The office was silent this time of night, aside from the incessant ticking of the wall clock. Fourteen months, that’s how long it had been since Grisha had first filed the necessary paperwork to requisition a new clock for her office. They had informed her it would take two to six weeks for a quieter replacement; she was sure it would arrive any day now. That’s what happens when you're stationed in one of the further outposts from the capital, the city of Cainport wasn’t exactly a top priority for the Court. She had tried to hide the thing in her desk once, but had been reprimanded for mishandling the Court’s property. So there it hung, her arch nemesis; the worst part was it was a minute slow, the least it could do was tell the correct time.
With a sigh Grisha leaned back in her chair, she knew that when she started fighting inanimate objects it was time for her to take a break. She stood up and hobbled on pins and needles as she walked her stiff legs to the window. Opening it she leaned out to get some much needed fresh air. These overtime shifts would be her death, though she was thankfully almost done with tonight's work. Then she could try and run home and get a couple hours of sleep before Ida and the baby woke up. Lately she had been working so much that it felt like she never got to see her family, thankfully her wife understood why she had to work so much.
Opening her eyes and looking up at the sky Grisha was filled with dread, the clouds were starting to shift to a dark blue. She ran to her desk and threw open her drawer, fumbling to check her pocket watch. The small silver watch told her a depressing truth, it was almost six in the morning. She looked up at the devil machine; it read two-forty.
One minute slow my ass!
Ida would be waking up soon, alone again. Grisha stormed over to the infernal source of her marital problems and ripped it off the wall. She hurried to the window and made ready to hurl the blasted thing into the ocean below, she knew that if she did, she would be written up for sure.
As usual, bureaucracy won out. Grisha shuffled back to put the clock on the wall.
The door burst open causing Grisha to squeal as she dropped her enemy to the stone floor, there was a moment of relief as the clock exploded into a thousand pieces. The moment was short lived as the person who had come into her office was her boss’s boss. She quickly snapped a salute as she panicked inside, she was thankfully still in her full dress uniform, but she normally kept her excessively dark curly hair under her cap, which was hanging next to the door.
The woman before her was the overseer of this whole city's trade, which put her somewhere in the fifth circle of the Court’s hierarchy, though Grisha couldn’t remember the exact name of her title. The woman was a Tideborn like Grisha, she was also forty years her senior, her face was sharp and angular, her body rail thin, her hair kept in a perfect bun. A single look from her cold eyes could have a lesser official shaking in their boots.
Grisha was shaking in her boots. “Madam Harris, I was just finishing some paperwork!”
Madam Harris looked down at the broken clock with a raised eyebrow. “Grisha Salt, I need to have a word with you.” The woman spoke in her usual tense tone as she walked towards the office window. Grisha awkwardly dropped her salute as she followed the older woman. Harris was looking at the docks below with a calculating gaze. “How is your faith Salt?”
Blinking as she collected herself, Grisha responded. “My faith? I mean, I would say I am as religious as most in the Empire.” She spoke quickly, wincing at her lack of conviction as she spoke.
“That’s good to hear. I find that anyone who is too god fearing is blind, and those without faith are lost. A healthy balance goes a long way Salt. Look down there, the pair walking the pier. What do you see?” Harris said as she gestured with her chin in the direction she was staring.
Following her eyes down, Grisha scanned the pier, this early in the morning there were seldom out, aside from fishermen. The only two that looked out of place were a man and woman, both of whom were pale to the point of looking sickly, black shaggy hair falling across their identical faces, each wore a glove on one of their hands up to their elbows. “Twins. A rare sight indeed this far from the Black Coast. We are pretty much on the opposite side of the Empire from their home.”
Harris scowled as she turned to meet Grisha’s eyes. “I see fanatics that border on heresy. Servants of the Old Gods. Betrayers of our beloved Mother. And perhaps, agents of some darker agenda.” Grisha held her tongue, it was a pretty common outlook among her people in regards to the Twins, normally folks at least had the sense to keep such rhetoric to themselves.
