Day One Thousand Two Hundred And One

Dear Diary,

The thing I cannot figure out a pattern to about this whole hundred day situation is magnitude. Like, the first time it was just one kid, basically a stranger who I might have seen in passing during my lap around Phileo with Dad, Marie, and Saffron in the aftermath of the One Night Holy War. The next time it was just some random kids at a homestead in Lancaster. Then some kids in the stands who got blasted by Anundr's Draconic summons. Then a pit full of Undead Kids. So up until then it was escalating.

Then one kid. Bonnie's kid. Lucas. After that it kinda oscillated back and forth between lots of kids with some vague connection to me and individual kids, sometimes small groups, who were deeply connected to me in some way. Siobean and now Cherry's kid come to mind on that; I half expect that if anybody's due date is anywhere near one of those hundred day markers, the delivery is gonna be 'complicated' at the very least. Of course, twice now it hasn't been 'one kid'. Loviatar and Lyssa both threatened the entire Kid Collective.

Thing is, locking down doesn't seem to help. I mean, I was all ready to hold Aisling at home until the very last instant, then hop her over and let the day pass entirely with every single kid even vaguely connected to me safe and secure at the Homestead. Then... Cherry.

Speaking of, my favorite Priest wound up a little bit unconscious after the impromptu Caesarian extraction. I looked around after dropping another Heal and a Stabilize into him, but I couldn't find any source of the bleeding. I checked the sun, realized I didn't have long at all before I was due at the Sun's Harbor Court, and sighed. "Sorry Pye, I'll make it up to you." I held her in place in the sky while I hopped back to my Altar, where Karen had a bucket of soapy water to sponge Giselle off with. The woman herself didn't look too great, but when she saw the little one she didn't hesitate; she just slipped her blouse open and reached out for him.

After making sure she was mostly centered on the Altar, with plenty of room between the little ones and the edge, I handed her Cherry's boy and Tabson both. Then I nodded to the bucket. "You might need more than that."

She nodded down her front to her Holy Garb. "I didn't think this the most appropriate way to clean a babe, let alone two."

"Fair point. Uh..." Siobhan? Saffron? Mittens?

A moment later half my Clergy showed up. Mads, Siobhan, and Marie, all decked out in their Holy Garb. "How can we help?" Siobhan asked.

I shook my head. "Marie? Take the kids back to the Homestead? And maybe swap to Glowing Midnight before sunset?"

She scooped up the two boys, shifting to her Maid's uniform as she did. "Or This?" She smiled at me as I realized her Maid's uniform had way easier access than Glowing Midnight.

"Yeah, or that." I gently captured Giselle's arms as Marie stepped away to the Homestead. "The ladies will take you to them when you're cleaned up and Siobhan's made sure you and Cherry aren't in need of immediate medical attention."

"No... Cherry..." Giselle sobbed. "He... So much blood..."

I took a deep breath. "Siobhan? Could you bring him here? Pye's getting feisty."

"I know not where his room is though?"

"Shit." Tallulah? Meet me at my Phileo Altar with Aisling?

Of course.

With that part dealt with, or at least in motion, I stepped to Cherry's room, picked him up, and stepped back to my Altar, where I laid him in front of Giselle. "Is he...?"

"Unconscious, but not dead. Don't worry, Giselle, Siobhan won't let him die on you."

Siobhan snorted. "No one on the Altar here is in any immediate danger." After she did those quick hand motions to Assess the pair, she said, "both of you need some minor Healing, though."

At that point Tallulah showed up, Aisling holding one hand and Hailee holding the other. When I picked up Aisling and took Tallulah's hand, I realized she'd Co-Located to collect the girls, and one of her was still way to the east. "Okay, ladies. I'll be back as soon as I can."

She collapsed back to herself, into what was obviously a Court in a similar style to that of Rich Man's Port. Not the same style, but similar. Not unlike the throne room in Compton, although where that room had all the accents in gold and hardwood, this one had what looked like bronze and some kind of white stone. Also, holy fuck but sun motifs everywhere.

That extended to the dude in the throne. He had the kind of slender build that reminded me of Tallulah's son Lindsey, not to mention Tallulah herself, only more so. Taller. Thinner. Almost, but not quite inhumanly so, although I guess my 'normal' for both of those had gotten pretty weird, what with Furtim, Marie, Saffron, and fuck it, Aisling herself. Teenager by Status, but roughly the size of my thigh.

At any rate, dude was tall and thin, with the kind of razor sharp cheekbones I normally associated with evil viziers. His whole gold and white outfit screamed 'sun priest', even up to a crown with rays pointing outward in a kind of halo. I'm not sure, but I also realized that the entire Courtroom was the same kind of space as the Bedroom and Dad's cave. The moment the girls and I arrived, he stiffened a little, then slow blinked, waved whoever he'd been talking to away, and said, "Overlord? Who have you brought to my Court?"

