Chapter Text
Zeetha’s hands shook.
Higgs was missing. Gone. Had been left behind on the island below. Crushed by God Queens.
Zeetha’s hands shook.
Agatha was outside the airship, hanging from cables as they flung backwards through the fight of giants. Zeetha could do nothing to help her.
Zeetha’s hands stilled.
Higgs was alive, Ratman finally told her. Somehow the portal had opened. Steelgarter had fled through it and Higgs had followed her before the island started collapsing. He was alive.
Zeetha’s hands shook.
The ruins were destroyed. All that lost history of Skifander and its guardians were certainly nothing but shards and scraps of parchment and bone. The Brek’kah stone had been left behind, unharmed, probably, but buried in rubble and likely the ocean. She wouldn’t be reuniting it with its twin after all. She should have known better.
Zeetha’s hands shook.
Steelgarter had fled to Skifander to do who knows what. Higgs was trapped in Skifander. Higgs was lost to her. Skifander lost to her once more.
So much for not being lost anymore.
Zeetha trembled.
Agatha had been alone with the Queen for seconds, and now she was unconscious and gaunt, sucked dry. Zeetha had left her alone. Zeetha should never have left her alone.
SHE WAS GOING TO KILL—
Zeetha’ hands shook.
Agatha had passed out when with the Queen. She must have been exhausted from everything. She was fine, just tired. Looked well, if asleep. It made sense she passed out. It did… It did…
Didn’t it?
Zeetha trembled.
Neena came to her. She is so, so sorry.
Zeetha smiled.
Agatha awoke: alive and well if tired.
Zeetha trembled.
Zeetha was confused. One moment she was at Agatha’s bedside and the next she was convinced she was starving. That she had to get food.
She wasn’t starving. She wasn’t even hungry.
She left her alone with Agatha again.
Zeetha was…
Was…
…was…
“Zeetha?”
Zeetha didn’t move from where she sat. She wasn’t sure where she sat—only that it was small and dark.
“Oh, Zeetha…”
A hand touched her shoulder. She didn’t react. Some distant part of her recognized the voice, if not the words.
“Hey, hey it’s going to be okay.”
She didn’t move.
“How about we get you something to drink… or to eat… you haven’t been eating again, have you?”
…
“Zeetha?” her shoulder shook slightly…
…
“Alright, here, move over.”
Her body moved of its own accord. A different weight than the wall appeared at her back. This one was warm. It wrapped around her, over her neck and around her stomach. A weight appeared on one of her shoulders against her head.
She didn’t move. She didn’t speak.
And then she did.
A sob broke through her chest as the world crashed into her like a cave in. She pulled her knees as close as she could with the warm obstruction in their way and cried into them. Her shoulders heaving with each breath.
She had no idea how long she cried, but eventually she began to comprehend humming in her right ear. She turned her face to find a shock of fresh-blood-red hair, and a moment later realized it was Violetta under it.
“Vi…” she managed to hiccup out between slowing cries.
“Hey, there you are. I got you, okay,” Violetta said. Something rubbed her left arm and she turned to look at it and realized it was Violetta’s hand.
Looking down she realized the warm obstructions were Violetta’s arms and legs.
Violetta was wrapped around her. Squeezed into the tightest space between Zeetha and the wall. Packed so close, that Zeetha didn’t think her bottom actually hit the floor, held up by the force of them leaning back.
Zeetha shuddered. “…I’m crushing you…”
“Nah,” Violetta shook her head, flyaway hairs hitting Zeetha in the temple. “Kinda comfy actually,” she admitted and Zeetha vaguely made a note she needed to cuddle with Violetta more. Mostly she just stared into the dimness.
Apparently she had thrown her swords, the ones Albia gave her anyway, at some point at the other wall. One of them was sticking out of it so she had thrown it with some force too. She didn’t remember doing that at all.
Actually, she didn’t really remember the last two… no it was three days, period. Just flashes here and there from the moment she realized they were leaving Higgs behind to be crushed. That, to save Agatha, Zeetha had to leave Higgs to be crushed. She had the knowledge she had gained—she thought anyway—but no memories to support any of it.
“Are you with me, Zi?” Violetta asked calmly.
Zeetha blinked. “Yeah…” she managed. “I… I’m sorry…I—”
“Don’t be sorry—a lot of things happened,” Violetta countered as she stopped rubbing her arm to hug her tighter. “To you, especially.”
Zeetha grimaced. “Doesn’t mean I should… break down,” she grumbled. “Not here, not now, not safe,” she huffed, releasing her knees only to fist her hands. She knew that emotions had to be taken care of. Grief and anger had to be allowed to be released, but she was old enough to know how to only do it when safe.
It wasn’t safe here in Albia’s home.
Her stomach turned. She was surprised she hadn’t thrown up.
“You’re safe, I have you,” Violetta refuted and Zeetha didn’t have the energy to counter her.
“It’s just… a lot…” she finally whispered into the darkness, face burning. “I thought I wasn’t lost anymore…” Another tear fell and she rubbed at her eyes in retaliation.
“Agatha will fix it,” Violetta countered, pulling Zeetha’s hands away. Sullenly, Zeetha let her. “It’s like you said, once we free Mechanicsburg and get your swords free, Agatha can do what they did, and we’ll get you home and find Mr. Higgs.”
Zeetha thumped her head against the wall. “Yeah… just wish I didn’t always have to rely on Agatha.”
After all this, she felt like a shit Kolee. It was her job to mentor and guide and care for Agatha, not the other way around. Sure, once a Zumil had their mastery it became a more equal partnership, and sure their Kolee-dok-Zumil wasn’t that normal—few people choose to take in a Zumil that was of age after all. Nonetheless, as much as she tried to be rational about it, it still burned. It still felt like failing.
