The Outlands

Tess was getting ready to go home and had just finished playing games with Ellie and Death. Fortune had been called away by Amy, and they had reunited with Gramps who had come from…she didn’t know where he had disappeared to, but around the time they were finishing up he found his way to the room they were in.

“Before you go, let me give you three a little something.” Death said, walking over to Ellie, placing a hand on her shoulder and waiting for a moment, then repeating the process with Gramps and Tess. There was a slight tingling of sorts that faded as soon as Death took her hand off of Tess, and then Death stepped back, surveying the three of them and then nodding her head in satisfaction.

“I’ve put some of my Worship on you.” She explained. “Just enough to be noticeable if you’re used to looking for it. Should help deal with that nosy guy, and it’ll be gone by the time you get home. You all have a safe trip, and Ellie, I’ll talk to you later, alright?”

“Thanks, Death.” Gramps said. “Don’t hesitate to ask if you need anything.”

“We will.” Life replied, stepping into the room. “Thank you, we don’t know what we’d do without you.”

Gramps smiled. “You’d manage. Even if no one else was around, you two are resourceful, you’d figure something out.”

“Well, we’re glad we don’t have to.” Death said. “I’ll be sending you back now, is that alright?”

“If you two are ready, yeah.” Gramps replied, looking at Ellie and Tess. “Don’t forget the ears.”

Tess started, putting away the ears and tail. She had entirely forgotten she had them out while they were playing. “Uh, right. Ready.”

“Me too.” Ellie agreed. “I guess I’ll…uh, talk to you later, then?”

“Yup!” Death replied, waving. “Later! Oh, and don’t be too harsh on the guy, he’s just doing what he thinks is right.”

They were teleported out in a flash of light, and when Tess’s eyes cleared, she found that they were back in the Holy Room.

They weren’t alone, either. She could hear someone frantically scrabbling around behind her and she spun to find Brother Avery on his behind, staring wide-eyed at the group and backing up.

“W-what’s going on?!” He whimpered once Tess caught his eye. “T-this shouldn’t be possible!”

Tess glanced at Gramps who shrugged. “We were having a conversation with Life and Death. I believe Pastor Faust explained it to you, right?”

“But…I thought…”

“That it was all some conspiracy? You wouldn’t be the first. Sometimes the truth is stranger than fiction.” Gramps looked around the room for a moment, then back to Brother Avery. “Looking for a secret passage of some sort? Don’t bother, as far as I can tell there aren’t any here. I mean, I’m not going to stop you from looking, but you’re wasting your time.”

He pointed to a small box that was built into the floor between the statues of Life and Death, right next to where Avery was laying. “The Diviner is in there. You can use it to verify that we really were talking with Life and Death.”

Brother Avery looked at the box as if seeing it for the first time. “R-right.” He stuttered, shakily moving towards it and fumbling around for a moment before finally getting it open. He took out a short black rod of sorts and his face screwed up in concentration as he pointed the rod first at Tess, and then at her companions.

After a long minute of silence, he gingerly put the Diviner back in the box, sealing it up with an audible click and then turning around to face everyone, noticeably paler. “I’m sorry.” He said hoarsely. “I was just…”

“Doing what you thought was right?” Gramps finished. “Death told us. Don’t worry about it too much, it’s a natural reaction to this. We won’t tell the pastor. Just…try to have a little more faith in her. She’s a great person, being out in the sticks doesn’t make her any less trustworthy.”

“U-understood, thank you.”

“Oh, and before we go, don’t tell anyone outside of the clergy about this. The town as a whole is still in the dark.”

Brother Avery nodded, and Gramps smiled. “Good.” He said, gently placing a hand on Tess and Ellie’s backs. “We’ll see you around.” And with that, he herded the two out of the room. They took a short detour for Gramps to let Pastor Faust know they were done with the Holy Room, and then they left for home.

---

Later that night Tess’s homework was interrupted by a knock on her door.

“Hey Tess, it’s me.” Ellie said. “Do you have some time to talk?”

“Yeah, sure.” Tess replied, putting her pencil down. “The door’s unlocked, come on in.”

The door opened and Ellie walked in, gingerly closing it behind her. “So…um…can we talk about being Appointed and stuff? I’m kind of going in mental circles thinking about it and wanted to hear what you think.”

Tess sat down on the bed and motioned for Ellie to sit next to her. “What exactly are you struggling with?” She asked. “I’m not sure how much help I’ll be but I’ll do what I can.”

Ellie sat down, leaning her head on Tess’s shoulder. “I dunno. Like…what made you decide to be Fortune’s Appointed?”

