I wanted the Bridgette you all knew to die, so I could be a new me. He said he wanted to help me however he could.”

“And that’s when you asked him for a new name,” Rhia concluded. Persia nodded silently. Rhia sighed, then examined the situation before deciding on what to say. Earth was its own entity. It belonged to no longstanding empire. There was no etiquette established as far as marriage ceremonies and order are concerned. Rhia had just assumed she’d be the first wife, but that was based on her own empire’s rules and customs. Here they were building a family around a human born god consisting of one immortal human, two normal humans who had completely different marriage customs, a Dalayin, a Junaian, and an Agneles. Everyone had their own way of doing things where they were from, yet that mattered what here? So far all they’ve managed to establish firmly is that John was amazingly adept at stumbling into marriages and engagements. Could she really hold any grudge against Persia, who simply wanted to be happy for once in her life? The answer to that was already obvious.

Rhia stood in front of Persia, then pulled her into a hug.

“Call me Rhia. No more of this ‘Mistress” stuff. We’re family now.”

Persia’s eyes started water as she pulled back to look at Rhia face to face. She then took hold of one of Rhia’s hands, sniffed the back of it, then gave it a quick lick.

“From now until my dying day, I shall do my best to bring you nothing but happiness and joy.”

Rhia smiled. “And I shall do the same in return.”

She pressed her forehead against Persia’s as a golden glow began to envelop them.