She didn’t want to be a Spark, but occasionally, like now, she wished she had their capabilities—so she could find her home on her own, and not put it on her overworked Zumil to do in her stead.
“I… I get that,” Violetta answered. “I do…” She hesitated and eventually that hesitation turned to silence as she realized she had nothing comforting to say.
Zeetha let herself enjoy her warmth for another few moments, before she pushed away from her and stood. Her legs were like jelly, not a good sign for how long she had been staring at a storage closet wall in the dark. She took one fortifying breath.
“We should get back to Agatha.”
“After we get something to eat,” Violetta countered as she hopped up. “You haven’t been eating, really, have you?”
Zeetha honestly couldn’t remember. She didn’t feel hungry, but she wasn’t sure if that was real or not. Knowing her depressive episodes, it very well might not be. She shrugged.
Violetta bit her lip in concern. “And Agatha must be hungry soon, it’s been three days, and we promised her coffee…”
Zeetha frowned perturbed. “She’s not supposed to have coffee—it sets off her Spark.”
“But… you promised her…” Violetta asked, suddenly concerned, her eyebrows furrowed. Zeetha grimaced.
“I don’t… I don’t know why I did that?” Was it because of the relief? Was it because of the numbness? It didn’t make sense.
Zeetha sighed. “Maybe they will have decaf.”
“…This isn’t coffee,” Agatha grumbled as she took a sip of her drink and then scowled at Zeetha who stood above her with her arms crossed.
Zeetha rolled her eyes. “Yes, it is—it’s just decaf!?”
“Why would anyone ever do such a thing,” Agatha groaned and turned back to her second omelet.
“To not get caffeinated—which you’re not allowed to do, Zumil,” Zeetha reminded her.
Agatha pouted. “I had coffee in the Spark Dome. I was fine.”
“You really think that they give their Sparks—the ones that live in a dome set to explode if they get to be too much—caffeine?”
Agatha paused, considered that, then pouted harder. “That was a really good fake.” She turned back to Zeetha. “But still, I’m sure I can build up a tolerance to it! But I can’t if I never have any.”
Zeetha shrugged one shoulder. “And you can –when you are back in your own secured holding, there is no war going on, and you aren’t in another’s kingdom full of things you could deconstruct without permission or people to anger. Because your own permission is all you’ll need. Remember what I said when we first got here.”
Agatha sighed again but nodded.
“Good.”
“Great, lecture over,” Violetta said impatiently, before pulling at Zeetha’s arm. “Now you—eat!”
A flush covered her face as Agatha gave her a startled concerned look and quickly sat down. She took a bite of her toast and shot Violetta a sulky look. She looked pleased.
“What’s wrong?” Agatha asked after quickly swallowing an oversized bite. “Are you okay?”
“I’m fine,” Zeetha stressed, taking another bite as proof. Her stomach turned a bit at the food, which Zeetha knew meant she hadn’t eaten in a while. She ignored it.
“Mr. Higgs got trapped in Skifander,” Violetta tattled. Agatha’s eyes went wide.
“What! How!?”
Releasing a sigh, Zeetha put down her toast a bit pettily in the face of Violetta’s pleased smirk.. It wasn’t like Agatha wasn’t going to need to know that her spymaster was missing… or the Brek’kah stone’s loss.
Zeetha’s heart panged.
“From what the ratman told me,” Zeetha admitted to Agatha, relieved she remembered thai much. “At some point a giant blue flame pieced that weird vent up in the temple.”
“The Queen’s Flame,” Agatha said, voice low but awed. Zeetha gave her a look and she simply shook her head. “I’ll tell you afterwards.”
“It didn’t smoke apparently, and was warm but not as warm as a fire usually is. Apparently, Higgs said it was familiar, from a long time ago, but couldn’t remember when he’d seen it? But soon after that Steelgarter made it up top and demanded to be arrested and to leave right away—up until she saw the mirror active. She ran through it and for whatever reason she managed to go right through.” She took a long shuddering breath. “Higgs followed her, but before anyone else could, the flame stuttered, and the portal turned off entirely… With Steelgarter and Higgs on the other side. Then when the ceiling started collapsing, the Brek’kah stone was buried before Neena could grab it.”
A grimace crossed over her face at the reminder. She didn’t remember much, yet she did remember a teary-eyed Neena apologizing to her. The princess full of guilt, not because of a lost historical artifact, but over Zeetha's lost chance of getting home. Of course, now was when Skifander suddenly became real to her and not just a story…
While she didn’t think she took any frustration out on her, she should still check to see if she did, just in case, she had to apologize. She was just a kid after all. Not to mention a princess of another nation.
Agatha looked heartbroken. “That… the Flame must have been what allowed it to work fully,” she glanced over at where Castlebot and Trainbot were with a look. “They may be why it worked… or maybe something those three did… but I think it’s my fault it turned off. I’m sorry.”
“What’re you talking about?” Zeetha asked.
“That thing I did, on the interface, it corrupted the source again, and probably doused the Flame.”
Ah. That made sense. Kind of.
“That’s not your fault. You did that to save our lives!” She paused again to roll it over in her head. “And gave us the ability to get the Lantern out with us.” Because maybe if they had left the Lantern there it would have slowed them enough to run to the top. Maybe. But they wouldn’t have been so hurt when they arrived either.
Nor would Agatha be able to save Mechanicsburg with it.
Her Zumil had done the best with what she had known.
Unfortunately, Agatha didn’t look reassured. “Well, still… I was the one who wanted the connection left open. If we had closed it then, we’d still have the stone, Mr. Higgs, and Steelgarter…”
“And I let Steelgarter go up alone instead of taking her out. Maybe we’d still have the stone and Mr. Higgs then too,” Violetta added, also morose.
