The Mother of Monsters

Teyva burst into laughter at the incredulous look on Azrael's face. Her sister frowned and crossed her arms, raising her eyebrows and giving Teyva a flat look. Teyva held up her hands in mock surrender, “I’m sorry! I’m sorry! It was a little funny though,” She admitted, leaning back a bit against the chair in Paraklytus’ chambers. The lich had drifted off to the side and was reaching into what looked like a small empty bookshelf. Every time he touched it, though, a book appeared and he pulled it out before setting it aside. His skeletal face turned towards her, those glowing eyes of his flickering with mischief.

“I agree,” The lich said, “It was quite funny, young lady, you should relax a little. Pet one of my cats!” He offered, gesturing lazily to one of the many felines that had come to live in his private sanctum. It had once belonged to Barin Kot as his seat of magical power within Osan. Now it had been converted into a home-away-from-home for the lich who came and went between it and the greater library down below. The various cats were mostly strays that had found their way in with the pilgrims coming to settle in the rebuilt city. Their presence in the room was one reason that Nephral was decidedly absent from this conversation. He didn’t like them for some reason.

Azrael gave him a petulant look before reaching up and pulling her hair back. She grumbled and made her way over to one of the many chairs placed in odd locations around the room. The old lich insisted on ‘looking at things from a different angle’. Teyva wasn’t sure that was the right way to use that particular phrase but she didn’t argue with him. A cat hopped into her sisters lap and she began stroking it, letting out a sigh, “You’re not going alone.”

“Of course I’m not going alone,” Teyva said with a snort, “I’ll have two of you come with me. What kind of idiot would I be to march right into Katal without backup?” She said, shaking her head, “Only a moron would suspect that of me.”

“You could slip in with some newly summoned heroes, they appear all the time,” Azrael suggested.

“Nah,” Teyva said with a wave of her hand, “Even if Perry figures out how to hide our levels and aspects from their scrutiny, we’re still experienced and it’ll show no matter how hard we try to pretend we’re not,” She rest her chin on her palm and glanced in Perry’s direction for a moment, thinking it over. She pursed her lips and concentrated, humming a little before sitting up straight. “Journey! Come here, please!”

“Ugh, not her again,” Azrael grumbled and slumped back, paying far more attention to the cat now..

“Oh hush,” Teyva admonished.

A moment later the divine entity stepped out of the air as if she had always been there. Her regal face turning to look at Teyva with emotionless eyes. She had at least bothered to conceal her wings which would have caused more than a few things to fall over in the cluttered room. “The lascivious queen has summoned me once again, what can I do for you, your majesty?” She asked with all the good humor of a lead brick. 

Teyva decided to ignore the jab, “Question, my companions have the ability to level up, do you have the authority to give them access to their status window?”

Azrael sat up a little, suddenly much more interested. Journey raised an eyebrow and huffed, “Of course, the system windows are part of my domain, why would I not be able to bestow such a blessing? It is a simple thing.”

Teyva crossed her arms, “And you never mentioned this to me because…?”

“You never asked, and it seemed ultimately frivolous so I didn’t bother,” The entity said, “Such considerations are your responsibility, not mine, I am but your ‘bitch’ remember?”

Teyva groaned, “Alright, alright, I get it, can you do it for my companions now, please?”

“Fine,” The capricious goddess muttered and waved her hand, “Will there be anything else?”

“Yeah, actually, I need a quest made up, for me that I can share with two others,” Teyva said.

Journey frowned at her, “I cannot simply dole out experience, a proper quest is something you should arrive upon through your own actions,” She protested, “I-”

Teyva held up a hand to silence her, “Easy, I just need a believable low-level quest that says we’re lost heroes who need to go to Katal. That’s not hard, right? Doesn’t have to even come with an experience reward, getting there is its own reward, right?”  Teyva suggested with a grin, glancing over at Azrael who had leaned back in her seat and was moving her hands around in the air, her expression thoughtful. “You’re getting the hang of that quickly.”

Azrael glanced her way, “I’ve seen you do this thousands of times, I may not be able to see what you were doing, but I get the idea. All those strange words of yours make far more sense now.”

“What strange words?” Teyva asked.

“Stats nonsense,” Paraklytus and Azrael said at the same time.

Teyva looked between the two of them, Oh I see how it is, real nice guys, she thought grumpily. She looked back to Journey whose lips twitched upwards just a little before returning to that perpetual thin line. She narrowed her eyes at the divine being, “And keep the snark out of the quest, if you don’t mind, we might have to share it with the Katali and I don’t want something like ‘see if I care if you make it’ showing up in there and getting us more weird looks than we’re already going to get.”

That comment rewarded Teyva with a rare frown from the goddess, “Fine.”

Teyva beamed at her, “See! That wasn’t so hard!”

Journey merely huffed and turned away, vanishing into thin air.

“Man she hates you,” Azrael chuckled.

“Yeah, yeah,” Teyva grumbled and glanced down at her hands, “I’m not going to enjoy maintaining [Alter Self] pretty much all the time for the foreseeable future.”

“A little discomfort over stealing some heroes out from under that old bastards nose? I’ll take uncomfortable any day,” She said, “Also, while we’re there, we should try to rescue Myranda’s friend.”

“Ah yes the elf,” Paraklytus said, drawing Teyva’s attention. There were several books floating around him, all open to various pages that flipped now and then.

Teyva nodded, “I agree, it’ll probably be the only chance we get to rescue her before a war breaks out. When it does, I seriously doubt Bertrand will keep her alive. Twisted son of a bitch,” Teyva said before adding, “How’s it coming on your end, Perry?”

“I’m afraid I am not a primal goddess capable of waving my hand and altering the fabric of reality as I see fit,” The Archlich pointed out, “Not that I would want to be, given her demeanor it sounds like a tiresome and dreary existence. I have a few ideas but they may take some time, your majesty. Concealing one’s aspects using mana control is one thing, but suppressing them enough to avoid the detection of the powerful tools used by the humans? That will prove difficult.”

“But it can be done, right?” Azrael asked, “No point in getting excited to go if we can’t meet the basic requirements of sneaking in.”

“So you are excited!” Teyva cut in, grinning.

“Shush,” Azrael shot back with a barely restrained smile.

“Don’t tell me to shush,” Teyva snipped.

“I’ll tell you to-”

“Ladies! Save the squabbling of siblings for another time, please,” Perry said, holding up his bony hands, “Yes, it is possible, I will consult with my fellow craftsmen amongst the Akurai and see about a few pendants that will serve such a purpose. I will warn you that if such objects are damaged, you will be quite exposed.”

“Always a catch,” Teyva said with a shrug, “It’s fine, we aren’t easy to hit.”

“Damn right,” Azrael agreed and got to her feet, “Are we done here?”

“Hot date?” Teyva asked.

“As a matter of fact, yes, I would like to see my husband every now and then,” Azrael pointed out, “And you should probably do something similar or you’ll upset Yaga,” She paused and added; “Oh and you should probably figure out if you're bringing Sari or Myranda with us. Conrad is busy after all.”

Teyva rose to her feet, “Sounds like a plan,” She said before turning to nod to Perry, “Thank you again, old friend.”

The Archlich simply bowed, “I am always at your disposal, your Majesty.”