Miss Mea had vanished! Ghoumi had taken her eyes off her tall savior for only a brief moment and she was gone. When Miss Sunny had asked if she wanted to go back, the only thing Ghoumi could think of was the offer Miss Mea had made. To go adventuring again. Now she was left behind with people she didn’t know, except the aurum girl who she still mistrusted.

“It would seem that we chased her off,” the stately woman said, peering about the room with spear in hand. A spear, inside a rather nice-seeming place. Ghoumi wasn’t sure what to think about that. “I was rather looking forward to having a conversation with her, but no matter. I have time, and I do believe she will be back. Now, she seems to have left you here in her place,” she said, locking firmly on Ghoumi and approaching to a more conversational distance, though not looming or condescending the way some tallfolk would.

“Whom, may I ask, do I have the pleasure of speaking with?” The lady said, making more than obvious that she was, like Miss Mea and her aurum so-called sister, of a somewhat higher social order than Ghoumi was. Not that she was as bothered about such things as the culai and elf, who were having a hushed and rather heated conversation nearby while the golden-headed dunce tried not to hover anxiously.

“Ghoumi,” she said, with as much confidence and pride as she could. Everything else in life that might have identified her had been left behind, either in that pit or before it. All she had left was her name, but she was happy to have at least that much left. That and the hope that she’d be able to build new things. Perhaps with this lady, if Miss Mea had built a party in the weeks Ghoumi was recovering in Miss Sunny’s Dungeon.

“Thirty-Second Princess Ellena,” she said with a polite nod. Even a back-woods village kid like Ghoumi had heard the stories, and if she was that Thirty-Second Princess then recruiting her just proved yet again Miss Mea’s greatness.

“Might I suggest we find a seat?” The princess said, gesturing with the hand not holding her weapon before moving to sit first. Ghoumi joined her at the table, struggling only a little with the elf-sized furniture. “I do not believe our mysterious friend brought you here, however she managed that, for no reason. Am I wrong?”

“I don’t know, we were just asked if anyone wanted to go back and I volunteered.” The princess nodded thoughtfully then tilted her head slightly to one side.

“Might I then presume that you were one of those abducted?” Ghoumi suddenly doubted why Miss Mea had summoned her. The thought hurt, but she realized that she’d been brought in to serve as a witness, rather than because Miss Mea wanted to adventure with her. But even if it hurt, she was faithful, and she would serve.

“Yes,” she said, then collected herself to tell the story. It had been on her mind for years, something she spent those long dark times in that pit thinking about. The hope that she would one day find freedom, and would need to tell it. Her first real adventuring story, a tale of woe that she swore would begin a legend! Such a thing, she knew, was pure fantasy. At least it had been, until Miss Mea came.

She stumbled in a few places as she recited the tale, but Ghoumi felt proud that her voice didn’t waver at all. The lurid details she kept to a minimum, because it wasn’t about that, all of them in that pit had all agreed about that. It was a story about surviving, and that’s the tale she told, but by telling it to the princess it would also become a story about justice, so she included all the names she could remember. By the time she got to their rescue, Miss Mea’s companions finished their own conversation and came over to sit around the table.

“I hadn’t heard about this particular adventure,” the culai said while glancing pointedly at the aurum girl. There followed a little lull when a very well-dressed waitress decided to approach, asking if they wanted to order anything. Ghoumi took the chance to ask after a schnapps her father had once boasted about having, a delicate brew distilled from a rare berry and infused with a complex profile of spices, one from each of the year’s moons. She was surprised when the elven woman didn’t so much as blink at what Ghoumi thought would be a tall order, or even ask for payment in advance. She simply moved on to the next until everyone had ordered — or not. Princess Ellena and Mia both just wanted water.

“Apologies, I’m Anise and this is Fenell,” she said, gesturing to her quiet elven companion once the waitress had left.

“It was Mia’s first adventure,” the aurum girl jumped in. “Mia and sister rescued them before we went to the goblin place and found you.” Ghoumi almost wanted to protest that the soft-headed girl hadn’t actually done any rescuing, but she wasn’t that uncharitable, so she just introduced herself.

“Ghoumi,” she said with a nod.

“Well met, but don’t let me interrupt, you were saying Princess Mia and Mea— ”

“Not princess,” Mia grumbled.

“Princess Mia and Mea dropped in? I missed the first part, but that didn’t sound like a euphemism.”