Crossing her arms over her chest and releasing a huff, she set them straight. “Okay, no, If I can’t blame myself for you getting stabbed,” she looked at Violetta. “Or I getting stabbed,” she looked at Agatha. “Then you two can’t blame yourself for that. You had no idea it would happen that way. You had no idea that something would just happen to make the Mirror work. Hell, I could blame myself for going with you instead of staying up top like you wanted me to. Maybe I could have stopped Steelgarter, it’s not like I helped much down there.”
She grimaced. “Or maybe I would have followed her like Higgs and gotten trapped too.”
“Wouldn’t that have been a good thing?” Agatha asked.
“Not if I was leaving you in danger!” Zeetha snapped back sharply. Agatha stared up at her with wide eyes. She softened. “Agatha. You are my Zumil, your life comes before getting home, always. Even if you could never find a way to fix the Mirror, even if I can never get to Skifander, to Higgs, I won’t regret being downstairs while it was working. Ever. ”
Agatha blinked away, watery-eyed. “Well, that won’t happen. I will take you home.” Briefly she paused before she muttered, embarrassed. “I have to get Mr. Higgs back after all.”
Zeetha smiled. “I know,” she agreed. “And once we do figure that all out, it will make visiting much easier.”
Agatha looked confused. “Huh?”
“I mean, you have a Mirror in your cathedral, and we have two in Skifander, so it will be only a second to go from one to the other. I was trying to figure out how to convince my mom to do six months in Skifander and six months in Mechanicsburg, or maybe a year and a year, but this is way easier.”
“To see Mr. Higgs?”
Zeetha snorted. “Agatha, I started planning this ages before I met Higgs. Like I said, you’re my Zumil.” Flashing her fangs in a smirk, as this was getting a bit too mushy, she added, “Plus, you have years of hard training before you can take your trials—I would be a shit poor Kolee if I didn’t stick around.”
Agatha looked a bit green. “Right.”
“This is truly adorable,” Violetta spoke up, chewing on a scone. “But Zeetha. Eat.”
With a huff she took another bite of toast. For a while they just ate. Agatha was starving, obviously by how she sucked down the food, and the more Zeetha ate the hungrier she felt. Before she knew it, she was putting away more than just bread. Violetta had been right—plus with Agatha up and moving the world didn’t seem as hopeless anymore.
Thankfully, Violetta didn’t push for her to share any more, like the breakdown in the closet. Good.
There was no way in hell she was admitting to missing most of the last three days. It wasn’t necessary.
Even if it was concerning, she hadn’t dislocated like that since the circus, in the days before Agatha.
“Anyway, it’s like you said, Zeetha,” Agatha said as she pushed her empty plate away. “Your swords are in Skifander, once the town is free, we can use them to make a connection to Skifander. And once we do that , we can find Mr. Higgs and Lady Steelgarter.”
As amazing as that sounded, duty made her hesitate. “Shouldn’t… you know… dealing with the Other come first?”
“Lady Steelgarter was working with my mother. Directly for her,” Agatha reminded Zeetha. “And the only other leads we have are the containment module of the part of her that was in me, and Dr. Monohan for what her plans were. Albia has the resources to investigate the former, and to be honest it’s probably better she handle Monohan considering the power discrepancy. Meanwhile, we can focus on Lady Steelgarter as a third lead.”
That was… fair. Zeetha nodded.
With a grimace, Violetta pointed out the major flaw in this plan. “Saving Mechanicsburg will probably have to wait until after the Polar Lords are taken care of first though, right?”
That was also fair.
Despite the threat of the legendary Sparks marching towards her home, the Lady Heterodyne merely sighed. “Probably. Hopefully Gil and Tarvek will have a plan for that, so I hope it won’t take too long.” She glanced back at Zeetha. “We’ll rescue him, he’ll be okay.”
Acting as if any need for concern was absurd, Zeetha snorted. “Of course he’ll be okay. It’s Higgs,” she agreed even if she wasn’t as confident as she wanted to be. What if the High Priestess got to him? Zeetha had never given him any warning on that political nastiness, he could go willingly until it was too late… “Higgs is strong, he’s smart, he’s an incredible fighter if he needs to be… plus my mom will listen to him.”
As long as he got the chance to meet her.
“Can he even speak the language?” Violetta asked.
“They’ve been together for two years, surely Zeetha’s taught him something,” Agatha answered.
Oh. Zeetha blinked at that thought. Then thought back to what Skiff words she had used with him. Outside of him perhaps overhearing her mumbling, there was…
She flushed. “He can’t say that to Ko!”
Ko would probably kill him for the audacity. Or worse, she would never stop teasing Zeetha.
Agatha snorted while Violetta giggled. “Zeetha, seriously!”
“Ha! Oh, come on Violetta, of course it’s a joke. She must have taught him more than that!”
Sinking down in her chair, Zeetha tightened the grip of her arms around her chest defensively. “And he better not call anyone else that either…” she grumbled.
“Wait, seriously?”
Glancing at Violetta through her hair, Zeetha shrugged. “All I’ve really said around him are curses, dirty talk in bed, a dirty bar song or two, a few endearments…” she trailed off. And for most of them she had never really translated them either. She certainly hadn’t told him what Sa meant. She blushed. If her mother found out… “Well, whatever, like I said, he’s smart. He would know better than to just say that to anyone considering the context. Just saying my name will buy him some leeway to figure the rest out.”
“Seriously, that’s all you shared with him?”
