Nyrkatess watched the ivory door swing shut. Once it closed, they would finally be alone, in their drawing room, with Suri and her husband.

It was moving painfully slowly.

Schwoof.

At an incomparable speed, Nyrkatess swung to Suri.

"How did you do it?!" she blurted again.

For her entire life, she had strived, fumbling in the dark of ignorance, to refine everything that was most exquisitely beautiful into sublime ideals. Every day, she had advanced ever closer to elevating the natural into the supernatural. With every blessing, she had grown more proficient at eliminating the flaws that infested this mortal world, and more adept at sculpting the unattainable, entrancing perfection that was the quintessence of divinity. Today, at last, she had witnessed what stood atop the distant summit of her ambition, and she was glamorous!

The Sky Goddess--so apt!--was beyond Nyrkatess' wildest imaginings! Marvelous! Glorious! Transcendent! And open to sharing!

Suri crossed the drawing room, and peered out the window opposite the entryway, which filled the entire wall overlooking Nyrkatess' normally-peaceful flower beds.

"Do you have a more private room?" she requested. "I want there to be no chance of the loathsome bigots watching or listening."

Yes! Of course! That wouldn't do at all!

"Mmmm...Our dressing room's only windows are on the ceiling," Nyrkatess answered. "Through here!"

She resisted an impulse to issue a gentle reminder, to those below, that her flowers were to be admired, never touched. Instead, she led her guests toward the door to the dressing room.

Hmm. Nyrkatess paused, after opening the door, and pressed a finger to her lips. Suri would probably love some blue and red blossoms. Which cultivar would be best to fork? Um...

"You share all of your chambers with Villacqui?" Suri prodded, wrenching Nyrkatess back to the present.

Long-dormant outrage rumbled beneath her high spirits.

"They wanted to put my Villacqui in some closet, but I wouldn't have it," she recalled, scoffing. "I was lonely by myself, anyway. I mean, look..."

She walked to the far side of the dressing room, and opened the way to their bedroom.

"You could get lost in that bed, without a map!" Nyrkatess was mostly joking. "Fortunately, grandfather thought it was adorable that I wanted my pet to stay with me, and everyone's used to it."

Vague memories of a period she would rather forget oozed to the surface, more emotional echoes than explicit events: parents ashamed of her existence, siblings who resented it, attendants who may as well be furniture, and a grandfather who visited whenever he could.

In the present, Nyrkatess watched Villacqui, to see how she reacted. Even though Nyrkatess shared so many secrets with her--and made her feel cherished!--Villacqui still kept walls up. That accursed taint slander was to blame, of course, and all the nonsense that came with it. The ever-present fear. 'Brazenly impertinent for someone of my station.' Bah! If only they hadn't run out of time! Villacqui was so close to trusting Nyrkatess enough, so close to believing that she truly could say anything, even things she feared that Nyrkatess might not want to hear. But she wasn't there yet. So, watching closely was the only way for Nyrkatess to gauge how her Villacqui truly felt, behind those walls. Currently, Nyrkatess' best guess was: Villacqui was feeling a little embarrassed, but also special. And proud that she was special.

Nyrkatess had felt like she was floating the whole day, and now it surged. She had always worried that even she might only be telling herself what she wanted to hear, but this morning, Villacqui had dropped her walls for just long enough to convince Nyrkatess that her reads were not delusional.

Soon, Villacqui would feel drawn to 'her favorite chair'...And there she went! Gahhhhhhhh!

Nyrkatess giggled softly into her hand. Her Villacqui was embarrassed, that was true, but she was also hoping that Nyrkatess would spill a little more! She didn't want to miss this rare opportunity to brag to someone about how cherished she was!

Nyrkatess was only too happy to oblige.

"Every night, my Villacqui needs me to cycle my power through her, or she's too anxious to fall asleep! Isn't she so precious?!"

In her favorite chair, Villacqui's face fell into her hands again, but like earlier, half of her embarrassment was at how delighted she was that Nyrkatess had shared something so embarrassing! Hnnnn!

"And you need to do your petting thing!" Villacqui countered, but Nyrkatess wasn't fooled. In truth, that was another boast, combined with an invitation-request. This oblique, deniable code was how Villacqui communicated.