“It wasn’t,” she agreed. Ghoumi found herself liking Anise and the way she didn’t hold back in teasing the childish and somewhat dim twin. She shot her a small smile before continuing her story. “We were being kept in a pit half full of hot water deep underground. It shook so bad when they came down, I thought the whole place was collapsing, but it wasn’t. Instead it was Miss Mea, and she got us all out of there. She just needed to learn two new Spells on the spot first!” It was the tradition for such stories to be slightly dramatized, and she was doing her best, but it was also all true. Princess Ellena looked skeptical but kept taking notes. Anise nodded, looking slightly sour.

From her robes and physique, the pale woman was probably a mage, and from her reaction Ghoumi surmised she’d probably seen Miss Mea do the same thing. A mage would know exactly how impossible a feat that was, but after returning from the mountain Ghoumi had come to know the truth. It was a truth that had revealed the flimsy nature of impossible, a truth that had reordered her understanding of the world — truth about Miss Mea’s divine origins.

But her tale wasn’t yet over, and she continued while trying to show Mea in a heroic light while downplaying the actual grim terror Ghoumi had felt at the time. When she got to the part where she had returned to the guard room, she remembered that moment of crossing from sewage-stinking tunnel to gagging on the acrid metallic taste of—

That moment seared through her with such intensity that she was forced to stop.

To her own surprise, however, it didn’t last long; even though the images came to her as fresh as ever, and the stink was hot in her nose, it was somehow bearable. She decided to say that the room had been empty when she opened that door, rather than the way she’d actually found it. A little bronze ball made of interlocked plates and a small glowing gem that had lain on the table since before she arrived suddenly blinked red. She had been trying to ignore it, since it sat next to a helm she very much recognized and didn’t wish to see; but even if Ghoumi didn’t know what the ball was for, the rest of them seemed to. Both princesses’ brows knit together, Mia in particular seeming very unhappy, but no one interrupted.

She decided to end on a dramatic high note, conveniently skipping over her own panic attack, and concluded with the moment they’d all been whisked away to a god’s faraway mountain home. Everything after that was part of a different story, one that wasn’t finished enough to tell yet, but for her first telling Ghoumi felt she’d done the story justice. It was a good moment, a moment that she’d dreamed about before setting off on the road to adventure long ago.

The full body jitters and trembling that just wouldn’t stop, those she hadn’t expected, but she didn’t much mind — she just needed a drink to calm down and all would be well. A heady scent caught her right then, dragging her attention to a mug that was conveniently sitting right in front of her. She’d been so absorbed in her own story that she hadn’t even notice her order arrive, or that everyone else had been served as well. She eagerly reached for it, and the first sip was the best thing she’d ever tasted. The second was better.

“Would you be willing to explain a few things in more detail?” The princess said, breaking Ghoumi from her dazed high.

In all her audience had been quite attentive throughout the telling, which she’d taken as a good sign that she was doing well. That feeling was punctured when she saw just how many notes that Princess Ellena had taken, and deflated further when she was asked a long series of questions that began with political details — such as so-and-so’s crest, or if Ghoumi knew which nobles’ houses any of them had been taken to. Those were difficult mostly because such things had been very far from her mind at the time, but also because she was just a nobody from a backwoods village. She knew that aristocrats had things like a coat of arms, or special lineages called houses, but nothing more than that.

Fortunately, the Thirty-Second Princess was very patient and just waited to record any details Ghoumi could remember with a pleasantly neutral expression, pen in hand. Things continued in that fashion for long enough that her drink ran out twice, but the princess just wordlessly signaled a refill. The process certainly wasn’t fun, but it felt necessary. It felt like justice.

By the end of the questions all the excitement that had buoyed Ghoumi up was gone, leaving her drained and feeling the dark of that pit creeping up inside her. The God of the Mountain had personally talked to each of them, calling them survivors, helping them come to terms with what had happened, what they could expect going forward, and perhaps most importantly, how to deal with those awful feelings.

For some reason though, Ghoumi didn’t feel like crying. She felt comforted instead, as though things would be good again someday, even if they weren’t right that moment. She felt accomplished, too, which was something she really hadn’t ever felt before, and it felt good. A quick glance at her status showed she was pretty low on stamina, but not so much she needed to retire for the evening immediately, so she flagged the waitress down and ordered a new drink — a bitter stout that had always left her with pleasant dreams and no headache the next day. The others had gotten restless during the long questioning and had moved to another table to play some sort of game that Ghoumi hadn’t seen before, but were quick to abandon it in favor of coming back when the princess waved them over.