Tess blushed. “Um, it was kind of spur of the moment, but Fortune had been dropping hints and I had always just sorta assumed I would do it? And then during the fight I had with Ilmir she gave me the option and I decided I might as well. She’d been pretty good to me and…well, it sounded like an opportunity to do some good in the world and I wanted to continue freelancing anyway, so I thought it was worth it.”

“I…see. And how have you felt afterwards?”

Tess frowned. “It’s really intimidating, I’m not going to lie. I have a bunch of big tasks in front of me, but I’ve got you, Gramps, and everyone else to help me out, so that’s been helping a lot.” She paused for a moment, then continued, somewhat nervously. “Um, as long as you don’t mind helping out with Appointed stuff. I won’t make you if you don’t want to.”

“Of course I will.” Ellie said instantly. “You don’t even have to ask.”

Tess let out a sigh of relief. “That’s really good to hear. Uh…does that mean it’s not the actual work as an Appointed that’s making you wary?”

Ellie stopped for a moment. “I…guess it’s not. I didn’t even realize that until you brought it up. I guess…I dunno, I feel like I don’t deserve it, you know? I haven’t actually done anything aside from having really good stats and being related to Grandpa, and neither of those were things that I actually did. It just feels…well, like nepotism. What makes me more qualified than someone like Jin who’s actually done some really amazing stuff?”

She stopped again, taking her head off of Tess’s shoulder and staring off into the space in front of her.

“Did Life or Death contact you?” Tess asked. She wasn’t sure how she looked when reading Fortune’s windows, but she imagined it was something like that.

“Yeah.” Ellie said distractedly. She was silent for a few moments before once again resting her head on Tess’s shoulder. “Death says that a large part of it is nepotism, yes, but that even without that I would still be on the radar of the gods. The nepotism just means that they know more about me in advance and have an easier time getting information on me.

“She also says that the connections I have as Grandpa’s granddaughter and the fact that I’ve lived on Mael my entire life just makes things perfect for them. There are apparently only two or three other families from other planes on Mael, so their options are really limited if they want someone they know will be strong and I’m far and away the best.”

She stopped again, looking forward as she presumably got another window. “Life says I would apparently be the best even if their options weren’t limited. And he says not to feel bad about the nepotism thing because most Appointed are, in some way, closely tied to other Appointed or people who the gods are watching closely. It just makes things easier for both the gods and their Appointed.”

Ellie sighed. “That…does make me feel better, though, to be honest, I feel bad. Like…you were just starting to come into your own and get strong compared to me, and now I’m sort of…taking away your thing. And you…you deserve better, life in general has just been hard on you and I feel like I’ve just been handed everything on a silver plate.”

Tess gently extracted herself from Ellie, then turned so she was facing her, placing her hands on Ellie’s shoulders. “Ellie, don’t think like that.” She said firmly. “I’ve been through some hardships, yeah, but it’s because of those that I met Fortune, and that I’m going out with you now. Good things have come of them too. And it’s not about who the stronger of us is. We’re working together, so in a way that just indirectly makes me stronger.”

She blushed a little as she continued. “And if you do decide to be an Appointed, I fully intend to help you out with your duties too. So, really, stop worrying about it.”

Tess looked back to find Ellie, who was also bright red, waiting patiently. “Sorry, Fortune was talking to me. She says not to worry about overshadowing me, at least not in the long term. Apparently, they didn’t expect Fortune’s Blessing and Monster Breeder to be so strong when put together.”

Ellie smiled. “That’s honestly really good to hear.” She appeared to struggle with something for a moment, then made up her mind. She leaned in, giving Tess a kiss.

They held that for a few moments then separated, Ellie smiling from ear to ear. “I really love you, you know that?”

Tess, also smiling, nodded. “I love you too.”

---

Maven gleefully threw off the dress she was wearing, slipping into the much more comfortable shirt and pants she usually wore. She hated the dresses she had to wear for formal occasions, and she hated going to said formal occasions. They always took time away from things she actually wanted to be doing, like going to dungeons.

Really, it should be her brother inheriting the throne. But noooo, it was “tradition” and “Paumen has been ruled by a woman for millennia and stopping now would be a bad move for us.”

Her parents always gave her the same spiel about how it would destabilize their rule and it would mean they wouldn’t be able to drum up support from some of the more traditional nobility when it came to really important matters like bridging the gaps between Paumen and some of their historical enemies.