"Guil-ty!" Nyrkatess sang, and pranced over to indulge herself. There was no point in acting prim and proper in front of the very people whom they would soon need to beg for pity. Let them see what it was that Nyrkatess wanted to protect.

Out of the corner of her eye, Nyrkatess saw Suri and her husband sharing a glance.

"In your letter, you wrote about wanting to make an 'unconventional choice,'" Suri prompted. "What exactly did you have in mind?"

Nyrkatess continued her finger-drumming while she considered how to answer. She had been rehearsing this conversation since she received Suri's reply, but then this morning had happened. She spoke to Villacqui's reflection in the mirror.

"I wish we'd had more time to talk, but we mustn't waste this chance. I've no other plan."

Villacqui nodded, so Nyrkatess confessed everything to the mirror.

"The unconventional choice that I wish to make is to have no consort and no pregnancy, ever. Only my Villacqui knows the truth; everyone else assumes that I am a simple tease. My parents have always taken my being not quite power-marked as a personal humiliation. In hopes of correcting the failure that I represent, they intend to coerce me, by threatening my Villacqui, into producing as many candidate heirs as possible. My father will announce a fiancé at my investiture. I could ask for someone young, to buy a few years, but..."

Nyrkatess shook her head rapidly. Two or three years of pretending to be enamored with some handsy, presumptuous boy-god on her arm, while needing to look over her shoulder constantly to make sure that no bigots were harassing Villacqui, was less appealing than sleeping with the creepy-crawlies.

"I entirely understand," Suri said, and Nyrkatess believed her. "Continue."

For the next part, Nyrkatess turned toward Suri, and was struck once again by her grandeur. This was a real goddess.

Perhaps she would answer a prayer.

"When I wrote the letter, I was hoping that you might have advice on how to delay for a few more years, and..." Nyrkatess shrugged, a silent admission that she knew how far-fetched her hopes were. "...how to use that time to arrange a formality that would satisfy everyone, somehow, while also allowing Villacqui and me to keep living our life, like we already do. I had little hope then that any such arrangement would ever be possible, and today, I have none, so..."

As humiliating and pathetic as it was, there was no way around it. Nyrkatess stepped toward Suri, knelt, and pressed her forehead into the floor. Villacqui copied her a second later, to her right. There was shuffling, as Suri and her husband knelt in front of them.

"There is no need to beg," Suri urged.

"Begging is all I have left," Nyrkatess insisted. "I beg you to help us escape, and grant us asylum, indefinitely. If it is impossible to help me, I understand, but I beg you to help Villacqui, because once father realizes that I will never do what he wants, she can only be safe in your home. Everyone else is either already cruel to her, or makes a pretense of politeness that will vanish the moment father disowns me."

With a hand on each of their shoulders, Suri firmly raised Nyrkatess and Villacqui from the floor, and looked back and forth between them.

Nyrkatess had vowed to save her despair until she heard whatever answer was coming. Hope still persisted, for now, amidst all the anxiety.

"We sense that what you truly want is to marry each other?" Suri suggested, softly.

Nyrkatess exhaled, in partial relief. As she suspected, Suri truly did understand.

Longing displaced some of the tingles of anxiety. Imagine: 'Nyrkatess, wife to Villacqui.' What a world it would be--what a fantasy!--if goddesses could just marry each other, and if there were no 'mundane taint' bigotry, and if no one cared about breeding for 'truly illustrious' heirs, and if Vill--

"Yes."

Nyrkatess' head swiveled to her right, as slowly as the door had swung shut. Enchanting diamond eyes were already waiting to captivate her.

The walls were down again.

"If they see it, too, I know I'm not insane," Villacqui continued. "Please forgive my impertinence, but you've made my heart flutter one time too many today. We will need to have a long talk, once I'm safe." She smirked teasingly. "But it's a talk I want to have."

Nyrkatess remained very thoroughly captivated while Villacqui turned to address Suri and her husband.

"That you would even consider such a thing--suggest it with full sincerity--tells me everything I need to know. I am humbled to be granted a second miracle in one lifetime, and I will try to earn all of the grace that I have received."

Gold went so well with black. If the Keyics were able to help, Nyrkatess would need to get a cutting before they escaped.