“Schot up,” She scowled at them. “It is a secret language. I wasn’t even supposed to do that much. The High Priestess was very strict about what I could share when I left.” She rolled her eyes. “I was allowed to give my name, my mother’s name, our titles and Skifander—and that was it. Not that I’ve followed that to the letter.”
“What… What about me?”
Raising an eyebrow, Zeetha pointed out what should be obvious. “You’re my Zumil, that’s an exception even Maru would have to accept—as much as she would rattle hilts about it. And even then, how much have I taught you?”
The Zumil in question paused. She counted on her fingers for a bit and then grimaced. “Not a lot?”
“Exactly,” Zeetha nodded. “Although admittedly that’s mostly because we had a thousand other priorities than teaching you a language that may or may not exist.”
“Zeetha!”
“Look,” she sighed. “Before I met you in the Circus, I was really starting to believe it was all a fever dream. Made up. So maybe It took me a while for it to sink it that it wasn’t. I know it’s real. I just saw it for fucks sake. But we haven’t had any time for that. Making sure you don’t die comes first. Ko can speak Romanian anyway, and as War Queen you’d deal with her.”
Whatever else, Zeetha would make sure of it.
“She can?” Violetta asked, surprised.
“Yeah, Chump–” Zeetha hesitated, she couldn’t remember if she had told Violetta this before or not, “– who is my father–” Violetta snorted, and Zeetha rolled her eyes. “Yes, yes I know what it means in Europa, anyway, he spoke it, and he taught her and a few others, and then later she had him teach classes of it for the children. To keep him busy and out of trouble, she told me,” Zeetha summarized. “It ended up really useful, since when Professor Consolmagno arrived we could communicate reasonably well.”
“That must’ve been a shock for him,” mused Agatha.
“Hah! Yeah! You should’ve seen his face when he realized he wasn’t the first to ‘discover’ us!”
“Well, That’s good for Mr. Higgs then.” Violetta said. Zeetha nodded.
“Why would I deal with the War Queen in particular?” Agatha asked uneasily.
Aiming to be nonchalant, Zeetha still put as much reassurance as she could into her latest shrug. “It’s a bad translation, I guess. Ko deals with all things… external, I guess. Trade, diplomacy, war… the Civics Queen deals with internal matters: storing emergency supplies, banking, judgment, crop rotations, civic works, other stuff like that. And the High Priestess deals with making sure the goddess and gods aren’t pissed at us, and helping to please them when they are. And then all three of them handle new laws and what-not together as a council.”
“So, The High Priestess holds equal status,” Agatha wondered.
“Yeah, really it translates more to 'Religion Queen’, I guess, but I got used to ‘High Priestess’ after so much time at the Circus.”
“So, three equal rulers,” Agatha mused with a faraway look in her eye. Zeetha hid a smile with her cup of tea. It didn’t take a Spark to see where her mind had gone.
Eyes glinting, Violetta coughed with a smirk.
“Right,” Agatha said, jerking to attention with a blush, and even more tellingly, quickly changed the subject.. “So, while you two went and got food, Albia—”
“Queen Albia,” Zeetha interrupted sharply. Being on a first-name, no title, basis with another ruler wasn’t a bad thing, per say. Zeetha wouldn’t blink at all if Agatha referred to Lana as Lana, or Colette as Colette in the future, so long as they were in an informal setting without an audience, but she did not like the idea of Agatha getting that cozy with Queen Albia. Especially as her Zumil did not seem to appreciate the danger of the ancient woman.
Clearing her throat with a blush, Agatha said, “Right, Queen Albia and I had a talk about the Lantern, as well as what being a god queen is, while you two were getting breakfast.”
“Does that have something to do with the staff?” Violetta asked. They had noticed it when they had come in, but Violetta had been firm about everyone eating first and then Agatha had gotten distracted by the horror that is decaf.
“Yes. That’s the Lantern, or rather originally the Lantern was that?” Agatha explained. “Apparently Van Rijn didn’t create it, but modified it from an ancient artifact created by another God Queen, Ninisinaa.” Agatha stood and fetched the staff, bringing it back over. “This is apparently what it originally looked like. Queen Albia fixed it for us. She said that with it Queen Ninisinaa could freeze a moment, slow it, loop it around, and make it do tricks.”
“Well, that certainly sounds like what we need,” Zeetha said, clapping her hands once.
Grinning, Agatha nodded. “That’s not all though. She told me a bit about the Flame and the Wellspring,” she paused. “Actually, she took me to this place, in my mind I think, because she didn’t wish to speak about it where people could hear us. There was a fire, she looked very different, we ate mammoth.”
“Mammoth? You mean mimmoth?”
“No, mimmoths were made to resemble mammoths, but aren’t actually related. I believe, mammoths are like elephants with wool and extinct,” Agatha countered. “It tasted really good actually, but when I awoke, I was really hungry and holding this,” she gestured to the staff again.
“Huh,” Zeetha mused, standing up to look at it closer. “Here can I see—”
As Agatha handed it over, Zeetha just barely brushed its haft before she was thrown backwards, head over heels by a surge of electricity.
It was ironically familiar.
“Zeetha!”
Mentally shaking it off, Zeetha raised a hand and waved it in hope of calming down Agatha’s concern as her vision settled. “Woot! That is definitely a super-special divine artifact bestowed upon you by a magical god queen,” she quipped when Agatha still seemed worried.
From her position, Zeetha could not really tell for sure, but she suspected Agatha rolled her eyes as she turned to Violetta.
“Well at least we won’t have to worry about someone stealing it again?” Violetta offered.
“I suppose not,” Agatha mused uneasily.
Hopping to her feet from the ground, Zeetha was reassured by how she was only dizzy for a moment before the world righted itself. Good, not too injured then. “Yeah! But anyway, we should get going.”