I felt Tallulah's inner conflict over something, and just in case I thought, I'm a big girl, T. I'm not gonna get pissy. With you. Butter him up if you need to. I'll knock him down a peg if I gotta.

The tension in her dissolved, and at her most formal she announced, "Lord, may I please introduce Tabitha Diaz, her daughters Aisling and Hailee, attending before sunset per your request."

Dude's face got pinched like somebody'd just pinched a loaf off in his lap. I might have been a little less than gentle as I let Pye fly past the horizon. Before I could say anything, he countered Tallulah's introduction with, "that was a command, not a request, Overlord. Also..."

Yeah, I don't have a lot of patience at the best of times, and I'd just spent a day simmering followed by having to perform an emergency Caesarian on my favorite femboy, and the fact that I didn't even know my newest son's name yet left me with somewhere in the realm of several thousand negative fucks to give. I blame my fuck deficit for everything that came out of my mouth after that.

"Hey, look, T didn't mean to harsh your joy... What should I call you?"

He definitely must have been related tangentially to Lancasters, because he had the rectal kumquat look down. "You may refer to me as Lord."

I opened my mouth, inhaled, then shut it and shook my head. "Yeah, no, I fuckin' shoot the shit with D and his sister, not to mention am on a first name basis with his uncle, who is a genuine God of the Dead, not to mention... Y'know what, let's just leave it at I fuck with way too many people who want me to blow that particular flavor of smoke up their ass, and ain't none of them got the pleasure yet... Sunny? Mind if I call you Sunny? Fuck it, I'mma call you Sunny." I realized at this point that Aisling was hiding her face in my chest, and Tallulah'd facepalmed, but Hailee was just grinning that tiny feline grin she did so well. "So... Sunny. Like I said, T was tryna be polite, which I'll no doubt reward her for both carnally and any other way she likes later, but at the moment? I'm here because she told me you asked politely. Was she wrong?"

Yeah, I'd just been hammering him with an avalanche of words, and he'd been looking more and more apoplectic the longer I talked. The moment I stopped and waited, he kinda exploded. I say kinda, because this wasn't Gregor's unhinged ranting, this was like, legit upset at being snubbed. "I will not be disrespected here in my own Court. You may be an upstart Demigoddess from the colonies of Atlantis, but I am the Lord of Sun's Harbor. This Court has stood since High King Elatha founded it as a summer retreat millennia ago, when the Fomorians ruled the land, and his blood runs in my veins. You will give all due respect to myself, my position, and my Court, or I will have you ejected, petty Demigoddess or no."

I'm not sure what he thought of my smile getting wider and wider. I definitely know he didn't expect me to ask, "wait, is that the same Elatha who's the Mor Sun God?"

Yeah, dude was an expert at communicating via posture and expression, and while all he said was, "he is," he was clearly communicating, 'suck on that, upstart bitch'.

I guess he didn't have my connection to the sun, though. Because he definitely looked sorta put out when Pyevatar landed next to me a moment later. "Tabitha Diaz, I must protest your continued manhandling of my person!"

I didn't take my eyes off Sunny when I said, "ah, hell. Sorry, Pye. I've had a hell of a day. Didn't Lemmy tell you I'd make it up to you?"

She snorted. "Of course my Lemoncake passed your message on, and had you simply delayed my passage I might have waited, but instead you..." She finally looked around, her gaze landing on the dude in the obvious sun priest outfit. "Why are you here in this place?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, diplomacy."

"And it's not in a bedroom? How unlike you."

"Ouch. Not inaccurate, but ouch. Um, can I ask a favor of you?"

She folded her arms, shook her head, and said, "why not?"

"Could you let Sunny here," I nodded toward the Lord of Sun's Harbor, who apparently recognized Pyevatar and looked like he was rapidly re-evaluating his recent life choices, "why I can manhandle you while you're in the sky?"

She dropped one shoulder in a shrug. "You ate that Greek Sun God. Apollo, I think?"

I nodded. "Oh, and while you're here, because it would explain that answer a little more, do you know my brother? He's in your same line of work, after all."

She just rolled her eyes so hard she wound up looking at the ceiling. "Yes, yes, of course I know Elatha. It's been an age since he and I spoke in person, but," when she brought her gaze back down to me, she had a sly little smile, "between you and me, I think he's been staying away because your last two siblings to meet you wound up going missing."

I reached out for a hug, but after a moment's hesitation she held out a hand. I took the hint and shook. "Just lemme know what you need, like I said I'll make it up to you."

"You've never disappointed before. Now I must be off, my Lemoncake awaits." She nodded to me, nodded to Tallulah, "Overlord," then nodded to the Lord of Sun's Harbor. "Sunny." With that, she rose into the sky and was gone.

i turned back to Sunny who, credit where it's due, just nodded to me, dignified as ever. "On behalf of the entire Court of Sun's Harbor, I thank you for attending at my request... Mimic."