“Thank you, Miss Ghoumi,” the princess said with a small bow. “Your testimony will be invaluable. Fear not, nothing more will be asked of you in this matter and know that those who did this ill will find their deeds returned to them in fullest measure. I do, however,” she turned her burningly serious gaze towards the others, who were just then sitting down at their table, “find myself with a few more questions. They are unrelated to my investigation, but I believe them to be pertinent to the situation at large, so I ask that any who might know answer if able.”

“Mia will try!” The aurum girl said with her usual obnoxious cheer, while the rest of the group just let her agree for them.

“Very well then,” the princess said, consulting her notes. “The matter of learning Spells to escape. Not an embellishment, I presume?”

“Ha,” a single weary laugh escaped from Anise, who spoke up before Ghoumi could. “No, not an embellishment. I wasn’t there and didn’t see that specific incident you guys were talking about, but I’m a mage and can vouch because I’ve seen Mea do it. Couldn’t begin to explain how, but she can see Spells and copy them. I demonstrated [Create Water] just once to her, and she mastered it on the spot. She’s a derivative too,” she said, with a flap of one pale hand that said she thought that explained something. Even princess Ellena seemed puzzled however, so Anise sat up a little straighter and continued.

“Well, I’ve only read about it just once in a book I found in the guild’s library. It’s supposed to be a top-level theoretic treatise on magic as a system, but I’m not a court mage or scholar so maybe I’m wrong — I just don’t think so. Anyway, a derivative is someone who can, well, who can derive related magic. I only showed Mea [Create Water], but she can cast things in the water school that I can’t.

“I’ve talked magic with her regularly since we met, but she refuses to explain in a way I can understand. Maybe her ability to learn so fast, and without needing the verbal component, is related to that. Do you know, Princess Mia?” She said, turning to the quiet golden-headed woman next to her with a sly smile that seemed to be covering nervousness. Ghoumi could tell the culai woman was trying to tease, but the royal in question was frowning ferociously.

“No,” Mia said with a sulk. “Mia only knows that sister’s eyes glow sometimes. She doesn’t talk to me about everything, even if Mia asks.”

“The glowing eyes are seriously unnerving,” Anise said with a slight shiver.

“It is because Miss Mea is the progeny of a god,” Ghoumi said, proud to be able to share the truth. She hoped that she had managed the same serene and wise tone that Miss Sunelli, the high priestess, always had when talking about their nameless god. Mia just made a face, but princess Ellena was positively alarmed, hand slapping the table as she turned on Ghoumi.

“A god? The sirol have a god?” Princess Ellena said. “Father mentioned nothing of that in the briefing.” She muttered something else as well that Ghoumi couldn’t hear.

“The big one!” Mia said with immense cheer, the sulk from before completely gone. It was the same phrasing Miss Sunny used on occasion. It seemed far too casual for someone like Ghoumi, so she didn’t use it herself, but it was apt.

“The God of the Mountain is very, very large,” Ghoumi said by way of addition, not that mere words could convey the sheer presence of a deity. “But the god uses a less imposing body in the meetings with the emissary of Aita Lluvri. I saw it once,” she said, thinking back on it. “It looked just like Miss Mea and her,” Ghoumi said, indicating the aurum girl.

“I was told there were three people representing the sirol side,” The princess said, puffing out a held breath. “But that is no matter. I would like to know more about this god, if you would.” It didn’t sound like a question. Ghoumi knew she was a little numb to the social gulf between herself and someone like princess Ellena. Between her time as a plaything and the time she spent with a god incarnate, she’d just lost her sense of awe. But she did respect the Thirty-Second Princess, A-rank adventuring legend and protector of peace and justice. She also had no reason not to talk about her new faith.

“Yeah,” she said while setting down the nearly empty mug she’d been nursing. “I’m not even sure how to begin.” She blew a long, pleasantly alcohol-laden, breath while thinking it over. “I guess I have to start by saying I can’t do justice with words, so anything I say will fall so far short of the truth that I’m not even sure I should try. But you did ask, so here goes. Before I was captured, I was an adventurer — well, since I’m free I guess I’m an adventurer again, aren’t I?” She was buzzed enough to ramble and knew it, so she tried to reign it in a bit. “Anyway, I know the system about as well as most I’d say. Classes and ranks and the talents. You’ve ascended your class, haven’t you?” She asked, focusing on the coppery-haired veteran sitting across from her.