“Already?”
“You have been asleep for three days,” Violetta reminded her. Zeetha frowned at the thought. She had also slept three days in a row—when she’d been badly drugged. Even utterly exhausted, Agatha sleeping three days straight just from exhaustion seemed… extensive…
It made Zeetha uneasy to consider.
“The Queen was worried about you, or maybe just didn’t want Gil to think she was mistreating you after sending you asleep,” Zeetha added offhandedly, distracted by her unease. “But they’ve had a fleet on standby for the last two, for once you awoke.”
“And said fleet is ready to leave within the hour,” Rakethorn announced as he entered the room.
In fact, he had done so without knocking, Zeetha noticed, which was rather rude all things considered. What if Agatha hadn’t gotten dressed yet? Then again, by his line he’d probably been waiting outside the door waiting for the perfect time to arrive. H e was ridiculous. He may have thought he was some kind of hot shot spy, but when he was trying to be dramatic like that, he was no different than any old actor playing Bill Heterodyne.
“Oh… but another fleet?—Her Majesty has already sent so many ships…”
“Indeed. She did. But this one is an escort.” He gave Agatha a serious look. “There are many who would prefer that the Lady Heterodyne not return to Mechanicsburg. We will see to it that you arrive safely.”
“Captain Dupree is gone?”
“Nah, she just went ahead,” Zeetha shrugged. They were on the observation deck of one of the airship hangers waiting for the fleet to be ready to go. “Said it was to make sure the two dweebs didn’t kill themselves, but I think it is more likely she was bored.”
“Or to avoid her father,” Violetta added.
“Meh, I don’t think that would be hard to do,” Zeetha grumbled, annoyed at herself by how annoyed she was. She hadn’t expected to find another comparison between her and Bang, and she’d found two. She was an actual royal, and her father had ditched her without even bothering to leave a forwarding address. “Guy took off as soon as he could.”
Face twisted, Agatha said, “I never thought I would ever say this… but I feel bad for her.”
Giving a snort, Violetta shook her head. “Just don’t tell her that; she will try to kill you just to prove a point. Though I doubt she could even tell you what point it was if asked.”
“Tea?”
“Yeah sure… what…” Violetta trailed off as suddenly nearly the entire observation deck loudly declared they wanted tea and began to orderly leave the room. Even Rakethorn left without a word to them, not even asking Agatha if she wanted any.
Left with just her friends and Krosp’s bears, Zeetha stood, one hand on a hilt.
“That was…” Agatha began as Krosp, and his remaining bears, regrouped around them, the bears turning to help cover that angle.
“Odd,” Violetta agreed, also standing and taking a third, and last direction with a doorway.
“It was hilarious, is what it was!” Monohan stated, causing everyone to jump and turn to find the new god queen standing there, two winged rats as her honor guard, right in front of the windows.
Considering her options, Zeetha decided to not let go of her sword’s hilt.
“Doctor Monahan?” Agatha blinked.
“You’re not here to kill us, are you?” Violetta asked bluntly, hand also still at her belt.
Monohan laughed and waved a hand, “heavens no! Not today.”
“Good, because some tea does sound good…” Agatha mused, entirely missing the implied threat, or, as Zeetha hoped, pretending too.
“Yesss… Well, that’s why it was easy. Tea almost always sounds good.”
She spread her hands and Zeetha was sitting down at a table with Agatha, Violetta, Krosp and Monahan. On the table was tea and cake.
The cake looked delicious.
Zeetha’s hand was no longer on her hilt.
She hadn’t let go.
“Very nearly the first lesson Albia taught me is ‘just reach in and use the levers that are already there!’” she explained offhandedly. Zeetha snapped her gaze up from her hand to Monohan.
That was… the coffee and leaving so they could talk. Alone. And… but how many times had Albia tampered with her mind? And to teach Monohan, who had just been working with Lucrezia , as one of her first lessons…
Refusing to lose her composure in front of the enemy, Zeetha took in one long breath through her nose, held it, and then let it go.
Settled, she picked up her tea. “So… ‘not today,’” She pushed as nobody else had.
In a casual display of power, Monohan floated a teacup up to her face and took a sip without ever using her hands. “Yes, well, she is Luci’s girl,” she said simply. “We cannot discredit heredity—one never knows what she’ll get up to in the future!”
“Nothing even remotely like what you and she got up to, I assure you!” Agatha snapped back.
While Zeetha tried to keep an ear on them, the giant rats Monohan had brought were curious—especially with Krosp. They didn’t seem super hostile, but Zeetha joined Violetta in warding them off. The last thing they needed was Krosp getting bitten. He was so small Zeetha doubted Violetta could get an antidote in him in time to save him.
“How to pay you back?!” Monohan was saying as the Rat finally backed off in a huff. “I asked myself what a young lady of science could really use?”
“Oh no… you really shouldn’t have…”
Despite herself, Zeetha winced. People didn’t like it when you refused a gift, especially Sparks. Even if Europa didn’t put as much stock into them as Skifander. She doubted that the far more powerful God Queens were any better.
“Nonsense! It was obvious really!” Monohan declared before snapping her fingers.
A third giant rat joined them, hovering right over the table, nose to nose with Agatha.
“This is Weginald! He is yours now!” She clapped her hands happily. “You can ride him!”
That wasn’t a horrible gift, Zeetha guessed. Certainly Mechanicsburg was big enough for one more monster. It could have been way worse.
Weginald screeched and Zeetha dived over Violetta to pull Agatha away from that giant mouth with venomous fangs.
“Oh, he’s only showing off,” Monohan stated unbothered. “Just boop his nose.”
