There was a knock on Yuuki’s tavern door.

“It’s open.”

The courier opened the door and saw her laying on the bed, reading. She paid no attention to him whatsoever, but he bowed respectfully nevertheless.

“You have a letter for me, I believe?”

“Yes, my Lady.”

The letter appeared in her hand as she began reading.

"M-may I go now, my Lady?" The courier sheepishly asked.

“So you can run back to the king and give him a report before I go see him?” She kept reading, while her tone was unreadable.

“Y-yes, my Lady.” There was a bit of hesitation in his voice.

“Well then.” She closed the book and stared at the courier. She decided that having the king be informed that she is the real deal would prevent him from doing anything stupid. “It would be rude to keep your king waiting. Go.”

The poor man could barely get his body to move. He haphazardly bowed deeply and ran away, forgetting to close the door. Yuuki could even hear him almost tripping on the stairs. She read the letter and burnt it.

--

Yuuki donned her ‘work clothes’. It was a single, form fitting, robe with a dark blue background and intricate decorations made from gold, platinum and all sorts of gems. She also wore stilettos and had a magically floating platinum circlet above her head, inlaid with gems, glowing as if it were a halo. As the finishing touch she turned gravity off for her hair and put on a minimal black eye-shadow. As the founder, she had the choice to design the uniform, but the goddess could say a simple ’no’ to it. It was originally going to be far more simple, then something slightly more ornamental, but when the goddess said no to both of those, she made this. Putting everything on took only a few seconds, so if she were to teleport to the king, she would arrive before the courier.

She walked out of her room, and out through the inn, where everyone quickly stood up if they were sitting and knelt. She paid them no mind, as she exited the building and headed to the palace. People on the streets also stopped what they were doing and knelt. She ignored them and continued walking. She eventually got to the palace, where the guards were already lined up kneeling, the king in front of the palace bowed deeply to welcome her. She stopped before addressing him.

“Let us discuss matters in private.” Her voice was soft and comforting, but it echoed through the entire district despite not being particularly loud.

The king nodded and slowly approached her without meeting eye contact and offered an arm which Yuuki promptly took as they walked into the palace. 

The guards only stood up once they were out of sight. Most of them let out a large sigh.

They entered the council chambers where Uther led her to what would normally be his own seat. She sat down on it and he sat down next to her.

“Thank you for coming on such short notice High Priestess.” He was tense, unbelievably so. She would only need to give the word and every one if his subjects would take up arms against him. That all disappeared when Yuuki let out a large sigh and deflated in the chair, leaning back at it unceremoniously.

“How do you do it? All that posturing, bowing, boot-licking. I experienced it once just now and it was annoying. I can’t imagine how bored of it all you are.” She did not look at him, but rather at the ceiling.

His worries faded and were replaced by opportunism. He was facing a young high priestess, one he could possibly manipulate. “Well, it certainly is no fun, but appearances are important.“ He said, in a friendly manner, finally taking a good look at her face.

Yuuki continued looking at the ceiling and talked in an uninterested tone. “The funny thing is, the gods don’t even care for formalities, they just kinda accepted that mortals insist on them.” The king let out a fake chuckle and she continued. “So, what’d you want to talk about?”

“It is about my son, Arthur. I believe you know him already?” He went along with the more informal and friendly tone that Yuuki was setting.

“Yeah, he’s a good kid. Talented. A bit stubborn, but that isn’t always a bad thing.”

Uther nodded. “I wish to make him my legitimate heir, but he has an older sibling. I wanted to ask for your help with that.” He didn’t have the nerve to straight up lie, but he decided to leave out a few things.

Yuuki’s friendly attitude melted completely and she looked the king in the eye. “In other words, you want me to legitimize one of your bastards who was lucky enough to be talented. One whose mother you tried to have murdered. And I assume you would also like to keep it all a secret from him?” Her voice wasn’t loud, but it shook his soul while her faintly glowing violet eyes drilled holes into it.

Uther realized he got played. His heart was racing, but his mind was still. He didn’t even notice when she stood up.

“You’re lucky I like him, otherwise asking such a thing would result in your death. You will tell him everything, and if you even think about sending more assassins after his mother…” She did not finish that sentence, but the lights dimming in the room were enough of a warning. By the time the lights were normal again, she was gone without a trace and the king sat in one of the chairs, terrified.

Yuuki was in her room in the mansion, changing to more informal attire and laid down on the floor.

“That was fun.” Yuuki heard a voice in her head that echoed despite not even being sound.

“Of course you were watching.” Yuuki didn’t sound either pleased or displeased.

“Of course, I have to see how my high priestess conducts herself. You did splendidly by the way.”

“That garb is uncomfortable.”

“Yeah, but you looked really good.”

“I looked like you.”

“Yeah, but I look really good.”

“Does ‘Lucy’ think so?”

There was a moment of silence. “What?”

“Goddess of Light, you know. The one who’s priests are just slightly stronger than other priests with magic.” Yuuki disliked talking with the gods, because she was at a disadvantage. She used her trump card to level the playing field.

“I liked talking with you more when you had a headache.” Mystra sounded defeated. She then appeared in front of Yuuki with a slight pout. “What do you want?”

“Answers.” Yuuki stood up and looked the goddess in the eye. “Can you kill me?”

“Your body, yes, your soul, no.”

“Does your blessing give you any power over me?”

“Not directly. And if you do something I dislike I could normally take it away, but in your case... Is that all?”

“Last one.” He took a step closer to where she was right in front of Mystra. “Why did you reincarnate me? And don’t say it was because of the deal, because we both know that’s not it.”

The goddess hugged Yuuki so tightly, she couldn’t escape despite trying to. “Because I don’t want you to go through the same things I did. You are lost and I want to help.” Her voice was soft and filled with sadness.

Yuuki stopped struggling and was released. She had many things to say, but she said nothing. She just stared at Mystra until she disappeared.