One would think that being the Unconquered, chosen of the Sun himself, and destined to shake the pillars of heaven and topple the thrones of unjust kings would mean that I wouldn't have so much paperwork to do. But liberating three cities and a good chunk of the Burning Sea from the jade-heeled boot of the Regency had dumped a great deal of it right into my heavily bandaged, severely burned lap. The only thing that cheered me up about the paperwork was that, at the very least, it took my mind off how long I would be in bed.
"Remind me, Chirp," I said as they sat on the side of my bed, their back leaning against one of my heavily bandaged and splinted limbs. I could just barely see my Ruby through the heavy gauze that wrapped around my eyes, and my lips ached as they formed the words. "If I ever want to critique your lunar goddess again, let me do it from underneath a lot of rocks. And metal. And...castles."
Chirp wilted slightly, their pointed ears drooping.
"Nah, do it on a mesa directly under her gaze again, that was fucking hilarious."
I couldn't see who was speaking, but I knew it was Ceaith. She must have slipped into my hospital room to lounge herself on the side of the bed. She was also using my bandages for a place to sharpen her claws, kneading me. The bandages were just thick enough that her claws didn't touch my burned skin -- but the faint tugging made me sway in my suspension.
"Stop that," I said.
"Hmm, nah," Ceaith said, channeling her aspect animal as she kneaded me more.
"Chirp, help," I whispered.
"Ceaith..." Chirp said.
"Nah," Ceaith said. "So, what's you got there? More stupid tax rolls?"
"T-They're not stupid!" Chirp said, their cheeks darkening. They looked down at the rolls. "The desert tribes, the Ben'Shoud, the F'Reman and the Tuathar are all sending, in total, ten thousand goats to provide supply for the cities. Tallying up the city populations, those goats will provide five tenths of the milk and meat required to keep everyone in keeping -- but the Tuathar have also sent a god-goat among the herds. It's...bigger than a
house
?" They narrowed their eyes leaning in close. "That cannot be right."
I closed my eyes, trying to keep the numbers in my head. "We have enough foods...a-are you sure the desert tribes aren't being taxed too hard?"
"This is the stuff they're providing voluntarily," Chirp said, smiling down at me. They reached up and patted my forehead. "They're just happy to be under the Unconquered and not a usurper who has been destroying their religion for the past century."
"Yay..." I tried to wiggle my fingers in appreciation. Ceaith kept clawing at me.
Once the tax rolls were read, we went on to the bureaucratic decisions that needed to be made. While a new Legion's worth of infantry were being trained by Ejana and Goat -- who had allowed for a pause in my training in martial arts due to me being 'wrapped head to toe in bandages and burned nearly to the bone by the holy might of the lunar goddess Ruby' - the cities were working to build munitions and tools for the Legion to use. While they couldn't
make
vortex arrow launchers, they could fletch and forge the implosion-caps that made vortex arrows so lethal. Crossbows and spears were entirely doable. The desert tribes, too, had a long skill with raptor-riding and equestrian arts, and honing those skills with Ejana to turn them from something greater than auxiliaries -- though not quite the same as the terrifyingly well trained Legionary cavalry.
But all this weapon building and ammo crafting and training had created
dozens
of opportunities for people to cheat, lie, steal and abuse one another. Ceaith was my spy on the ground and Chirp was my spy in the air, and between the two of them, they had found every single person who wasn't following my order to free their slaves, everyone who treated their freed laborers as no better than slaves, and everyone who was trying to siphon funds and resources away from the public works and into their own pockets.
Once we had that information, me and my Lunars all met -- with them gathered around my bed, while I listened to their ideas. Xora only suggested that I do what was right. Ceaith and Jaquline got into a hissing, snarling shouting match over whether we should co-opt the worst of the criminal rings to our own ends, transforming the criminal elements into our own spies and agents subtly. Ceaith was in favor of it. Jaquline thought it was just wasting time when we should be hanging people. Chirp, meanwhile, had stuck out their chin and put in their oar about the fact that the ending of certain religious practices by dictate hadn't been followed -- specifically the requirement of queer citizens to hide their loves and their desires from the surrounding city. In the end, the only thing that kept all three from going from an argument to a brawl was the calming presence of Tayar, who was very quiet until she didn't need to be anymore.
Well.
One advantage of being in bed all day is I had time to think -- and I gave orders that seemed to
feel
right to me. I listened to my Lunars and I listened to the reports that I was brought. Sometimes, I sent words for mortal savants and specialists and, once, I asked to speak to the poorest man and woman in the city. Once I had heard everyone's side of things, I decided.
The gangs of looters, I broke up -- but gently. I sent in Xora, knowing that she could fight off a hundred gangsters with knives and crude martial arts, without killing a single one. Then I put Chirp on the job of drafting a way of getting the criminals back into the city without punishing them overmuch -- what mattered was they
stopped
doing crimes, not that someone broke their thumbs or something. While Xora did that, I had Tayar and Ceaith handle the guild-masters who were doing the more overt kinds of crimes. Like, the bricklayers guild had given 'probationary' apprenticeships to their old slaves, the ones who had dragged clay from the pit and worked the kilns and dragged the bricks about -- but they still treated them terribly and taught them nothing.
