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A storm raged over the palace that night, rain lashing against the walls and brief flashes of lightning illuminating the spires. The guards huddled under the the battlements or pulled their leather cloaks over their heads, and the night caretakers rushed back and forth between the buildings as fast as they could, bringing with them the food and sundries needed to prepare for the next day at a citadel that was the center of administration for a whole kingdom.
And above them, out of the gaze of eyes cast down to avoid the rain, something moved.
There, on the walls. A shape moved, climbing higher and higher. Lightning illuminated it briefly — a hooded figure bearing something almost as large as it was on its back, clinging to the wet stones with tenacious fingers as the rain drummed on its cloak. Higher and higher it went, until with a spry leap it navigated an overhanging balcony with ease, landing just outside the glass double doors to the royal bedchamber.
With a mighty kick, the doors sprang open, shattering as they hit the walls inside. Queen Sophia of the kingdom of Maerchen sat bolt upright, her hand grasping for the talisman she always kept on the bedside table. There, silhouetted against a flash of lighting, she saw the intruder, a woman's form, short hair riffling in the gale, cloak streaming behind her, a monstrous beaked head looming over her shoulder…
…And a grin splitting her face from ear to ear.
"Honey! I'm home!"
Sophia's hand froze half an inch from the talisman. Slowly, she instead traced the arcane geometry of fire in the air, and a spark leapt from her finger into the bedside oil lamp, lighting up the dark bedchamber.
"Oh, gods… Ivy? Ivy, is that really you?"
The woman at the doors pulled off her cloak as she stepped inside, brushing the rainwater from her short blonde hair. She gave the queen a beaming smile as she walked towards the bed, arms wide open for a hug. "It's me! I couldn't wait another moment to see you, and I didn't want to bother the gate guards, so I decided the window was fine. I'm sorry for being gone for so long, dear, but you'll never believe what…"
She trailed off as a head poked up timidly from beneath the duvan, a woman with messy natural hair looking on the intruder with wide, shocked eyes.
"Darling! Watch out! There's someone—" Ivy reached for the sword at her belt, but hesitated. "—in your bed. In the middle of the night. Which… you probably knew, right?"
The woman beneath the covers couldn't take her eyes off of the intruder. Or her sword. Or the giant raven head behind her. "Bori preserve, it can't be," she whispered to herself. "I… is that really…?"
Queen Sophia, taking in everything that had just happened, sighed, letting the covers drop. "Masoro, this is Princess-Consort Ivy, the woman who saved me from the Crystal Sirens, who rebuilt the town of Escon in a day, who defeated nearly a hundred threats to the kingdom before dying tragically in battle. The first woman I ever loved. My first wife."
She looked back at Ivy, who was looking very pleased at Sophia's description of her. "And Ivy, this is Princess-Consort Masoro, daughter of the Mansa of Kabura. My second wife."
"…Oh."
"Yes. 'Oh.'" She swung her legs out of bed, and reached for her dressing gown. "We have a lot to discuss."
Several hours later, as the light of dawn slanted through the high windows of the royal study, the queen was starting to feel a familiar headache again.
It wasn't that Queen Sophia minded that Princess-Consort Ivy was back. It wasn't as if her heart didn't sing to see her first wife, the woman she'd fallen for all those years ago, before her eyes, back where she belonged and sliding into her life as if she'd never left. It was just—
"You were dead."
Ivy laughed heartily. "What kind of barrier is death when faced with true love?"
Sophia thumped her hand on the desk. "No, dear, I want to be absolutely clear about this. You were dead. It's not that you vanished and were feared dead, or that someone told us you'd fallen in battle. I saw you die. I saw you fighting the Dragon of Ashes, and I saw it bite you in half as you drove your sword into its smoldering heart. I was holding your hand as the light faded from your eyes."
Ivy chuckled. "Yes, that was a most exciting day, wasn't it?"
"Ivy." It was all too easy to slip back into that voice, the voice Sophia had first mastered at age ten scolding her golden retriever for tracking mud on the ancient carpets. Ivy had drawn that voice out of her more times than she could count. "I was there when we buried you. Your mother gave a most touching eulogy. So how is it that you show up three years later as alive as you've ever been?"
Ivy leaned back, putting her feet up on Sophia's very expensive desk the way she'd done so many times before. (Even three years later, the cleaning staff hadn't been able to buff all the scuff marks out, and Sophia could see Ivy's boots — her best boots, the ones she'd been buried in — adding more right on top of the old ones.) "Well, I did die, of course. And then when I woke up, I was in the vast, dark halls of the underworld, a shade among shades, with the Dread Queen Despoina looming over me, intoning my grim fate and beckoning me to my final rest. So naturally, I punched her in the face."
"You… punched the goddess of the dead."
"In the face, yes. Then I wrestled a sword away from one of her skeletal sentries, battled my way through hordes of divine guards and wraiths that thirsted for the blood of the living, ascended all the way to the gates of death, and cut the head off of Corces, watchful raven who stands guard over the boundaries between the dead and the living!"
"Corces is traditionally portrayed with two heads, isn't it? To watch over both the living and the dead?"
"Which is why the other one managed to pin me down before I could escape. For the record, Despoina assured me that it'll grow back in time. It's really a very nice bird once you get to know it!"
Sophia dragged one hand over her face. Yes. Yes, this was her wife, all right. There was no mistaking that particular mixture of good-hearted enthusiasm, caring for all around her, and impulsive destructive urges that got her into just as much trouble as it got her out of. Even if the giant raven head (currently being mounted by the royal taxidermists, who had been enjoying their semi-retirement the past few years) hadn't been proof of her story, she would have had no difficulty at all believing that this was what she'd been up to all this time. "So you… talked with Despoina."