They said that, since the general population had already had all of those laws abolished, it didn’t really affect the people’s day-to-day life and that the people would be more appreciative if they were able to open up trade routes with other countries and make others see Paumen in a better light, and that changing that rule was something they’d do shortly before Maven inherited, taking the heat for her so she didn’t have to deal with as much of it.

For what seemed like the millionth time, Maven decided her first act as queen would be to demolish that rule if her parents hadn’t already, then she was going to give her brother the throne and then be free. People always said they wanted to be in charge, but they never really knew how much responsibility it was. Yeah, there were perks, but it was so stressful.

Fortunately, her brother was completely on board with the idea, so she’d just have to smile and pretend she wasn’t bothered until she could actually do something about it.

There was a polite knock at the door, and then one of her butlers entered. “Lady Amara wishes to see you, your highness.” He said, giving a vaguely disapproving glance at the dress on the ground. “Shall I show her in?”

Maven perked up. “Yes, please do!” She said excitedly. She loved whenever her great-grandmother came to visit her – she always had such interesting stories, and she seemed to get it more than her parents or even her grandparents. She was basically the coolest person Maven knew.

The butler gave a bow and left, and soon Maven’s grandmother was walking into the room, shutting and locking the door behind her.

“Maven,” she said warmly, “how’s my favorite princess doing?”

“Fine, Grandma. I hate having to come listen to these stupid marriage proposals, but my day is looking better now that you’re here.”

Amara chuckled, giving Maven a hug. “Just bear with it for now.” She said. “I’m working on getting your parents to come around, but you know how they are. Anyway, I got that letter you sent me, and I came to ask you about it in-person.”

It took Maven a moment to remember what her grandmother was talking about. “Oh, the one about meeting Guildmaster Los’s granddaughter?”

Amara smiled. “Yes, that one. You seemed pretty excited, so I wanted to hear a little more, so long as you still want to talk about it.”

Maven beamed. No one else ever wanted to hear about her adventures, so it was nice that someone listened. “Yeah, it was crazy! I was going to a dungeon to train, and when we got there, we found the penthouse suite was booked, even though put word out that we were going to be there. And when I knocked this girl came to the door and…well, um, I might have snapped at her?”

Maven blushed a little as she spoke. “I know I’m not supposed to, but it was really late, and I was tired and I didn’t recognize her so I thought it would be fine? I made some pretty awful threats and…well I didn’t intend to follow through but then Lady Almes and Lady Reshi showed up and scolded me and then we got to talking and I got to go on a couple of runs with Lady Los, it was crazy.”

Amara let go of the hug and sat down on the desk, still smiling fondly. “What’d you think of her?” She asked.

“It was kind of humbling, to be honest.” Maven admitted. “She’s like…the most beautiful person I’ve ever met. Like, maybe even more beautiful than you, it really kinda seemed unfair, since she was still super good-looking right after waking up. And she was half my level, but she was stronger than me, and I don’t even think she was going all-out. I mean, I guess it makes sense when you think about who her teachers are compared to who my teachers are, but it was still crazy to me.”

“And did you like her as a person?”

“I only got to talk with her a little, but she seemed a lot more genuine than most people I meet, especially considering her rank. I liked her.”

“That’s good to hear. I was coming to ask because I actually met her myself the other day and had a bit of a talk with her.”

Maven gaped. “How did that happen?”

Amara winked. “I was at a meeting with some old acquaintances, and The Titans were there and happened to bring Tess along. Want to hear about it?”

Maven nodded eagerly, so Amara continued. “Well, I can’t tell you all the details, but the important part is that Lady Almes and I got to talking, and I think I have some good news for you.”

She paused, glancing mischievously at Maven. “So, in a few months, after Tess and Ellie get out of school, Lady Almes agreed to let you work with them, provided you were OK with it. If you want, you’ll be able to be a part of Tess and Ellie’s party, and The Rumors and Lady Almes will help train you too. Does that sound like something you’d be interested in?”

“Yes!” Maven squealed in delight. “I’d love to! Anything to actually get some excitement!”

Amara laughed. “I thought you’d be happy. Now, don’t tell your parents yet, I still have to bring them around, but I can guarantee you I can get it done. You’ve got a lot of potential and I don’t want to see it go to waste.”

She hopped off of the desk and Maven rushed over to give her a hug. “Thanks so much!” She said. “I can’t wait!”

Amara laughed again, reciprocating the hug. “Now, I think we should go out and let you have some fun, I’m sure it’s been a draining morning. What do you think?”

“Absolutely!” Maven replied enthusiastically. “Let me go get some shoes!”