“Ma’am, what does this have to do with wanting to talk to me?” Grisha tried her best to not sound confrontational.
“There is news from the other side of the Empire, some sort of ritual took place that almost killed over a dozen of our diplomats. They are assembling a survey team to inquire as to what happened and track down those that are responsible. They will be heading to the Black Coast in person to carry out the investigation.” Madam Harris spoke calmly, which was a stark contrast to the weight of what she described.
Grisha held a hand over her mouth. “By the All Mother, this is horrible! But, Ma’am, why did you want to speak to me?” No matter how she thought over what she just heard, she couldn’t figure out how she played into it at all.
Unless…
Dread started to sink in as she had a thought.
Harris sighed. “The Holy Order of Infrastructure and Taxation has been requested to send a representative to assist the survey team. Our office was randomly selected from a list of possible candidates for this opportunity. Normally I would personally oversee this, but I can’t due to health concerns. Plus,” For the first time the woman’s tone softened. “I know that you have a child at home-”
“Then you know that I have to refuse this!” Grisha said, her voice turning hard. “I won’t leave my wife alone to raise my child!”
The steel in Grisha’s voice seemed to put Harris off balance, her mouth hung open for a moment before she resumed her scowl. “Now listen! Don’t think I haven’t seen how much overtime you have worked! You and your wife must have taken out every loan you could get your hands on to pay to have a genetic child between the two of you. The cost for a Genesmith’s services is astronomical!” Grisha grit her teeth. Harris was right about that part. Unless you wanted to use a surrogate, or a sperm donor, the only true way for two people of the same sex to have a pure genetic offspring was to pay one of the mythical Genesmith’s to work their ancient magic.
It had taken Grisha and her wife almost ten years to save enough money for the operation, not to mention the mountain of paperwork involved. If they were lucky, they would pay off the loans before they both passed away from old age.
“What’s my financial situation have anything to do with this? So I get some travel pay? Maybe a food allowance? That hardly seems like it will make a dent.” Grisha was already doing the mental math, her mind summoning an abacus to crunch the numbers; it would only save them a couple months of payments. Compared to missing her child's first steps, it wasn’t worth it in the slightest.
Harris grabbed her arm as she leaned in to whisper, her eyes darting back and forth. “You don’t get it, part of the assignment is that if you can uncover the evidence they need to finally bring the Coast to justice, you will be paid a hundred times your yearly salary!”
Grisha felt the abacus in her mind stop dead in its tracks. “What?” She said, her eyes floating off as she let the situation settle in. “But, wait, what if I don’t find anything? What if someone else on the team does?” She was worried, her mind was now shifting to how best to convince Ida that this might not be a bad idea.
Flashing a sneer, Harris continued on. “That’s the best part, so long as the team as a whole succeeds, you all walk away rich.” Her smile fell. “If none of you can find the smoking bullet, well, you’ll still be paid overtime.”
“When would I need to decide? When would I leave?”
Casting her eyes on the broken clock on the ground. Harris spoke gruffly. “Right now. And you would leave in about two hours.”
Grisha went pale. Walking over to her desk she fell into her chair as she stared blankly. This was the opportunity of a lifetime, a chance at a promotion, paying off her family's debts all at once, ensuring that her daughter would grow up without the fears of money. It was both the simplest choice she ever had to make, and the hardest. “I’ll do it, but I have one more condition.”
Harris blinked. “Name it.”
“I need a new clock.”
◆◆◆
Grisha stood in front of her home, her hand was raised to open the door but she was frozen in place. Fear gripped her heart. She had taken the offer for her family, but now came the hard part, convincing her wife to let her go without ending up without a home to return to. Taking a deep breath she went to reach for the knob when the door flew open.
Ida was standing in the doorway, a housecoat loosely hung around her slim figure. She was around Grisha’s height, with long red hair and a face that was always in a perpetual frown despite her usually cheerful deposition. For a moment Grisha just stared at her, she was beautiful as always.