"Yes, over tea in the pomegranate gardens. She was actually very understanding — I think she'd heard a lot about all the adventures I've gotten up to up here. My fight against the Black Skull Witch especially — she's got a bit of a grudge against necromancers. So she decided to do me a favor — she set me thirteen tasks I had to complete for her, and if I could manage all of them, she'd restore me to life. And even let me keep the head as a trophy — she said it might come in handy." She rubbed the back of her head a bit embarrassedly. "I didn't really think about how long it would take."
"Obviously not." She sighed. "I suppose I should know better than to think you could resist a heroic quest."
"They are kind of my weakness. But I just can't let down someone who's in trouble. Even the queen of the dead. And let me tell you, she had a lot of troubles."
Sophia leaned back, tenting her hands thoughtfully. "I never really considered what sort of problems the gods might have. They always just seemed so far above us."
"Well, Despoina's more below us, but I get what you mean. But the underworld was really kind of a mess. Hungry ghosts that needed to be appeased and cared for until they recovered, demonic bulls tearing apart the meadows of paradise, the shade of a dead necromancer attempting to conquer the underworld. If I hadn't been able to fix all of them, things could have gotten pretty serious."
"But you managed?"
Ivy swung her boots off the table and leapt to her feet, raising a fist in triumph. "I did! Though it took long work, cunning strategy, brilliant swordswomanship, and a lack of aversion to scooping up demon cattle dung, I managed to accomplish all thirteen tasks and bring peace and order back to the underworld!"
As Ivy started to share the details of her adventures in the underworld, in the usual haphazard rambling high-points manner, Sophia felt herself beginning to smile despite herself. This, too, was her wife -- the gleeful adventurer who saved lives, restored communities, defeated villains and monsters, and fixed what was broken, all with a kind of verve you just couldn't disapprove of.
Gods, she'd missed this.
"...and so after finishing that up, I presented myself to Despoina to get her final judgement. She had one final task for me. Dressed in a beautiful gown — honestly, kind of diaphanous, if you ask me, but it worked on her — she took me before her throne and told me that she had grown tired of ruling alone. She tilted my chin — like this," she added, gently touching Sophia's face as she stared into her eyes, oblivious to the blush forming on her wife's cheeks, "and said that my final task was to make sure the ruler of the underworld would never be alone again."
Sophia felt the breath catching in her lungs, looking up at her wife's beautiful, handsome face. It was always like this, too. Ivy had an effortless charm to her. It had always seemed like a miracle that she'd picked her over the countless other men, women, princesses, wizards, and even kings vying for her hand. Somehow, the idea that the goddess of death would fall for her, too, was hardly surprising.
"Well, thankfully I had a solution on hand already!"
Sophia wobbled, dazed by the sudden withdrawal of affectionate touch as Ivy withdrew her hand and gestured expansively, caught up in her own story. "During my previous task -- no, wait, the one before that, the twelfth, I think? -- I'd had to travel to the source of the River of Souls — it was starting to dry up, you see, so someone had to find out why and restore the flow. Following that quest brought me to the very heart of the underworld, the deepest depths of Hyadia... and there, I had found that unbeknownst to anyone, the spirit of the underworld itself had taken form! Just like the nymphs of mountains or rivers, really. We got to talking, and it turned out she was a very nice person, just very lonely, which is why she had been diverting the flow of the river -- she wanted the souls to stay with her, you see. Well, I'd helped her sort out why that wasn't great, and she'd let the river flow again, and so when Despoina said she was lonely too, well, I thought this was a perfect opportunity for both of them! And I was right -- they got along brilliantly. They were starting to plan the wedding when I left!"
Sophia pushed herself away from her desk with a groan. "Only you, dear. Only you could completely miss a goddess trying to seduce you. And end up playing matchmaker, to boot."
Ivy blinked. "Seduce me? No, no, that wasn't -- I mean she..." She trailed off for a moment, eyes wide as she tried to think the matter through. "...Oh. Well, that would explain a lot."
"Yes. Yes, it would."
"Well, I can't see why she thought that would work! After all, the whole reason I had agreed to help her out in the first place was because I wanted to come back to you! Just because death had parted us doesn't mean I was going to marry another woman, after... after all..."
And there, once again, the foot in the mouth.
Ivy looked abashed as Sophia turned away. "I suppose you went through a lot, too," she said weakly.
"Nothing like thirteen underworld labors, but... yes."
"And you're married again." Ivy tried to smile. "I suppose it's only fair. I was dead after all. Still, I never even thought about it. I just assumed, you know, eternal love and all that."
"It's not that simple. You were gone for three years. I had to move on -- not just for my own sake, but for the country. When you're a queen, you don't have the luxury of mourning your whole life. Alliances had to be made, threats had to be defended against, diplomatic ties formed. And the Electorate Council was making noises about passing the throne to a distant cousin if I didn't provide an heir to keep the bloodline going."
"Ah..." Ivy rubbed the back of her head awkwardly. "You know I always wanted to get around to it, but there were just always so many adventures calling..."
"I know. I never judged you for that -- well, I did get a bit miffed that one time you'd promised to commit to it and then ran off the very next morning, but I know you didn't have much of a choice when a demon crusade broke out all across the country." She rubbed her face. "I don't even care about the 'bloodline,' myself, you know that, but the stupid nobles put a massive premium on 'the blood of Good Queen Gracia,' and even a lot of the commoners buy into it, so if I want to stay queen, I've got to concede to them on this. And it's not even that I'd mind being a parent, but I'd be just as happy adopting."
"It would have saved us a bit of trouble, to be sure."