“Oh, no, I couldn’t possibly accept,” Agatha rushed to explain, eyeing Weginald uneasily.
“But… but he flies?”
“Amazing!” Agatha cheered with a forced smile. “But look at him, look how sad he is to leave you!”
Privately, Zeetha didn’t think he looked that sad. Fortunately, it still did the job, as Monohan gasped and pulled the giant rat—now significantly smaller Zeetha noted—into her arms with a cry.
“Why, you’re right! Poor dear Weginald, what was I thinking!” Then she brightened, placing Weginald at the side and turning back to Agatha. “Oh, but now I have an even better idea!”
Now Zeetha outright grimaced. That’s the second reason why you don’t deny a gift. At least the first option was a known quality.
Once more the god queen waved a hand and a circle appeared in thin air, the inside shimmered before changing into a picture of the four of them: Agatha, Violetta, Zeetha, and Krosp—except that all had wings—White for Agatha and Krosp, rainbow for Zeetha, and bat-like for Violetta, as well as odd clothing. Krosp had a top hat. Their smiles were wide and happy, and so out-of-character it was eerie..
“I’ll give you wings,” Monohan explained. Zeetha shuddered at the fact Monohan could do that without anyone’s permission. Just a snap of her fingers and her body would be forever changed. “And make you my personal knights! We would have so much fun!”
Risking her wrath or not, Zeetha joined in on the stern chorus of, “NO!”
“You really are making this extraordinarily difficult,” Monohan grumbled, brushing her hair from her eyes, but thankfully the window into another space was gone.
“You really don’t have to give me anything,” Agatha argued.
Surprisingly, Monohan turned serious, “Tch—that is where you are wrong.” She raised a finger. “As Queens our debts must be repaid. I don’t know what for, but Albia owes you a debt—And that is your greatest weapon against her.”
“Weapon?” Agatha asked uneasily.
“Well—defense then, if you’d like.”
“Against what, exactly?”
“Yeah, ‘defense’? The Queen has been very nice to us,” Violetta added.
Zeetha blinked twice, surprised. Had the other two not realized how… weird the Queen was?
“Of course, she likes you,” Monohan continued. “But Albia collects the things she likes. Ideas, things, people. Years from now you may find yourself happily at her court, and whatever took you there, seems the most logical and natural reason in the world.”
Face paling, Agatha managed, “Ah, that—that’s useful to know.”
“Why it is, isn’t it,” Monohan brightened. “In fact, I calculate that the information I just gave you is almost enough to pay off my debt to you!”
POP!
The entire table went silent as Fuzzerpiller popped out of the teapot in the middle of the table. Even Monohan looked surprised for a second before brightening again. “Oh! How charming! And are you a creature of Lady Heterodyne?”
Fuzzerpiller dooked.
“You’ll do nicely!”
She reached out and grabbed Fuzzerpiller from the teapot, ignoring the fact that he was covered in what seemed to be steaming tea.
“Let’s see,” she stated as she peered into his eyes. “Oh my! Why, this creature was created to hunt Luci’s nasty little wasps! Ohh! And he can detect her revenants!”
Eyes widening, Violetta said, “Wow? You can tell all that from just looking?”
“Why not?” snorted Zeetha. “That’s her specialty! Rats, weasels, all those little fuzzy guys—they are all practically the same kind of critters aren't they?” That knowledge mixed with the God Queen bullshit would make it child’s play was her reasoning.
In her defense, it was supposed to be a compliment.
“Not at all!” Agatha lectured frowning at Zeetha like she should have known better, a finger in her face. Zeetha blinked at her, shocked and a bit insulted. “ Murids and Mustelid are two completely different families!”
“Okay…” she had no idea what a murid or a mustelid was. “But we are talking about weasels and rats?”
Everyone jumped as Monohan was suddenly behind Agatha. She did not look happy. Zeetha gulped. “Ah. How sad. Now your friend must die.”
“No!” Agatha spun on her toe and put herself in front of Zeetha.
Monohan studied her sternly for a long moment that made Zeetha’s heart lunge and then drop before she sighed and smiled. “Oh, very well. But only because I like you. You understand about rats.”
“Thank you,” Agatha smiled.
The Queen returned her attention to the Wasp Eater who was still chilling on her arm, unbothered that he’d been swung around. “Now, not this little darling isn’t charming, mind you…” Her eyes brightened and her grin slowly grew. “Yesssss… you will no doubt vex Lucrezia terribly! Let’s see!”
She snapped her fingers once again, and suddenly Fuzzerpiller had cream colored wings on his back. She handed him to a bemused Agatha.
“Wings?” she asked.
“That will make him ever so much harder to capture,” she said before swinging her hand around and opening a portal. “And with that my debt is fully paid. Bye!!!”
And then she was gone, along with her rats and even the table she had conjured up.
A heavy silence fell.
“So… am I to guess that mustelids and murids is some over complicated name for weasels and rats?” Zeetha asked for something better to say.
Agatha sighed. “ Mustelids is a family of carnivorous mammals that include among others: weasels, stoats, badgers, otters, martens, and wolverines,” she recited as if called on in class. “ Murids is a family of mammals that include mice, rats, and gerbils.”
“Okay… just to be clear in Skifander that would all be covered under metolu, except for badger, otter, and wolverine—they would be too big…”
“Ah, so Skifander’s classification is based on polyphyletic?” Agatha excitedly asked, eyes brightening as Fuzzerpiller tried to jump from her hands and fly only to crash right to the ground.
Violetta and Krosp winced.
Zeetha stared at her.
“Based on similarities of body and behaviors over actual evolutionary relatives?”
