Interlude

Chapter 101

When my call with Mira and Hetcha ended, I flopped down on my couch. The new one in the lounge of the palace of shadows. I was still getting used to the name, accustomed to thinking of everything as the chamber of machinations. That it was at best half-finished did not help.

"Well, I think that went," I said gingerly. I'd fucked up by not admitting I was the dungeon master. I'd just been too surprised by the question of if I worked for myself. Then another question had been asked, and it got progressively more awkward to backtrack.

Sitting on the second couch, Dawn was fussing over a project. A recent development and one born of her needing to hide it for some reason. She looked rather majestic in the tunic and pant set she'd recently acquired. It was marigold orange with a gold linework pattern of skulls I'd added at her request. Cheerfully macabre.

"You could lie if you want to," Dawn pointed out. I had about ten percent of her attention as she worked on a leather vambrace. She'd been one of the many who didn't take up a craft initially, but she'd found an interest recently.

"I think that'll just cause more problems in the long run," I said and sighed. Dawn nodded, not the least bit invested.

"What is that for exactly?" I asked. It wasn't like I knew much about leatherworking, but this was her fourth try. That suggested it was a bit more important than a simple practice piece.

"Hm? Oh, Icarus asked me to marry him," Dawn replied.

"That's ni- HOLD UP!" I said. I went from sitting to functionally bouncing upright.

"Mistress?" Dawn asked nervously.

"Congratulations!" I said, positively giddy.

"Thank you?" Dawn replied. I did my best to reign in my enthusiasm which was probably more intimidating than reassuring in appearance. I was a coiling mess of excitement.

"Let me know if you need anything. I'm happy to set up a special venue or whatnot," I offered.

"Venue for what?" Dawn asked.

"The… wedding? Or is that not your kind of thing?" I asked. It was easy to forget I knew jack-shit about the various customs the skeletons embraced.

"Oh… The Goddess I serve, Laminal, does have a ritual, but I haven't talked with Icarus about that. I supposed I thought we'd just exchange tokens of troth, and that would be it," Dawn explained.

"Oooh, no pressure. You can do what you want," I said, backpedaling hard. Dawn studied me with her golden eyes for a few moments, her newly expressive face scrunched up with a kind of curious annoyance.

"Mistress, what would they do where you're from?" Dawn asked me.

"Uhm… There was a lot of variation but usually some smaller parties for the family or friends, then the ceremony, followed by a larger party," I offered.

"I expected something stranger than that," Dawn said and chuckled.

"I feel like that was a jab," I pouted.

"It was me being honest. You always shy away from talking about things like that, so I thought you were worried because they were strange," Dawn.

"I talk about my old world a fair amount," I countered. Usually, when it came up due to contrast or something like that. I wasn't really into just sitting around and listing random facts about it.

"Yes, but not… as friends would, I suppose. You're always very careful. Tense even at times," Dawn explained.

"I hadn't noticed," I replied lamely. That got me a snort in reply.

"Well, see if you do now and think about why. I rather like it when you talk to me normally. Stiffness doesn't suit you," Dawn said, gesturing with a leather knife. She returned to her task only to curse and throw the half-finished leatherworking aside. Some minor flaw had apparently ruined it.

"You know, I can reset your skills if you'd like to be better at that. I didn't do it originally because you weren't interested at the time," I offered. It was an issue with a lot of the skeletons. They hadn't known what they wanted to do, so I'd been wary of changing their skills. Most did have at least a few ranks of crafting, after all. Forcing them to have a higher level or take a new one hadn't seemed right.

"Perhaps. I'd prefer to make tapestries, but my mother never had time to teach me," Dawn said, digging her fingers into her hair. According to her, she couldn't feel it but experienced resistance.

It had taken a while to sort out that the ability to feel resulted from the illusion. Thus it didn't affect the person wearing it the same way as someone else touching it. Aaron was still having a field day sorting out the spell involved.

"I can check and see if that's an option," I offered. Of course, my abilities let me get around needing that kind of skill when I wanted to make something from cloth. Still, that didn't mean no one else could choose to enjoy the craft. I was more results-oriented but could see the appeal of the process.

"It wouldn't be useful like Henry's art," Dawn said glumly.

"I don't recall saying your hobbies needed to be. Also, bullshit, tapestries are cool," I countered. I hadn't dug into the skill section too deeply since there had been few takers on the point.

"Let's reset your skills and see if you like something new," I offered. I also made a quick image capture of Dawn's current setup if we needed a reference later. Moving around a few things she didn't need or care about was one thing. Her abilities ending up a mess because of my negligence was another.

"Very well," Dawn agreed. She looked like she was trying to hide a touch of excitement. Once I okayed the reset, a panel appeared in front of Dawn.

"So, your max skill rank right now is eight, your level plus three. Some skills have caps and won't exceed a certain number, usually six. I have no idea why," I offered. Dawn was already poking at the arrows curiously.

"The ones like craft with an arrow next to them have a nested menu. Touch it, and more options appear," I explained. Dawn dutifully tested it out, and a skill dropdown appeared.

"Oh, shit," I said in a blatant understatement. The nested list was an index, not simply skill names. Each one was a list of one to four letters in length.

"Is something wrong?" Dawn asked, curious rather than alarmed.

"Noooo, I'm just feeling a bit… overwhelmed and mildly disappointed in myself," I explained. Dawn took that reply in stride and started examining the list. She found the skill she was looking for as a subcategory of weaving. Interestingly she took ranks in weaving and got the option to take a specialization feat to grant her access to the associated skills for that one.

I was way too curious to bother with the cost and paid for her to get a level increase to gain the needed crafting feat. I had blown mana on significantly less productive endeavors and had no problem justifying this one.

"So, you'll have to help me figure out what you need to get going, but then you should be good," I offered cheerfully. Dawn looked at her hands curiously, her expression one I didn't know how to read.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"What Icarus said before… Women like me are given to serve Laminal. Our hair contains the colors of the moons, so we were considered her servants," Dawn said, touching hers.

"My mother tried to keep me, shaved my head, so I had memories of her, unlike the others. I don't know what happened to her once I was taken. The sisters were kind to me, but I always wondered about that," Dawn added.

"Well, I hope it was good things," I said honestly. That situation sounded fucked up to me, but Dawn didn't look like she wanted me to rant about injustice. This was a private hurt she was choosing to share, and I would respect how she handled it.

"You're a strange one, mistress," Dawn said and laughed. I gave her a shoulder pat, not knowing how to read her mood at this point. I left Dawn to her introspect while I looked up Laminal.

Dawn had mentioned the Goddess before, but I hadn't talked with her about it at the time. I'd been thoroughly distracted and pretty much forgot about it. Not cool on my part, but things had been a bit hectic.

[Laminal, CN]

[Goddess of night, stars, secrets, and rebirth. Mate of Dalshan but the bride of none. Laminal was born of the void that once filled the place where the sky came to be. Many sought her among the chaotic old gods because of her secrets which they believed held immense power.

The sun god Rothor schemed to capture her by slaying her mate Dalshan and hiding his body in the cosmic void. He set the great raven of darkness to guard Dalshan's remains to prevent Laminal from recovering him to force her to yield.

Laminal tricked the great raven and slew it, fashioning a cloak from its feathers that hid her from Rathor's gaze. While she could not restore Dalshan to his former state, she could resurrect him as a triple god. He became the three moons of blood, gold, and bone. Together they would give birth to the stars. Rothor's relentless pursuit of them gave rise to the cycle of night and day.]

Well, she sounded utterly metal. It looked like Larel would have some company in the near future. Did I need to add a new temple to my valley? Certainly not. Was I going to? Fuck yeah.