"I miss the good old days," Sophia sighed. "Back before I was queen, back before everything in my life became... politics."
Ivy wrapped her arms around her from behind. "Really? Because I distinctly remember you being rather furious when I rescued you from the Crystal Sirens. Said that adventure and thrills and being kidnapped by pirates weren't the sort of thing a princess should have to go through. Said you were looking forward to the day when you could sit on a throne and not worry about anything."
"I was a fool. Right now I'd take twenty pirate crews over having to fit in figuring out who it's legally proper and politically expeditious for me to be married to in between looking over the daily reports and trying to smooth things over between the Duke of Klim and the Mayor of Eisenberg on the matter of half an acre of disputed land without offending either of them. At least getting kidnapped let me meet you."
"Yes, but twenty kidnappings would mean twenty of me rescuing you, which would just lead to so much confusion over which one got to woo you again. I think we're in enough of a muddle already without that."
Sophia pulled away from Ivy's arms at that, a pensive expression coming over her face like a cloud eclipsing the sun. "Please don't joke about that."
Ivy looked down, abashed. "Sorry."
"No. No, don't be. I'm glad you're back, I really am. It's just... I don't know how this is going to work out. I don't know how this is going to end up for me, or for you, or for Masoro. And even just getting to the point where I can start thinking about that is going to take so much work."
"I know." Ivy tapped her finger on her belt thoughtfully. "I think I'll get out of your hair for a little bit. Go see how the palace has been getting on without me. Maybe drop by the kitchens -- I just realized I haven't actually eaten for three years. I mean, underworld pomegranates, yes, but it's not the same."
"All right." Sophia took a deep breath. "And... it really is good to have you back, dear."
Ivy smiled, and darted in to kiss her wife on the cheek, just quickly.
"It's so good to be back."
The palace library was extensive, but, Sophia felt as she pored through yet another tome in a haze of growing frustration, not nearly extensive enough. She'd gathered up every book she could think of matching the topics she needed, and piled them up together on a writing desk to study. By now, nearly six hours in, she'd filled a large stack of paper with notes in her tight, scratchy handwriting, with the librarians bringing her more paper and ink every time she looked to be running out (and more quills every time she snapped one, which had happened three times so far). Her current tome was proving particularly frustrating, always touching very close to the issue at hand before flying away on a completely different tangent -- usually one she'd enjoy exploring at any other time, but not when something so important was at stake.
She was pulled out of her frustrated focus on the book by the familiar clinking of a cup and saucer being gently set on the table beside her, and she took the tea without even looking at it. "Thank you, dear." Strong with a little lemon, just the way she liked it.
"Have you found anything useful yet?" Princess-Consort Masoro asked quietly, holding the tea tray to her chest.
Sophia rubbed her face in frustration. "Nothing useful, nothing meaningful, certainly nothing definitive." She pushed her latest book aside and picked up the sheaf of notes she'd been jotting down. "Manaria's Laws in Extremis is clear that legal unions are not negated by one partner being mistakenly thought dead, but she says nothing about what happens when they actually were dead and now are not. Cragborne in Rites of the Dead talks quite a bit about the duties owed to the deceased and the obligations released, but he doesn't say anything about someone returning from the dead because he dismisses it as a 'fairy tale idea.'" She snorted. "Obviously he knew better than practically every other chronicler. It's rare, but every part of history says it has happened before."
"His 'rationality movement' did tend to founder when it came up against any magic that didn't fit in its classification schemes."
"Yes, which means one of the most thorough cultural scholars in history has approximately sod-all to say about what really matters." She pushed the papers away and leaned back in her chair. "I don't suppose your homeland has any insight on what to do in cases like this?"
"I don't think it would help. The Mansa of Kabura can marry whoever he wants, as long as they're willing to take the role of High Priest of the Bori. The marriage continues even past death — he can never remarry — so if his husband or wife were to come back from the dead, there would be no second spouse to displace. If a lack of heirs were to become a problem, concubinage is still technically legal, though it's been out of favor for nearly a century now."
"You've thought about this."
"…It's my marriage too."
Sophia flinched at that. "...I'm sorry."
Masoro looked away, tucking a stray curl of hair back into her headscarf as she examined the shelves. "Have you tried Vidilgast's Times of Crisis? I haven't ever read it myself, but I was talking with head librarian Milia last month, and she said it's the best guide she's found for what protocols to follow in unprecedented situations."
Sophia blinked. "No, I hadn't thought of that. Do you think you could--?" Masoro was setting the book down on her desk before she even finished the sentence. "...Thank you, dear. You're always one step ahead of me."
Masoro didn't look at her, instead moving to tidy up the books Sophia was already done with in preparation for reshelving. "It's what I'm here for." She brushed her hands off on her skirt. "We all have our jobs to do. I suppose now that Princess Ivy is back, she'll be taking care of the same sort of crises she used to."
"I don't think I could stop her." A faint smile played across Sophia's face as she leaned in to take down notes on the passage she was reading. "It seemed like every other week back when she was alive, she'd be off on a new quest or facing a new foe. We've had the royal guards handling monsters and dark magic while she was dea... gone, but we've had to pull back from helping our neighbors or facing less imminent threats. It'll be good to have her back helping out again..." She leaned back, running her hands across her face and through her hair. "You know, I always got so exasperated when she would run off after a new chimera or reports of a mysterious curse. But then when she'd come back home with some kind of trophy and an amazing new story of the adventures she'd been on..."
She didn't really need to finish. Masoro could see the smile on her face and the distant look in her eyes. She cleared her throat and finished stacking the books. "I should go return these to the head librarian. And then I've got to finalize next season's budget for the household staff, and talk to vice-steward Viktor about his upcoming vacation schedule, and the haunted portrait is acting up again -- it nearly trapped Aglaia, one of the maids, yesterday..."