"If I may be so bold, I believe that Nyrkatess deserves a chance to earn it, too."

If Villacqui's hair were down, the golden disk earrings would be even more striking on her, but the problem was that Nyrkatess' hair needed to be above her neck, for the medallion ceremony. Such a pity. The strands hanging from Villacqui's temples could only do so much, alone.

"I know that it may seem as if I am being coerced, or manipulated, or that I've been brainwashed, but I have very carefully considered those possibilities myself, every day for years, and the conclusion that I have reached is: As bizarre and questionable as it may be, on multiple levels, I am in love with this breathtaking ditz, and the only choice I have is how to respond to that fact. This is my choice."

Villacqui reached out, cupped Nyrkatess' cheek in her hand, and nearly killed herself to clean a single tear, which had fallen without Nyrkatess noticing.

That proved to be terribly counterproductive. It was strange, to be weeping in the exact same place, twice in the same day, for such very different reasons.

"Don't, act, so, surprised," Villacqui gasped. "I, told you. I, want, to be, your Villacqui, to the end."

Nyrkatess searched desperately for a worthy reply, but her thoughts were too one-note at the moment.

"You're so beautiful," she breathed.

...Well, at least that would get the point across, surely.

"We will help you," Suri promised. "If necessary, We are capable of smuggling both of you out, but I would prefer that you not be disinherited, and I have a plan that may allow you to leave with your father's consent. It depends on your resolve." Glowing blue eyes bored into Nyrkatess. "Are you willing to transform into a power-marked immortal? The process is years-long, very painful, and irreversible."

A flood of relief helped Nyrkatess collect herself. Suri truly was brilliant.

"Thank you for helping us," she began, bowing her head. As for Suri's question, Nyrkatess was willing to suffer years of pain, if that was the price--it couldn't be worse than spending years in and out of pregnancy--but, "I have spent my entire life trying to become what you are, with Villacqui. I don't want to become immortal without her."

Suri smiled, and cocked her head at her husband. "Do you see how My Zyriko glows My color?"

It was impossible to miss. Nyrkatess nodded, and could guess her meaning. "You shared your immortality? I could do the same?"

"That is what I have done, yes," Suri confirmed. "Whether you could make Villacqui immortal depends entirely on you. The blessing required is challenging, but you are already managing a simplified version of it. It is conceivable that you might be able to do it, soon enough for Villacqui not to age past you. I could help bridge that gap, a little."

When Villacqui said that she wanted "to spend all day every day striving to be as captivating as possible," did she mean forever? Nyrkatess did not think Villacqui had any more desire for wrinkles than she did, but she turned to check.

"If you want to cherish me every day for eternity, I suppose that would be okay with me," she request-invited. "But are you sure that you're willing to risk becoming power-marked?"

"If what Suri has achieved requires being power-marked, then yes. It worked out for her, obviously," Nyrkatess pointed out, half to reassure herself. "And I won't forego everything I've ever wanted just to spite my parents."

"Alright," Villacqui accepted, then asked Suri, "Is there a way to predict what she would look like?"

Nyrkatess did not fail to realize that recent events suggested Villacqui's interest in this issue might not be entirely for Nyrkatess' sake.

It was fortunate that Nyrkatess was already kneeling.

"Not in exact detail," Suri clarified. "I think it's safe to guess that her hair would fade from gold to something closer to ivory, but I do not know what would happen to her irises, aside from the color being paler. Whether she would be as breathtaking as she is now..." Suri grinned at Villacqui, then turned to Nyrkatess. "Maybe the best way to put it is: Villacqui said that you two need to have a long talk. If you listen to what she has to say, and live by it perfectly, then your appearance will shift to match what Villacqui considers to be the ideal of beauty."

...For the first time in Nyrkatess' life, being power-marked sounded rather appealing.

Her heart pounded as diamond eyes inspected every inch of her.

"Hmmm," Villacqui hummed, thoughtfully. Once she finished her examination, she leaned over Nyrkatess' shoulder, to murmur in her ear. "Let's just say you would be recognizable."

Zyriko snorted. Nyrkatess applied a healing blessing to her own heart, as a precaution.

"You mentioned a plan?" Nyrkatess said, once she was confident that her voice wouldn't crack. "When we walk out the door, what do we need to do?"