So, while Tayar spun a comforting web of diplomatic nothings, Ceaith spied, listened, interjected, and manipulated the bricklayers guild into altering their ways.
"I also dangled the fat fuck off a balcony," Ceaith said as she stretched and then flung herself atop my belly, curling up and purring loudly. "By the ankle"
"Ceaith!" I squeaked.
"What, you're a girl right now, this isn't straight," Ceaith said. Then she paused and prodded at my chest. "You are a girl right now, right?"
"That's...a bandage!" I hissed. "And. Also. I. Am. Covered. In. Aggravated. Damage."
"Ew," Ceaith slid off me -- though she didn't do it very quickly. Ceaith was more comfortable being physically intimate with me when I was a girl, it was true. But...there was a part of her that liked touching me, no matter what pronouns I had.
That part also happened to be her most cattish part.
Once she was laying beside me, I heard the door opening. The gloriously curvaceous form of my Pearl walked through the door, her black hair glinting in the light cast off by the glow-globe set in the celing. Tayar brushed fingers that almost looked like talons through her hair, sending strands drifting on the air before settling behind her in a cascading wave of midnight beauty -- and as she paused, standing beside me, I heard Ceaith hissing.
"Diiiiibs."
"Ceaith..." I muttered.
"Ejana is currently showering in the public baths in the first level of the palace after a long frustrating day of beating the shit out of recruits," Tayar said, her voice a warm promise, drifting into my ears like downy fuzz. The sudden absence of Ceaith by my side was announced by a tingle along my sides, a faint flare of lapis blue light, and a soft
crack
of displaced air. The wind blew past Tayar's hair and made some of the feathered tufts stand out for a moment. Her smirk was playful as she walked over and sat beside me, taking my bandaged hand.
"She's going to murder you once she finds out you tricked her," I said, feeling the comforting pressure of her fingers against my bandaged knuckles.
"I'm sure she'll forgive me when she discovers that it is not Ejana, but rather, Jaquline soaping up Xora while Chirp plays on her sanxian..." Tayar chuckled, softly. "Besides. She has already called a 'dibs' upon me. Which did seem a mite impious for our Lapis, considering how I'm
your
wife and not hers but... "She shrugged her shoulders, which set off the most fascinating sway to her breasts. I tried to keep my eyes locked to her face, but I was not having a very good job of it. But, in my defense...uh...
Tayar...warm...
And...tiddy soft...
"W-Well, uh, none of us have dibs. I mean. Are. Dibs. No, no, have dibs was right," I stammered, shaking my head slightly. I blushed, closed my eyes, then tried to get the words out without sounding like a dumbass. "Uh, w-while being an Unconquered and a Lunar has tied us together, t-through magic, it doesn't...I don't want to take advantage of-"
Tayar put her finger on my lips. "I know, my Unconquered. I've observed you and I have a fairly good sense for people...most of the time." She sighed, softly. "I admit, I rather expected you and Ceaith to have less energy after you pleasured one another. But I suppose that underestimating the Unconquered is a cycles old tradition." She chuckled, softly, her finger caressing my knuckles. It was a gentle touch. And...there was something strange happening. As Tayar sat beside me, her posture shifted. She was still beautiful...but she was accentuating different things about herself. The way light and shadow played along her body dwelled on different things, in different light. I found it increasingly difficult to think of her sexually.
It was...curious. But it wasn't bad. I mean, Tayar was still
beautiful
. And I liked being with her. And I definitely liked the gentle touch of her thumb -- soft and warm and ever present -- rolling along my knuckles, ruffling the bandages a bit. "I came to see how your healing was going -- and to ask you some questions." She smiled. "We are newly weds, after all. And while I could spy upon you, or interrogate Chirp or Xora for the juicy details, I would rather skip that and go straight to hearing your tearful confessions and braggardly boasts." Her eyes sparkled.
I grinned at her. "It's mostly the latter. I've been lucky. Not many tears in my life."
Tayar chuckled. "A philosopher once said tears are the salt and spice of life -- they give it the flavor, the meaning, and the direction. Agony and pain are the sinews, and struggle, the muscle and bone. Joy, he declared, was likened to fat."
I made a face, feeling faint twinges along my healing burn scars. "Sounds
charming
."
"He was very fun at parties," Tayar said. "Enjoyed wearing paincloth and drinking unfiltered poison."
I snorted. "So. Ask away."
"How were you Chosen?" she asked. "I know the Unconquered are chosen by facing three trials -- they are given the easy, but cowardly and unjust, route three times, each one more dangerous and dire. At the final, they are Chosen and given the powers of the Sun himself. I'm curious what the fates arranged for you."
I nodded. "All right..." I said -- then told her of how June had absconded with the golden blade of the most valuable spear in Rataka Village. I told her of how I had first stood up for June, then traveled into the Wildfree Woods to rescue her, then stepped between June and the Infused Knight Jerin Kah and, at that moment, been Chosen. Once I was done, I smiled at her. "And you?"