“Yes,” the princess said without a trace of impatience. “I am afraid my exact class is a national secret that I may not divulge without sufficient reason, but I have indeed done so. Why do you ask?”

“Well, if the God of the Mountain was just someone who’d ascended once or even twice, I wouldn’t say god you know? That’s what you’re really wondering, I bet.” She laughed a bit, then remembered she was talking to a princess and refocused herself with a cough. “I don’t think any number of ascensions could give you the Skill [Paradox].” She knew before she said it what would happen, and had prepared herself for it. The vertigo inducing truth of something utterly impossible rolled through her like a wave, sending nasty tingles through her teeth and set a brief numbness on her tongue. Everyone but Mia, who was as cluelessly bright as ever, nearly fell out of their chairs as understanding of the Skill flowed into them from the system.

“What was that?!” Anise shouted, surprisingly loud for someone only a little taller than Ghoumi herself.

“If you think that’s bad, imagine being in range when it gets used. You understand at least a little now, right?” Fenell said nothing, but he seemed to be the silent sort and took it with the kind of inwardly focused grimness one might have when fighting a headache. Anise just seemed completely thunderstruck after her outburst, eyes reflecting something only she could see, but princess Ellena recovered quickly and seemed thoughtful.

“So, that Skill,” she said slowly, considering her words. “You have witnessed it in action?”

“Yes, three times that I’m certain about, but there were a few times where really crazy things happened without an invocation that I could hear, so I don’t know if that was the same Skill or something else.” The princess nodded with a soft hum and made a quick note.

“Does it really work?” The princess’ eyes practically bored into Ghoumi, but the excellent drinks and her sure knowledge of the truth left her feeling too serene to be upset by just that.

“Yes, it really does! It’s a Skill that makes both parts of a paradoxical statement true at once. I know it sounds impossible, but that’s the nature of a god!” She glanced around with a grin, pleased to find that everyone was struggling to take that in; everyone but Mia, who looked as though she’d just been told that water was wet.

But that was to be expected, as the people of the mountain had a special relationship with their god. Namely that they didn’t really think of that great being as a god at all! In spite of being resurrected from graves so old they’d become dust, in spite of their blighted and poisoned lands being restored, and in spite of the many great works and gifts their god gave them, they were unimpressed. The only exception had been high priestess Sunelli, who had given everyone rescued from that pit shelter at the god’s request. But, as one of the beastfolk, she did not even live among the sirol, much less share their callous attitude.

“Being there, witnessing that Skill being used not just with your eyes and ears, but with your very self! It’s beyond words.” Ghoumi continued, unable to contain herself. “The first two invocations were, well I admit I didn’t understand them. The god spoke and the world was changed, but more than that I couldn’t even begin to explain. But the third time! The third time I saw the Skill invoked, the entire sky came down close enough to touch, with such vivid realness that the most distant star in the sky was more clear and had greater detail than my hand here in front of my face.”

She held up her hand to demonstrate and was awed by it once again, by the lack of pitted and puckered scars and burns from those detestable noble ladies in their salons with their tea and sweets and afternoon smokes. Just the smooth tough skin of someone who worked with her hands, but cared for them too. Restored to what they’d once been as a gift, bought and paid for by Miss Mea, of the god’s healing mercy.

“Under that sky everything was clear all at once, every distant and near thing was in focus at the same time. I could not bear it and had to turn my eyes away, but such is the nature of a god.” Insufficient — in spite of proclaiming the god’s greatness, that was what she felt. Ghoumi had to remind herself, as Miss Sunny had several times, that she could not compare herself to a god; the difference was so vast, so insurmountable, that she shouldn’t feel shame. That left only regret that she could not appreciate the god’s gift fully, and she couldn’t. She had neither the words nor the stomach.

“This is all too much for me,” Anise said. “The only thing I think I really understood was that Mea is the kid of someone with talents like that?” Ghoumi nodded. Anise’s pale face seemed to darken gradually until she came out of her chair and tried to shake the aurum girl, who didn’t move even slightly despite having an entire person practically hanging off one arm.

“Is that why Mea can do all that magic I can’t? Tell me it’s not, Mia! It’s been driving me completely crazy; I show her something it took me a year to learn and she can do it better than I can moments later! And she never seems to run out of mana either, what’s that all about? How am I supposed to compete with that? Ah!” What she was doing, and to whom, must have registered because Anise’s face went even more pale than usual as she let go and stepped back with a small cry.