Zeetha took a second to parse the unfamiliar phrase. “I guess? There might be a more… specific system, but they didn’t bother teaching us war princesses it—” Realizing she was getting distracted, she shook her head again. “But Agatha— whatever you do or become—if you ever become God Queen— never do what Monohan just did with her ‘tea’.”
Violetta shuddered beside her and nodded.
Blinking in surprise at the sudden change in subject, Agatha said “Well, I did refuse…” she trailed off as she noted the paled face on both Zeetha and Violetta. “I won’t,” she promised.
“You refused?”
“Yes, after Albia used it on you two to get you out of the room, she asked if I wanted to know how…”
“I knew it,” Zeetha huffed and sat down, picking up Fuzzerpiller who was struggling to climb up her pants leg with his new uncoordinated wings. She hoped it would only be a matter of time before he caught on. That Monohan hadn’t just crippled the poor thing with wings it couldn’t use, didn’t have the instincts to use. She petted him.
“The coffee,” Violetta realized, eyes wide.
Zeetha nodded. Agatha winced more.
“Do you think she did it anywhere else?”
Unable to find the put her scattered thoughts together, Zeetha could only give an awkward shrug. She had a feeling it was yes, but couldn’t put it into words when or how much.
Sitting down heavily, Agatha looked between the two. “I really do promise,” she said, voice soft. “I should have… I should have stopped her when she did it, I didn’t think…” she sighed. “And if in some way I do… devolve to that one day… become like Lucrezia, you have my permission to stop me.”
Violetta nodded seriously. Zeetha assumed she may have needed that permission, as half employed by Agatha as she was.
“We’d try,” Zeetha offered as well; because that was part of Kolee-dok-Zumil too, to stop the other if they became someone they would have hated. To keep them from hurting—well specifically Skifander—but more generally anywhere they considered home.
And boy, wasn’t that a fun thought, in an extremely unlikely one. Perhaps the only scenario in which Zeetha was almost certain her and Higgs would be on separate sides.
Maybe not if Agatha started experimenting with mind control, as they didn’t like the Wasps at all. Although a small part of her wasn’t so sure about even that, as she should be remembering that plant that drugged her. Not all mind control was total either, and frankly that still left a lot of horrors and atrocities to commit. She remembered Higgs’ confusion when she mentioned trying to cauterize the idea of making others into god queens.
The point being, he was—as all Jaegerkin were—Heterodyne monsters. 99 times out of a 100, they would follow their Heterodyne.
And if Higgs absolutely had to choose between Zeetha and Agatha, she was certain he would choose his Lady.
And most of the time she was okay with that, because Zeetha couldn’t always choose Agatha.
After all, no matter what she had drank, no matter what changes she may go through, she would never be a Jäger.
She had too many loyalties for that.
Later that night, after take off and dinner, they turned in.
“I gave Vi the other room,” Zeetha told Agatha as they readied for bed that night. Agatha looked up from the journal she was writing some notes into, and smirked.
“Oh, still trying to make up for before?”
Pulling her nightshirt on, Zeetha huffed . “I’ll be doing that for weeks still,” she admitted. She also still needed to figure out proper apology gifts. She’d been to… out of it… to search Londinium while Agatha was asleep. Maybe once Mechanicsburg was free, she’d bug Tarvek on what a good set of daggers for Violetta would look like, and then take them to a smith in Mechanicsburg. They must have good weapons smiths there.
“You know,” Zeetha began as she approached Agatha with a hairbrush. The room, while among the largest on the ship, was still small because it was a military airship set to carry a large crew. Zeetha could sit at the edge of the bed and reach Agatha’s back. “You never did explain what you learned about the Flame and stuff.”
Agatha paused as Zeetha began to carefully brush her hair.
“She didn’t tell me much that I hadn’t already figured out,” Agatha admitted. “And she was very secretive, even being inside her castle in that room was too open—that’s when she took me into that… mind palace of sorts?”
“I figured that was why,” Zeetha admitted. Still she would have liked to know the gist of it anyway. God Queens had been part of Skifander history too, after all. “If you don’t want to talk about it, I understand.”
Agatha huffed. “We are a few hours out of England now,” she mused. “And Vi already searched this cabin for any sign of eavesdropping or spies so…” She grinned over her shoulder. “I don’t see any reason why I can’t tell you what I’ve figured out.”
Touched, Zeetha smiled helplessly back at her. “Oh?”
A few hints of heterodyning escaped Agatha as she turned back around so Zeetha could continue her brushing, organizing her thoughts.
“So, a queen,” Zeetha noticed she didn’t use God Queen there and wondered if that was to avoid catching Albia’s ears, “need two things, a Wellspring,” Zeetha could only assume that was the Dyne for Agatha, “and a Flame. These are natural but rare, and found all over the world. Seemingly together.”
Zeetha nodded.
“And a Queen-to-be needs to bathe or perhaps drink from the Wellspring before being anointed by the Flame. Probably by bathing in it as well,” she continued voice low. “And it’s not a fully permanent change—it needs to be renewed. Although I suspect that period of strength is likely in the centuries if not longer. Thankfully, the Flame apparently flares on its own pattern and frequency, allowing the renewal of the ritual without finding new Flames.”
Slowly Zeetha nodded as she considered this. So Skifander, presumably, had a Flame and a Wellspring. Somewhere. Chances are that’s what was powering the Mirror—though she supposed that wasn’t a guarantee. Their river had never done anything weird like the Dyne had apparently done, but there was the Warrior Crystal Grove…
Wait… did Lucrezia want to get to Skifander because its Flame was about to flare?
“It’s really interesting that Higgs mentioned to Rat—I mean—Mr. Crothers, that the Flame was familiar,” Agatha continued thoughtfully, distracting Zeetha from the thought entirely as another uncomfortable one hit.