Sophia had to laugh slightly. "Sounds like you've got as much on your plate as Ivy always did. Take some time for yourself, too, okay? This has been quite the day so far. And we've got a lot to do to before it's over."
"Yes. Of course, your majesty."
It took Sophia several minutes to realize her wife had just called her 'your majesty.' But by then, Masoro was long gone.
Masoro watched the taxidermists struggling with the giant raven head not out of any real interest, but simply to have something to focus on besides her own thoughts. It would have been a fascinating sight any other day. She'd often come down to the trophy room to look at the various relics, treasures, and miscellaneous monster parts the kingdom had accumulated over the centuries — though many of them were of a much more recent vintage.
"Amazing, isn't it?"
She jumped slightly, whipping her head around. Princess-Consort Ivy just smiled at her and joined her on the long bench, looking up at the trophies. She popped the last of the bread roll she was carrying into her mouth and looked around at the array of items covering nearly every inch of the walls.
"You know, every one of these reminds me of an adventure. Well, not the ones from before I was around, but all the ones I brought here." She pointed at a sea serpent skull, hanging over the west doorway. "That serpent was attacking ships between here and Brython, locking them tight in its cursed jaws and dragging them under the waves to drown the crew. I managed to spear it with a harpoon tethered to my raft, and hung on for dear life until I could steer it onto the rocky shore and cut its head off."
She pointed to other items in turn. "That dress is the one I wore to the Queen of Winter's ball, to protect her from the King of Summer's assassins. Those lances came from the Holy See of Dolorosa -- we used them to pin down a shapeshifting phooka until it finally agreed to stop playing deadly pranks on people. The crystal lantern wasn't mine, but Sophia's ancestor Gracia used it to dispel the Eternal Night. And those—!" Her finger hesitated as she came to a set of three elaborate wooden masks hanging in an unobtrusive corner. "… Those, I don't remember somehow."
"They're mine." Masoro was reluctant to even say it. "They were part of my dowry when Sophia agreed to marry me. Along with a large amount of gold. One of my fathers is the high priest of my homeland, and he gave each of them a blessing. The red one is meant to give us the strength to overcome all obstacles, the blue one should grant the compassion to always find peace, and the black is for bringing us together despite our distant homelands and different cultures."
"That's beautiful. You're blessed just to have parents who can do that for you. My mom, well, she's a great farmer and a wonderful person, but she doesn't have enough magic to light kindling." She turned to Masoro, giving a bright smile. "I know we technically got introduced last night, but that was kind of an awkward situation. So let's start afresh." She bowed to her, big and flamboyant. "I'm Ivy of Stonetree Farm, farmgirl-turned-wandering hero-turned-princess."
Masoro found herself almost laughing. It was hard to stay upset in the face of Ivy's earnestness. "I know. I don't think there's a person within a thousand leagues of here who doesn't know about you." She cleared her throat and rose to her feet to give a quick curtesy. "I am Princess Masoro, late of Kabura, in the Southern Lands. It's an honor to meet you, Princess Ivy."
"And an honor to meet you, your highness!" Ivy smiled and clasped Masoro's hands in both of her own. For a breath-stopping moment, Masoro was almost sure she was going to kiss the back of her hand, and she had no idea how she'd react to that, but instead she just gave it a companionable squeeze, and then let it go to lean back on the bench again. Masoro, feeling a bit warm as she brushed phantom stray locks of hair away from her face, joined her.
Ivy looked at the trophies as she talked. "You know, I visited Kabura once. During my wandering years. Long before I rescued Sophia and we fell in love. I met up with one of your local heroes, Sunjata of the Seven Spears. I helped him out as he tracked down the Curse of Bone and fought the wizard responsible."
"I know. I saw you." Masoro tried to smile. "I was still in schooling at the time, learning administration and accountancy, but when you came into the city with Sunjata, carrying the wizard in chains between you... it was dazzling. I was just watching from the school roof, but I was entranced. I think that's the first time I ever thought I wanted to visit Maerchen. Any country that could produce someone like you would be amazing to visit, I thought."
"And does it live up to your visions of it?"
Masoro shrugged. "In some ways. I mean, there's a lot more magic here than anywhere else in the world." She gestured at the trophies hanging around here. "I don't think you'd get sea serpents like this, or people returning from the dead, back at home, or at least not nearly as often. The Curse of Bone was a once-in-a-lifetime event, but it seems like you get something almost as dramatic every summer here. But the people... they're people, like they are everywhere. I've been administrating the palace ever since I got here, and that just drives it all home. Even if the flower beds are gifts from the dryads, they still need to be watered. Even if a stablehand gets bitten by a griffin rather than a horse, he still needs medical treatment and a few days to recover. I never would have thought so back then, but... In some ways that just makes it more wondrous. That people can live among the amazing day to day, and just keep going."
There was a long moment of quiet as Ivy took that in, thinking about it. The taxidermists almost had the head mounted, but a quiet dispute had broken out between them as to whether the fastening they had begun would last in the long term, and it didn't look to be resolved very quickly.
"…She's going to choose you."
Ivy cocked her head quizzically. "What do you…?"
"You're her first love. The heroine who saved her life. She married you even though it was a minor scandal for a queen to wed a peasant girl-turned-hero. You've done so much for this kingdom, for the whole world. And I can see the look in her eyes when she talks about you. Me… I'm just a political marriage. She needed a spouse to satisfy the electors and find an ally who could help with the kingdom's cash flow. My fathers needed to marry off their youngest daughter and find an ally that could support their magic research. We matched. That's all. She's not going to find a historical precedent or law covering this situation, so she's going to need to decide on her own. And when she does… she'll choose you."