“Another late night babe? I saw you hovering, I take it the paperwork didn’t go well?” Ida said while gently pulling Grisha into their house and into a hug. “Let’s get you into bed, I’ll see to Izzy while you get some rest.” Ida gave her a quick kiss and began to help Grisha out of her jacket.
Grisha stepped away for a moment, putting up her hands. “Wait, Ida there’s something we have to talk about. I’m sorry, but I don’t have a lot of time.” She spoke quickly, fumbling over her words.
“What happened? Is something wrong?” Ida said as she grabbed Grisha’s hands and pulled them together.
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“I have been given a new assignment, one that if it goes well, will pay us enough to wipe out all of our debts. Hells, we will have enough left over after to still buy a new house! Think about it, no more renting from other’s!” Grisha’s voice was frantic, the lack of sleep and abundant stress weren’t helping sell her case.
Ida pulled back. “What? What kind of assignment? Grish, you have that look on your face when you don’t wanna tell me something!”
“Uh, well. Oh god’s, the assignment is to go to the Black Coast and investigate them for carrying out a possible ritual that almost took the lives of a bunch of diplomats and if I find evidence then I get paid a hundred years worth of salary… Also I said yes, and I have to be at the dock in an hour and a half to take off.” She began hyperventilating between words. “And, and, I’m just really scared that you’ll-” She was cut off by Ida wrapping her arms around her.
“Just breathe babe, I understand.” Ida said gently.
Grisha was shaking uncontrollably. “I thought you would be furious!”
Ida held her tightly while whispering in her ear. “Oh, I am incredibly upset. I carried our child for nine grueling months, went through the wonders of childbirth, and now you are leaving for an unspecified amount of time while our daughter is in one of the most important parts of her life.” Her voice was warm as honey as she spoke. Grisha tried to break away and apologize but Ida was stronger than she looked and kept a hold of her. “But, I know you, you probably stood your ground and that bitch Harris told you how much you needed to take this job. When I see her at the market I’m gonna give her a piece of my mind.”
“I’m sorry Ida, I just, I don’t wanna miss Izzy growing up later in life because I have to work till six in the fucking morning everyday! I promise I will make it up to you somehow!” Grisha felt her eyes starting to well up.
Breaking away Ida gave her a long kiss before she stepped back. “I’ll grab your bags and start to pack. You go and explain this to Izzy.” It was obvious that Ida was putting on a strong face, she would have to somehow manage raising a child on her own while still working her own job at the local pub. Grisha made her way through the small house to the nursery.
She crept into her daughter’s room quietly. She made her way to the crib, looking down at Izzy’s sleeping face. She loved looking at Izzy, she was perfect in every way. The Genesmith had done amazing work, ensuring that her daughter would have no health defects, no long term conditions, they even took precautions against health risks that could arise in old age. More than anything, it was just a miracle to see a child that was a mixture of her and Ida. Izzy was a Tideborn like Grisha, but with red hair like her other mother, which was definitely not a normal color for the All Mother’s children. Ida wasn’t a descendant of either the Celestials or the Cabal, she was a pure human of the old world.
While the children of gods and demons had to be wary of interbreeding, there was no such concern with mating with pure human’s. The Lifeweaver had actually planned for it. Apparently the original idea was to find a suitable planet, seed it with one of his variant races, and then slowly have the new planet’s population breed with the pure human stock. Eventually the result would be a new generation of humans that could survive on the new home world without concern of less than hospitable conditions.
Izzy began to stir, she looked up with her bright blue eyes; the same eyes that Grisha had. Scooping the bundle of joy into her arms Grisha began to whisper. “Good morning bright eyes, mommy has terrible news, I have to go on a long trip. I’ll be back as soon as I can, and when I get home, I will make sure to never leave your side again until you're an adult!” She kissed Izzy on the forehead. “My little Izabella, I love you soooo much!” Izzy’s eyes fluttered as they fell back to sleep.
