How Divine is Thou?

Fear

I was ready to murder someone. Tholnia was in one of the best hospitals in the world, but they said by the time she got there, her leg was in too bad of shape, and said there was probably never any hope of fixing it no matter how quick we got there.

But they did have a solution. Being set in the heart of The Crystal Kingdom, they had access to advanced technology and said they could recreate a leg for her that would be the same in weight and size. Robin wasn't pleased with any of this news but wasn't given much of an option.

So, while Robin was trying to figure out the legal work of all this, everyone else was stuck making escape plans for Lesterati.

"I will go into the dungeons to find her." Citune left no room for argument. "As much as we need gods in the upstairs, she won't trust a group of all mortals. She's hurt and weak."

"I can sneak in through the musicians' caravan," Mizotl spoke up. "I know the layout, and it's out of the way enough that no one would question me."

"Then I'll guide you," Citune said. "If anyone asks, I can say that you are the child of one of the nobles, and you snuck away."

"What about the rest of us?" Ettia asked. "You can't expect us to all just wait."

"We don't. Ettia, you're coming with Miz and me. Robin will be monitoring the palace from a distance. If anything goes wrong, she'll have weapons," she told him.

"What about Ialdir and me?" I asked her.

"Ialdir will be disguised and slip into the party a bit after it gets kicked off." I was trying to decide I this was because he was needed there, or to avoid clashing with Lesterati and Ettia.

It took me a moment to realize that she never told me what I was supposed to do. "What do you want me doing?"

She laughed nervously, "Well, you know how we joked that if anything happened to Tholnia that you'd make a good replacement?"

Now, I hope you're thinking what I was at that moment. Surely Citune isn't that cruel. Don't let her kind face fool you. She is.

So now, while Ettia was buying himself with finding suits for Ialdir and Nyx, Citune and Robin were spending their time trying to convince me to wear heels.

"I'm am not wearing those fucking mortal torture devices," I said. I didn't want to yell in public, but I was going to get my point across.

"There's like a foot difference between you and Nyx. If he is in dress shoes, which I'm sure he will be, I doubt you'll even be able to see his face," Robin argued.

"I am not that short," I fired back. "I'll wear the dress, but I'll kill you if you make me wear those things."

"Oh Robin, just drop it. It's not worth it," Citune said, looking through some more dresses. It was a struggle to find one that didn't try to highlight the breasts, which, for obvious reasons, I didn't have.

"Thank y-"

"The fight will come with the makeup."

"The what?" I asked, making sure I'd heard her correctly.

"You look like you haven't slept in three weeks. A bit of concealer wouldn't hurt. Maybe a bit of mascara and eyeshadow if we're lucky."

Someone was going to die yet.

"You'll probably have to take the mask off, too. It singles you out," Robin pointed out. "Actually, I've always wanted to ask, why do you wear it?"

"To hide from the gods," I told her. "Though I guess you're right."