Masoro wasn't crying. She definitely wasn't crying. She was too mature to cry, too realistic to get upset about an inevitable truth.
"Has she ever said she loved you?"
"What does that matter? People say all kinds of things in a political marriage, to show off for the world. It doesn't mean anything."
"It means everything." Ivy turned and looked Masoro straight in the eyes, with an earnest intensity that made her blush. "If there's one thing I know about the woman I married, it's that she's not a liar. She's never been anything less than honest about her feelings, even when it causes her trouble. If she's said she loves you — if she's shown her love, shared your bed, offered her hand when you needed it and accepted yours when she did — then she loves you."
Masoro felt her face getting heated, and she turned away, making a big show of studying a cluster of jeweled sprite blades mounted nearby. "Even if that were true, I'm sure she loves you more."
"Who says it has to be a competition? Love's not a battlefield, it's an experience. A big enough heart doesn't have to love just one. Besides, don't be so quick to think you'd lose. Honestly, I think you might even be a better wife for her than I was."
Masoro jolted back, turning to look at Ivy. "What? No! That couldn't—"
"Oh, come on now. Isn't it obvious?" Ivy smiled, but for the first time, Masoro could see a bit of You're a princess born. You were trained for this your whole life. I grew up learning how to pitch hay and milk cows. And then when I was a little older, I learned how to beat back curse beasts and wild boars because there was no one else who could save the village from them. I just fell into adventuring, and then I fell into love. All I've done for the kingdom is fight monsters and evil villains, and I could do that just as well on my own. You… you know how to run a palace, and how to handle the finances of a whole kingdom. I could never do any of that. You're exactly what a Princess-Consort should be. The perfect right-hand woman for Sophia, the perfect person to rule a kingdom with her."
Masoro's eyes were wide. "How can you even say that? You -- you're so much more amazing than I am! You're a hero, and beautiful, and, and-- Ever since I saw you that first time, I thought you were everything I wished I could be but never would, and--"
A shockwave rippled through the floor, and Masoro lurched, nearly losing her footing until Ivy caught her, strong arms enfolding her and steadying her against the shaking. Masoro felt her face growing warm as she was pressed up against Ivy's chest, but a shower of dry mortar pattering down on her head from the ceiling snapped her out of her distraction.
"Y-your highnesses!" One of the palace guards rushed into the room, a look of panic in her eyes.
"What's happening?" Ivy called out, still holding Masoro protectively.
"The garden! It's—"
"COME FORTH, MORTAL! I RISE AGAIN TO DEVOUR YOU ONCE MORE!"
She swallowed hard. "It's the Dragon of Ashes. The one that killed you."
It loomed over the castle. Not a beast of flesh, but of swirling ashes, with sullen embers for eyes and heart, looking as ephemeral as a distant haze — but where it stepped, its weight crushed buildings and toppled walls. An ornamental fountain shattered as its cinder claws tore through the turf, the desiccated heat of its body withering the flowers as it passed.
Sophia made it to the balcony overlooking the garden just moments before Ivy rushed in from the other side, Masoro trailing after her. The queen looked at her wives in panic. "How is this happening?"
"I don't know!" Ivy said, her sword already in her hand. "I distinctly remember killing it once before, bursting its heart and making it collapse into ashes as the last breath slipped from my lips. That's the sort of memory that sticks with you." She eyed the dragon critically. "I don't suppose it had a twin brother?"
The dragon swiveled its head to fix a sullen red eye on the trio. "There you are, girl. Ah, my heart still aches at the sight of you. I can still feel the bite of your sword, casting me down into the underworld."
"Well, not a twin brother, then," Ivy said equanimously. She raised her voice. "Yes, I'm here! But I can't help but notice you should be dead, and you're not. Why is that?"
"You and I went into death together. Our souls resonated in that moment. And when you emerged, defying death to claim life once more, the gates of the underworld were loosened. Where you could pass… I could pass."
Under other circumstances, Sophia would have been thrilled by this. An entirely new revelation about the metaphysics of the underworld and the links souls could have with each other. But under other circumstances her castle walls wouldn't be being ground to powder by a supernatural monster that had, the last time it appeared, nearly burned her kingdom and everything in it to the ground.
"Well!" Ivy cried out. "That's fascinating and really kind of inspiring. I don't suppose we could call it even? I killed you, you killed me, we're both alive again, and now you can go off and retire somewhere and have a quiet, pleasant life, maybe raise some ashy hatchlings or something?"
The dragon chuckled, a rumbling deep within its throat. "Ah, the humor of mortals. I have no desire for quiet. I have no desire for offspring. What I desire is as it has always been: to burn down the works of mankind, and feast upon the ashes. To slaughter all that lives and drink in its fading warmth. All that differs is that I now very much wish to make you first among them."
"Well. Can't say I didn't try talking it out."
Though her words were light, her expression was anything but. She had her eyes fixed on the dragon's every motion. The palace gardens were wide, and even with the dragon's size and speed it was still too far to lash out at the balcony... but only just. It seemed in no hurry to close the distance, instead taking slow steps across the fields of flowers, letting its claws and its flicking tail tear through the foliage and shatter the stoneworks as it went. Behind it, through the gap in the outer wall, the castle town was just visible -- with smoke rising from a few of the buildings. It had come to the castle first, but it wasn't at all averse to collateral damage.