It was hard to put Izzy back down in her crib, Grisha was filled with the urge to run back into the office and refuse this insane assignment, but she had to do this, this was the best way to provide for her family. She wiped tears from her eyes as she closed the door on the nursery.
There was the sound of running water from the bathroom. Ida must have known that Grisha didn’t have enough time for an actual bath, so she would have to do the next best thing. She walked into the tiny bathroom, the ‘tub’ was a barrel that came up to her knees. With a sigh she reached over and turned off the running water. At least it was warm water today. Lastly she reached over and put a few drops of soup into the water.
Grisha closed her eyes as she reached out to her power. She issued a series of commands. Break down. Move into vessel. Rotate for ten seconds while expelling dirt and grime. Return to first location. Reform. There was a splash as her body and clothing transformed into a torrent of water and fell to the ground. The water moved as commanded, first entering the barrel before it started to spin into a whirlpool for ten seconds as the water in the barrel turned muddied, finally the water returned to where it started and Grisha emerged from the pool of liquid.
As she opened her eyes again she began to shiver. Warm water just doesn’t cut it. She tapped into her gift to expunge the moisture from her clothing with a thought. Technically, she was now clean. Though to be honest it felt gross, your body wasn’t dirty, but you also didn’t actually wash the dirt off, it just didn’t reform in the process. Grisha walked out of the bathroom and found the woodstove now bellowing much needed warmth.
Ida was the kind of person that was always thinking ahead how best to help others. Grisha beamed with pride at her amazing wife as she entered their cramped bedroom. Ida had already finished packing most of Grisha’s clothing and travel needs.
It dawned on Grisha, her wife was doing that thing again. As she walked out in the kitchen again she found Ida already cooking breakfast.
She hurried over and wrapped her arms around Ida from behind. “You’re doing that thing you do.”
There was a heavy sigh as Ida continued on with breakfast. “What ‘thing’?”
“The thing where you keep working and working instead of taking a moment to actually talk about how you’re feeling.”
Ida dropped the spatula she had in her hand. “I’m just scared. I don’t know if I can do this on my own babe!”
Grisha grew quiet. “I’m sorry.”
“I know. I’m not angry at you, I just hate this situation. I wish we could come with you.” Ida said as she started shaking slightly.
“If only you cou-” There was a knock at the door that caused Grisha to jump slightly. “Who is that?” She walked over to the window to see if she could get a look. When that failed she made for the door and opened it a crack. Standing in front of her was a woman dressed in various furs and leathers that stood whole head taller than her. The woman was covered in faded scars and had a massive hammer on her back, her pupils were slits. Her long gray and golden hair was tied in an elaborate braid. Grisha couldn’t tell if she was young or old, she seemed to have a timeless face. One thing Grisha knew for sure, the woman before her was an Ono.
“Grisha Salt? I am Losol of the third fang, I am here to escort you to our waiting ship.” Losol said with a slightly broken accent, though they seemed to take great care to enunciate every syllable carefully.
Ida walked towards the door with her hands holding her housecoat closed. “I thought you still had a little time till the ship arrived?”
Grisha turned to her wife and shrugged. “That’s what Harris told me.” She turned to Losol. “I am sorry, I am still saying my goodbyes, I thought I had more time.” She tried her best not to let her voice shake too much in the face of such an imposing warrior.
Raising an eyebrow Losol said. “My apologies to you and your family. We managed to make better time than we first projected, but we must leave immediately. Please say your farewells and grab your things.”
Cursing softly under her breath Grisha turned and embraced Ida. “I will contact you as often as I can. I love you.”
Her voice shaking, Ida responded. “I love you too, don’t make me wait too long now.” They kissed before they broke away, Grisha grabbed her bag and looked into Izzy’s room one last time.
Losol began to walk away from the open door without a word. Grisha hurried to catch up and match their long stride.