“What, you think the Flame might be part of those rituals that Higgs mentioned for becoming a Jäger that only the Heterodyne knew?” Zeetha asked.
Agatha shrugged. “It very well could be,” her eyes took on a faraway look. “If that’s the case though, what makes it different than becoming a God Queen? Jägerkin are certainly not that… Perhaps the other items in the draught subdue it but also make it more survivable, like with Monohan’s rats? Interesting…”
“Right, so don’t go touching any blue flames, got it,” Zeetha interrupted before Agatha got too far off-track, pulling slightly at her hair.
“Uh…oh—yes, right—you shouldn’t,” Agatha agreed as she snapped back to focus. “Which reminds me, Zeetha are you okay?”
Suddenly feeling grumpy, Zeetha asked, “Why wouldn’t I be?”
“Violetta did imply you hadn’t been eating.”
Right.
“You were unconscious for no reason,” Zeetha pointed out defensively. “Higgs was trapped in Skifander, the Brek’kah stone is lost as is all that history… I was just a bit… bummed out.”
“Zeetha.”
Giving in, she lowered the brush and slumped. “Sad. Depressed. Whatever word you want me to use.”
Agatha stood up and sat beside her Kolee on the bed. Zeetha huffed again, and tossed the hairbrush to land on the desk. She crossed her arms and looked away even as she knew it was telling on her. “You’re allowed to be upset.”
“I know I am,” Zeetha sniffed.
“Then why…”
“But I shouldn’t be breaking down in a random closet in a kingdom I don’t trust,” she interrupted, defeated. Violetta may eventually tell Agatha, so it was better to just tell her now. Her eyes watered to her frustration. She was so tired of crying.
“Oh, Zeetha,” Agatha grabbed one of her arms and pulled until she could slip her arm through and gave it a hug. “I’m sorry. I’m going to get you home. First thing after Mechanicsburg.”
Zeetha couldn’t help but snort wetly.
Agatha flinched back and looked at Zeetha. “What was that for…” her brows furrowed. “Do you… Do you not think I can do it?”
For a moment she sounded insecure, like Zeetha hadn’t declared that she was certain on Big Rat Island. Like she hadn’t given her the Brek’kah stone with the honest belief Agatha could figure out something to do with it, despite thousands of years of her own ancestors' failures.
It reminded Zeetha that at the end of the day Agatha was only eighteen years old. That less than half a year ago to her mind she was just a constant fuck up with migraines and insecurities. That now she had the world on her shoulder with next to no training in anything.
That Zeetha kept putting more on her. Finding Skifander. Dealing with her stupid emotions.
Feeling defeated, the warrior princess slumped down, exhausted.
“It’s not that I don’t believe you… It’s just… It’s not fair to have to always be relying on you. You have the safety of your town and even Europa on your shoulders, and I’m a shit Kolee for adding more to it… That’s why I keep trying to get you to prioritize other things. Like, you know, the Other.”
Agatha frowned at her and then hugged her properly. Zeetha melted into the hug.
“No, you are not —Zeetha, I promised myself I would help you find your home days after I joined the Circus. That was long before most of this crap started. And Zeetha, you help, constantly. I know I can go to you when I need to, I promise… it’s just that I haven’t really been doing too much “War Queening” lately.
“That’s bull,” Zeetha snorted. “You’ve practically been doing nothing but War Queening. Not to mention you have Gil and Tarvek now. They actually rule . In Europa at that.”
“Zeetha, you’ve taught me to delegate. You’ve cautioned me on dealing with Lana and Hoffman without thinking it through. You reminded me to use proper address. You warned me about how I acted in Albia’s court, and warned me about how those under me will serve me past their own interests.” She tightened her hold. “You are there to support me when I do a good speech, and back me up everywhere I go.”
A warm laugh escaped the teenager, somehow soothing something in Zeetha’s heart. “I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for you; and I’m not talking about the physical training either—though that’s saved my life a few times too.”
She looked up. “Zeetha, you’re my Kolee, and from where I’m standing, you’re a very good one.” She smirked. “Plus, how many Zumil’s are eighteen years old, hmm?”
“Most of them at some point, hopefully, as it’s a sad day to lose a Zumil that young—ow!”
Agatha huffed. “You know what I mean: how many Zumils start at eighteen years old?”
“…Very few…” Zeetha admitted. “You usually become an apprentice at six years old…”
“Exactly, we’re going to be a little different from what you are used to. But I don’t think it’s a bad thing.”
Zeetha didn’t either. She wouldn’t change Agatha to another for the world.
“Usually, your Kolee wouldn’t be a Kilutor either,” Zeetha also admitted.
“A what?”
“Kind of hard to translate… I guess a young adult. When you're between the ages of sixteen and twenty-five?” Zeetha shrugged carefully so Agatha wouldn’t let go. “It’s not against the rules, as long as you’re at least a Kilutor, and have your Masters, you can take a Zumil… or you know,” she smirked. “Have one, but generally it’s encouraged to not take Zumils or have children until you’re a Jana—an adult. The Kilutor period is supposed to be a time of getting used to the freedoms of being an adult, gaining experience and maturity and wisdom.” She smirked. “We are seen as kind of dumb usually—reckless.”
“I think most college age kids are,” Agatha mused. “Some of the things I saw in Beetlesburg…” she giggled. “Or the stories about Gil in Paris.”
Zeetha laughed too. “Oh, you know nothing, the stories I got Wooster to tell me about Paris…” She trailed off at the thought of the man.
Agatha hid her face. “I still feel horrible about Wooster,” she admitted.
“It wasn’t your fault.”
“I… know that, but still.”
“Yeah,” Zeetha agreed. “I know.”