"Sophia." Ivy's voice was low and quiet. "This is my responsibility. The dragon wouldn't be here if I hadn't come back from death. I'll do everything I can to take it down, but if I don't--"
"Don't even finish that thought." Sophia placed her hand on her wife's shoulder. "You're responsible for what you do. It is responsible for what it does. And I…" She pulled back and traced a line through the air. Silver aether trailed from her fingertips, drawing out glyphs that called the magic of the world to her. "…I am not letting you die without me again."
A smile like the dawning of the sun came over Ivy's face. "I love you, my queen. Now and forevermore, in this life or another."
And she leapt off the balcony, her sword shining in the evening light. With a circling sweep of her arms, Sophia traced out a brilliant flow of air magic, buoying her wife up to the point where she almost seemed to fly, bringing her to a safe landing on the turf in front of the monster of ash and death.
"Masoro, get everyone to safety," Sophia said, not taking her eyes off of the dragon as she began to weave together complex wards and shields. "We'll do all we can, but even if we defeat it, the damage is going to be immense. Evacuate the castle; get everyone to… to…"
"The watershed shelters would be safest," Masoro volunteered. "They can hold everyone in the castle, and they're covered in damp earth, which might slow the dragon down. And the river isn't far."
"Good. Perfect." She winced as a searing breath of embers made her shields buckle, but rewove them as Ivy darted in, slicing at the dragon's ankle, her blade leaving a wound of silver light in its ashes. "Go, and keep everyone safe!" She traced out another rune, making tendrils of energy lash out at the dragon, trying to tie it down. Belatedly, she added, "I love you. Stay safe."
If she'd been able to spare a look back, she would have realized Masoro had left long before she said that.
The castle's halls were in chaos. Guards and servants and petty nobles of all kinds were rushing back and forth in a panic with no clear destination, all rational thought having left them at the sight of the monster assailing the castle, or the stones of the walls and ceilings beginning to crack under its onslaught.
Masoro pressed herself up against the wall, out of their way, and tried to collect herself. She was as terrified as any of them. She'd tried to call out to a few of them, tried to get them organized, but her voice hadn't reached through their fear. Hardly surprising. It couldn't even reach through her own.
She felt so helpless. The kingdom she'd come to make her home was in danger, her wife and her wife's wife were about to throw away their lives trying to save it, and she couldn't even do that.
She wasn't a mage like Sophia. She wasn't a hero like Ivy. What could she do? There was nothing. She was a glorified steward. Sure, she knew the castle like the back of her hand, she knew its utilities and its trophies, she knew the servants and their duties, she knew…
She knew…
The breath caught in her throat. Her eyes widened.
There was something.
She grabbed a passing steward by the collar, nearly yanking off his feet as she interrupted his panicked attempt to escape. "Jerris! Go to the trophy room and have the taxidermists dismount the red and black masks from my dowry — not the blue one! And… yes, and the lances from the Holy See of Dolorosa. The sea serpent skull. The cursed portrait from the upper north hall. And most importantly, the giant raven head. Bring them all down to the west garden incinerator. And you, Mavilla!" She released the steward and turned to a maid who'd been pressed up against the wall having a panic attack. "Go to the west garden and rally all the gardeners. We need to fire up the incinerator and — please, don't panic." She put her hands on the maid's shoulders, bracing her. "Breathe. Remember your exercises. Just calmly, and… yes. You'll be safe. And this could save us all. Get the incinerator as hot as you can manage, and open up the upper cleaning platform." The maid, still breathing shakily, nodded and hurried off.
She took a deep breath herself, and turned to the three palace guards who'd come to escort her to safety and were now looking quite bewildered. "You three are with me. Come on!" She hitched up her skirts and began running, the guards hastening to follow.
"Of course, your highness, but — where are we going?" one of them asked. Masoro didn't miss a step.
"To the cistern. We've got irrigation to do!"
Through her career as a wandering hero, Ivy had collected numerous magical trinkets. Warding charms, talismans for luck, little things that could counter magic or summon constructs or warn of danger. She'd been buried with a few of them, and she was right now thanking her lucky stars for that as the copper bangle meant to her from heatstroke was glowing white-hot with the effort of shielding her from the dragon's searing breath.
Her sword, forged for her by silversmith kobolds and blessed or enchanted by half a dozen mystic communities she'd saved over the years, had enough strength in it to dig deep into the dragon's body, insubstantial form of ash that it was. Wounds were glowing silver all across its form -- dozens of shallow cuts to the forelimbs, deeper slashes to the wings, a mighty gouge that nearly reached the heart.
It wasn't enough.
The dragon reared back, roaring, as it summoned the ashes of the burning gazebo to it, forming another cloud that blocked Sophia's lines of mystic force, isolating Ivy from her support. Sophia cursed, trying to reroute her magic around yet another obstacle, but the dragon had an infuriating knowledge of the forms the paths would need to take. It was blocking every shape that could support Ivy or hinder the dragon, and coming up with a workaround would take precious seconds they didn't have.
The dragon's tail whipped around, ashen form stretching and distorting in a way flesh could not, and struck the Princess-Consort in the side. Ivy fell to the ground, wincing as the sword was wrenched from her grip by the impact. She felt the soft, slippery mud give way under her, cushioning her fall but giving her no purchase as she tried to stand, leaving her fallen amidst a bed of white roses next to the gardener's tool shed.
The Dragon of Ashes chuckled to itself, deep and rumbling. "Ah, poor, precious mortal. Bold of you to think that you could defeat me a second time. I have greater strength than you. I am far older than you. And now I have learned all the little tricks you used to slay me the first time." Though slowed by its wounds, the dragon still had might left to spare. It walked slowly towards Ivy, each taloned foot splattering mud as the shrubs and flowers shriveled around it. "And after you are gone, I think I shall slay that wizard, next. She means much to you, doesn't she? I'm sure it will give you the most delicious despair to know she will soon follow you." Looming over Ivy, it lifted its right talon high, the sharp cinder claws gleaming in the red light of its eyes. "Now, you di-rrgh?!"