“I can see that you would prefer to stay.” The Ono spoke as they made their way down the roughly paved street. “You are doing the Empire a great service, you came highly recommended for your analytical work.”
Grisha was about to respond as they walked into the main street, looking towards the docks she stopped in her tracks at the sight of a white dwarf class cruiser floating in the air above the harbour. She had never seen such a beautiful craft before, the outer plating was all white, the metal treated to appear as marble. The trim work looked to be made from real gold. The whole ship was probably close to a hundred feet from end to end. It appeared to be shaped like a spear head.
It took a moment to realize that Losol had continued walking while Grisha had stood there mesmerized, she swore as she hurried to catch up. There was a growing group of citizens that were amassing to stare at the cruiser. This far out on the fringes of the western coast it was rare to see such a sight. Many of the people in this city had never seen an airship in their lives.
Cainport was technically a neutral city, the imperial office that Grisha worked at was a service that the town paid for to have the Empire’s accountants and bookkeepers help them run their day to day trade. In return the Court was able to gather information from across the continent with ease. It was a mutually beneficial arrangement that many neutral cities used, some even eventually pledged themselves to the Empire after a time, well others simply enjoyed having someone else to review their paperwork.
Reaching a hand up to her cheek Grisha pinched herself. She was doing that thing where she let her mind wander when she was overstressed. While the city and the Empire as a whole were fascinating subjects, her focus should be on how the hells they were going to get on a ship that large. They made their way through the crowd till they were on a pier directly below the floating vessel. A spherical pod emerged from a hidden panel in the ship's hull, the sphere floated down until it came to rest in front of them. The sphere unfolded like a flower, the petals forming a staircase, the interior was open, revealing a pair of seats facing each other.
Losol gestured for Grisha to enter. She did so, though she did carefully test the floating staircase to ensure it wouldn’t fall away first. Losol entered the pod behind her and sat in the opposite seat. A moment later the petals closed around them as the pod propelled itself into the sky. The pod shook slightly as it docked back into its home. The door opened to reveal a shining interior.
Once again Losol waved Grisha ahead, there was a slight smile on the Ono’s face, she seemed to be enjoying Grisha’s awestruck wonder. If the exterior of the craft had been a miracle of engineering, then the interior was a masterpiece of art. Every single inch was etched or embossed with iconography or holy scripture. Grisha felt a warmth in her chest, if this ship was a monument to the Celestials, then it had succeeded in every way imaginable.
A hand fell on her shoulder as Losol pulled her back to reality. “Come, you look tired child. I’ll show you to your room, you should get some sleep while you can. We still have a couple stops before we head to Navalia. The ship tour can wait for now.”
“Right, I never did go to bed last night.” Grisha said aloud as she was led down a glimmering hallway. Eventually they came to a series of cabins, each had a sliding door that was closed. Placing her hand on the terminal the door slid open to reveal a small room. On one side of the room was a desk with a bunk above it, and the other side had a toilet and shower. All in all it had everything that Grisha could ask for in a room.
“Now, get some rest Salt, we will need you at your best when we arrive.” Losol said as they turned to leave.
Grisha made her way inside, putting her bag in a closet beside the door. She didn’t feel like fumbling with her uniform so she quickly shifted into her liquid state and then back to her physical form, making sure to not include her uniform in her transformation. It fell to the ground in a pile as she was now just in her underwear. She crawled into the bunk, ready for some much needed sleep.
As she laid there, her mind went to Ida and Izzy. She had never been away from them before. It was going to be tough, but she knew that this was for them. If it meant she could help her family, she would gladly go halfway across the globe to do so. It was just a shame it meant having to go up against a possible cult of heretics that were trying to serve an eldritch god that had been around since before the stars had even been born.
Best not to think about that part.
A wave of sleep hit her like a brick to the head, she rolled over as her vision blurred, the last thing she saw before passing out was a digital wall clock.
Gods, that would be perfect for my office.