“I mean, Princess Mia. My apologies.” She said, bowing low. “I-I think I need to lie down, if you’ll excuse me.” She nearly ran in her haste to leave, and Fenell jumped up to follow.

“I shall escort her to our room. Your highness,” he sketched a quick bow to Mia, “my princess.” He bowed more formally to princess Ellena, and then followed Anise.

“Rather excitable, is she not?” The princess said with a somewhat sad smile aimed at Mia. “I must admit I envy you. Those who once travelled with me, those that I might call friend, have gone. Some retired, some reassigned, but most perished in the journey. You are still young, so you must treasure them lest you regret it.” Mia nodded, and began to rise before the princess raised a hand. “I believe it best that you leave them to the morrow. Cooler heads and calmer hearts will prevail. For the moment, I yet have questions, if you would both indulge me.” Ghoumi didn’t think she was asking, and decided to order a water to finish the night. Mia sat back down without a word.

“Now, Miss Ghoumi. You mentioned that you are an adventurer. Would you happen to know if those who were imprisoned with you shared that profession?”

“Vuelln wasn’t, and neither were Edda Cline or Smurgha. I don’t think Kyninu was either. Most of us were though. If I might, princess, why does that matter? Miss Mea asked the same thing.” The princess got that thoughtful look on her face again, but this time it was tinged with unmistakable anger.

“I am unable to say with certainty why Mea would ask, though I am of a sudden curious to know the reason. For myself, it is a factor which compounds the former lord’s crimes and is a problem which I must seek to mend. Adventurers are a precious resource, one which must,” she thumped the table heavily for emphasis, “be utilized in the fight for our nation’s survival. I also happen to take threats against adventurers very personally.” Ghoumi felt a chill chase up her spine when the princess touched her strangely shoddy looking spear. She had heard many stories about the Lightning-Lance Princess and, in that moment, she believed all of them. Then the feeling passed as princess Ellena took a deep breath and jotted a few notes.

“I have quite a few more questions for Mea, but only one more for you, Mia. In the manor house’s makeshift holding cell, a guard was found. Do you know about this?”

“Mia knows,” she said, voice uncharacteristically lifeless. She seemed truly tired now, practically wilting where she sat. It was so different from her usual bubbling energy, and so childish, that Ghoumi had to stifle the urge to giggle. “Sister was going to kill him, but Mia didn’t think that was necessary, so sister put him in there.”

“Is that so? Did she perhaps neglect to mention just how she secured the gentleman?” Mia just frowned and tilted her head to one side. “I do believe I am grasping your relationship, and her personality.” She said with a thoughtful smile. “You see, the gentleman was found bound in the cell upside-down and by one ankle. He was not located for some time, and the joint may never heal as a result. Were things other, I might find such capricious negligence cruel but, as it stands, he is likely to receive death as a sentence for being complicit in the lord’s crimes. As will each and every one of the noble guards, if I have my way. As a result, I must admit I find the situation amusing. More than I ought, at least.”

Mia didn’t have any response to that, and the conversation fell into a lull as the princess wrote a few more lines in her notebook. Ghoumi sipped at her water but found herself, much like Mia, becoming quite tired. It was late and the sun had long vanished, but it occurred to her that she had no lodgings. Nor any money to pay for such. Nor for the drinks. The very expensive drinks. The very expensive drinks. As the growing worm of panic threatened to overtake her at being abandoned, the princess interrupted.

“I shall settle the bill. It was an excellent first telling, Miss Ghoumi, and I wish you many more stories in your career. Though I do earnestly hope they will be less personally tragic, as I believe you deserve better.” It was a very kind smile the princess aimed at Ghoumi, a veteran’s recognition of a rookie’s accomplishments, and it meant the world to her.

“Now,” she continued, professional expression returning. “I will be booking lodgings here at this establishment, and I hope to see the both of you, and your wayward sister,” she said to Mia, “again on the morrow.” Mia nodded and reached a hand out to Ghoumi.

“Mia is tired. Since sister never sleeps in her bed, you can have it.” The aurum girl paused for a moment, looking troubled. “Mia thinks that sister forgets to sleep at all anymore. Or bathe.” She sighed, then turned to the princess. “Goodnight Ellena.”

“Goodnight.” Ghoumi saw the princess still writing in her notebook as she followed the astonishingly tall aurum girl out of the common room and off to the most lavish room she’d ever seen. With the softest bed she’d ever felt. She was out the moment her head touched the pillow; her last thought was to wonder just how much it all cost.