The turf collapsed under the dragon's front left foot, sending its claws deep into the ground as water splashed around them, sizzling as it came in contact with the burning ashes. The dragon spread its wings, trying to retain its balance, but that gave Ivy just enough time to roll away and leap to the top of the gardening shack, her feet splashing on the grass as she did. She looked around quickly, assessing the sudden change in the situation. There was water seeping up all across the garden, and there, against the wall of the main keep…
The cistern on the roof stored rain water and distributed it to the washrooms, the kitchens, and the gardens through an intricate series of pipes. The gardeners in turn controlled a set of valves and nozzles to divert water to irrigate the plants or fill their watering cans. But now the pipes from the cistern had been not just opened, but broken — gushers of water were pouring from gaping holes where the nozzles had been, flooding into the ground and turning layers of sod and topsoil into a quagmire, one the Dragon of Ashes struggled to pull its feet out of.
"What trickery is this?"
"Yes, seriously, what's up with this?" Ivy asked agreeably. "I mean, I can't exactly say I mind, but I haven't really been going over my marsh-fighting tactics since I got back. Sophia, did you--?"
"No!" Sophia was quick to take advantage of the sudden change in the terrain, sending out more lines of force to try to hem the dragon in as the cinder clouds drifted uncontrolledly, but it had baffled her as much as anyone. She'd been focusing hard on the fight, and whoever had been breaking the pipes had completely slipped her notice. Who could have--?
"Sophia!"
The voice rang out from the other side of the garden, well away from the battle. All three heads whipped around to see.
There, atop the garden incinerator, stood Masoro, straining with three guards to help hold the giant head of Corces aloft as below, the gardeners and taxidermists struggled to shove the last of her fuel into the fire, a sacred lance and the jaw of a sea serpent cracking against each other as they forced them in. The smoke pouring from the incinerator's chimney was shimmering opalescently, curling and winding in on itself to form a single brilliant cloud.
"Sophia!" Masoro cried out, nearly bent double under the weight. "Sophia, imbue!"
Sophia's eyes widened. "Masoro, you utter genius," she whispered. A gesture, and the lines of her spells shifted, tracing across the sky above the garden to arch down and make contact with the cloud — and with the giant raven's head. "Ivy! Sword up!"
Ivy didn't have to think twice about listening to her wife. Her sword gleamed in the afternoon light as she pointed it directly towards the sky, letting Sophia touch the other end of the spell to its tip.
The smoke streamed along the runic lines, pouring into Ivy's sword, melding into its silver glow. It engulfed Ivy, wrapping around her, lifting her into the air. It was a collection of magics -- magics for strength, magics for unity, magics for the slaying of monsters, magics for binding. And most of all, magics of the gatekeeper of death, the raven who kept watch over the living and the dead and made certain one did not become the other improperly.
Corces's head burst into smoke itself, and rushed up the lines of force to the sword as Masoro and the guards fell over, exhausted and suddenly free of their weighty burden. Ivy felt the energy rush through her, strengthening her weary muscles, and when her eyes snapped open, they were the gleaming black of the raven of death.
Giant raven wings spread behind her, of pearlescent smoke, and she soared off of the shack's roof to slice at the dragon's neck, her sword trailing brilliant light. The dragon screamed, and tried to lift itself into the air, but the marshy ground worked against it -- its burning claws had sunk into the mud and dried it solid, and it had no leverage to wrench them out. "What trickery is this?" it roared defiantly. "This magic -- the underworld?"
"Yes!" Sophia cried out from the balcony. "You fled the underworld, but it wants you back, monster! All it took was the right combination of magics to let it find a bond to you!"
"Bah!" It spread its great wings, sending down gusts with great force to try to break free of its imprisonment. The dried mud was cracking, but Ivy was already rising up before the dragon. It tried to bite at her, but a shield of glowing feathers flashed into existence for just half a second, long enough to repel the ashen teeth. "I shall still prevail! You have not the strength to strike me down. Not even the gods have that strength!"
Ivy floated before it, unflinching. "You might be right, dragon. Alone I couldn't beat you, not without dying. And even the strength of the gods might not be enough." She raised her sword, reversing her grip on it to plunge it into the dragon's chest. "But three hearts aligned are unstoppable."
The silvery light of her sword flared like a diamond star as the ember that was the dragon's heart cracked and fissured. It was enough to blind any watcher, and the hissing scream of the dragon was like a bonfire the size of a city raging at being doused.
And when the heart exploded, the dragon's body dissolved into nothing more than floating smoke and ash.
In the dissipating smoke, Ivy could swear she just barely could see the silhouettes of two women, one crowned, cupping the dragon's soul between their hands as they drew it to its just reward.
Our thanks again, hero. And do drop in for the wedding, if you can spare the time...
And with a gentle breeze, the ashes that had once been a primordial monster dispersed.
Ivy touched down gently at the remains of the gazebo in the center of the garden. The smoke dispersed, leaving nothing of its underworld magic behind, but it had lasted long enough.
Nearby, Masoro was helping the guards down off the incinerator, and giving instructions to the gardeners at the same time. "...shut off the pipe intakes on the roof so the flooding will stop. Then we can open the drainage grates and start the siphons. And send around Rotto to check for any injuries or damages that occurred as people were trying to escape -- he's good at calming people down..."
Ivy took a step towards her, reaching out. But footsteps from behind made her hesitate.
"Ivy!"
Queen Sophia rushed up from the palace side, trailed by a few more late-arriving guards. She dove at Ivy and wrapped her arms around her, giving her a kiss passionate enough to put the ashen dragon's heat to shame. Breaking away, she kept her arms around her as she looked into her wife's eyes. "You were amazing. As always."
Ivy smiled and went back in for another kiss. Off to the side, Masoro forced a smile at the sight of them, though it felt like a knife of ice going through her heart. But this was how it should be, she told herself. And there was still a lot of work to be done. She needed to survey the damage to the walls, sort out which stonemasons would be best for repairs, see to the replanting of the garden... even if she wasn't going to be Princess-Consort much longer, there was still so much she could do to make sure she was leaving the kingdom a better place. She turned away, relieved to be able to avert her eyes from the kiss. Perhaps she'd go to the walls first.
She was stopped by a hand latching onto her wrist. She was shocked to see Sophia tugging her back, pulling her into her arms... and giving her a kiss just as deep and passionate as the one she'd given Ivy.
When she broke off, Masoro was dizzy, trying to catch her breath. "I... oh, my. You haven't kissed me like that since... since ever..."
"And I was a fool not to," Sophia said firmly. "I took you too much for granted, and that was wrong of me. I've always known you were a genius, but that was amazing. You brought together everything we needed to save the day. I would never have thought of that, not in a million years, and yet you had it all there in a second."
"I-I just-- it was the only thing I knew how to do. I knew how flooding could affect the gardens after the storms last spring, and I'd catalogued all the magic items in the castle when trying to do a full inventory back when I first arrived, and I'd just seen some of your magic research over your shoulder, so..."
Ivy slapped her on the back. "Don't downplay it. That was brilliant! You knew how to leverage your strengths under fire, and you kept a cool head the whole time. That's more than most can say on their first adventure. You're every bit the hero!"
Masoro could feel herself blushing intensely. Praise was not something she knew how to handle well. Praise from her wife and the heroine she'd looked up to for so many years...
Sophia tapped her chin thoughtfully, looking back and forth between Ivy and Masoro. "Right," she said decisively. "This has made it abundantly clear what I need to do."
She pulled herself up and threw her shoulders back, looking the very model of a queen about to make an official declaration. Her voice rang out loudly enough that all of the soldiers and staff trying to recover and regroup after the battle found themselves stopping and turning to her almost without realizing. "My subjects! I have come to a decision. Princess-Consort Ivy and Princess-Consort Masoro both have legitimate claims to marriage with me. No precedent I have found instructs me on how this may be resolved, and so, as queen, the decision rests with me. I have decided that both of their claims must be honored! For love and the safety of the realm, Ivy of Stonetree Farm will be my wife. For love, alliances, and the governing of the realm, Masoro Keita of Kabura will be my wife. Your queen has spoken!"
A ragged cheer went up from the crowd, their enthusiasm rekindling in the wake of the devastating attack. Masoro could hardly believe it. "Sophia... you're sure about this?"
"As sure as I've been of anything in my life. You've been there for me these past two years, even when I was at my worst. You've been a blessing for me and for this kingdom. I love you, Masoro, and I'm only sorry I haven't said it more. If you'll consent to remaining my wife, I would be the happiest queen in the world."
Masoro's throat was dry, and her heart pounding a mile a minute. All she could manage to do was whisper out a simple, "Yes."
"Well, then," Ivy said. "Only one more thing to do." She turned to Masoro and took one of her hands in both of her own. "Princess Masoro, in just the day I've know you, you've impressed me beyond all words. You're intelligent, brave, caring, self-sacrificing, and diligent. And more importantly, you've won the heart of the woman I love. How could I not feel the same way?" She dropped down to one knee, looking up at Masoro. "Will you do me the honor of being my bride as well?"
That was it. That was more than Masoro could take.
She fainted.
Ivy's reflexes were thankfully fast enough to catch her before she hit the ground. "...Do you think that's a yes?"
Sophia couldn't smother a smile. "If you'll recall, I took it only modestly better when you proposed, and that because you waited until we'd known each other four whole days. That worked out well enough."
And indeed, it wasn't hard to see that this would be fine. Mostly because of the giddy smile on Masoro's swooning face.
In the end, it took three months to prepare. Three months of legal proclamations, three months of careful negotiation of boundaries and understandings, three months of the current and former Princesses-Consort getting to know each other, and of course three months of what were effectively wedding plans. Most of the time had been needed just to arrange the arrivals of all the guests, and give them time to travel. The Mansa of Kabura and his husband were in attendance, bearing gifts of gold, and Ivy's mother had brought a lavish spread of fresh vegetables up from her farm, which was just as appreciated. The damage to the castle had been repaired, and the great hall was more brilliant than ever as light streamed through the new stained-glass windows. Flowers and brocade decorated the altar, though the servants were mystified as to where one particularly large bouquet, composed entirely of rare black asphodels, had come from. (The fact that they were traditionally the flower of the underworld might have been a hint, though.)
Setting up the legal framework had been tricky, but between Sophia and Masoro, no clause was left ambiguous, no potential ramification left unexplored. Ivy had handled what pushback there was from the public, though really there hadn't been much. Ivy had been an extremely popular Princess-Consort, and much to her own surprise Masoro wasn't far behind, with countless stories circulating of how her administration of the country's finances had brought relief to drought-stricken farmers or single-handedly turned around the trading fortunes of the kingdom's major port. Few people could pick a favorite, and when the major churches and temples found no objections to the union, the public went along eagerly.
And in the end, when Princess-Consort Ivy approached the altar from the left, and Princess-Consort Masoro approached from the right, Queen Sophia was there to welcome them both with open arms.