CH 166: Somebody to Lean On

Claire walked beside Elizabeth, seeing that the mayor still looked quite stressed. Claire could tell by the way she scrunched her eyebrows. The questions were racking up by the minute. At least they have one new answer.

But what did Marcellus and Bennos have to do with Firewater and Silkie?

And then there was Samira showing up in the church, surrounded by those three animals. What did any of it mean? Should she read into the fact that Samira was separate?

“Claire,” Elizabeth whispered. She pulled Claire out of her thoughts. “We’ll cover that snake woman. I trust you and your party, but I fear that the knights will go sniffing around. Especially if this is an entirely new Goddess.”

“Can you remove it?” Claire asked as a shiver of pain run down her spine. She winced, causing the mayor to hold her arm.

“Obviously not,” Elizabeth said gently. She helped Claire stand up straight and gave her a warm smile. “We’ll figure something out. Maybe your Goddess can help.”

“I hope so,” Claire said weakly. “Thank you.”

“We’ll manage,” She said, glancing at the Carpenters’ house for a moment. “Well, when they all wake up. They’ve been asleep for a full day already.”

“Yeah,” Claire said, looking at the house. It’d been a while since she spoke to the daughters, given the age gap. But she remembers them babysitting her as a child. “I hope they are okay. I worry they have Divine Fatigue…”

“Ah, that makes some sense.” The mayor mused. “Explains why they’ve been sleeping so long.”

“I apologize for Her,” Claire said, glancing at the ground. “I wasn’t expecting her to do something like this.”

“Apologize to them,” The mayor chuckled. “Though they might not even care. It’s a beautiful church, after all.”

The two kept walking back towards the Bree Tavern. Claire glanced at the sky, questioning why her Goddess would put her people in danger. She should know what could happen if they found images depicting monsters with divinity.

Elizabeth opened the door for Claire, and the two walked in. Ursa was standing idly by the bar, watching the boys walk up the stairs to their rooms.

Claire walked over to the warrior, feeling exhausted already. She had a headache coming on.

“You okay?” Ursa asked, glancing back at her. She let Claire lean on her, wrapping an arm around her.

“Not really,” Claire mumbled. “Lot on my mind.”

Elizabeth raised an eyebrow at the interaction, but she shook her head. Wasn’t her business. She simply walked over to her wife, who was still sitting at the table. She joined her as the boys filed upstairs.

“Yeah, that’s why I leave the thinking to you gals,” Ursa laughed. “Just here to be your axe.”

“Lucky you,” Claire mumbled. She looked around, making sure they were out of earshot. “All you need to worry about is my commands and your rewards…”

Claire felt some relief seeing Ursa squirm. It helped ease the tension in her body. The stoic warrior squirming from her words was a definite mood booster.

Ursa looked around, her face reddening. She looked at who must be Claire’s birth mother, staring at them in shock. She tried to move away from Claire, but Claire held tightly to her.

“Not in public, please,” Ursa whimpered.

“It’s fine,” Claire mumbled, feeling much better. “My moms already know about my relationship with… well, with Jasmine and the twins. I don’t know if they know about Lily.”

“But she’s staring right at me,” Ursa muttered, causing Claire to glance at her mother. Jane was talking with Ricky while Eve was looking at her daughter. She mouthed a question to her daughter.

‘Her too?’

Claire nodded her head against Ursa’s shoulder, amused by her mother’s reaction. She did love to revel in her lover’s embarrassment as well. It made the hardened warrior far cuter.

Her mother just sighed and turned back to the boy beside her. Claire would have to explain to them eventually, but that wasn’t now. She could deal with it in the future.

“Um, are you going to introduce us?” Ursa asked sheepishly. She was still looking at Claire’s mother, her mind going wild with thoughts.

“Yeah, why?” Claire asked. She pulled away to look at Ursa, whose eyes were dilated. Her pupils nearly covered her irises. “Hey! That’s my mom.”

She playfully punched Ursa. She had mixed feelings about the current situation. Ursa glanced at her with a guilty look, her face flushed red. “She’s… pretty.”

Claire had to commend her boldness. She glanced down, making sure Ursa wasn’t showing. Only a little, which added to Claire’s mixed feelings. “She is. Down girl.”

Ursa stiffened upon the command. Her eyes flickered nervously from Eve to Claire. Claire felt a swell of satisfaction with the amount of control she had over her lover. She held back on calling her a ‘good girl,’ thinking that’d be far too much.

“S-sorry,” Ursa stuttered. “If that’s how you look when you’re older…”

Ursa couldn’t finish her sentence, feeling too overwhelmed to continue. Claire smiled at the warrior. She could not wait to reward her.

“Thank you,” Claire whispered. She looked back at her mothers, feeling the influence of the twins. She didn’t know if she should feel ashamed or excited. It was strange to her. “I think…”

Ursa laughed nervously. She was ready to explain herself further, but Jasmine appeared on her other side.

“Getting pretty brazen,” She teased. She looked over at Claire’s parents, who were obviously discussing the situation. Ricky sat between them, trying to hold back his laughter. “Didn’t expect you to claim her so openly.”

“Eh, too tired to care.” Claire shrugged. Her headache was weakening, replaced by a growing warmth. “Needed support.”

“What happened in the church?” Jasmine asked, leaning against Ursa. She mirrored Claire, causing more confusion from their observers.

“Well, She compelled the Carpenters to build it.” Claire sighed. She could feel the tension returning. “There’s a mural with Ursa and Toni inside… and a painting of Samira.”

Jasmine calmed herself. She exhaled slowly. “Makes sense why Elizabeth was so stressed. Can’t imagine having heretical imagery being very calming…”

“That’s not all,” Claire pulled away from Ursa. “She had those animals surrounding her.”

“From their marks?” Jasmine asked, straightening up.

“Mhmm,” Claire said. She took a moment to think, given Jasmine’s previous reaction. “She thinks the horse is Marcellus.”

Jasmine’s breath hitched. She was here to tell Claire about her conversation and Toni’s answer. She did her best to stay calm. “Why does she think that?”

“The breed of horse,” Claire explained. She glanced at the mayor, who was helping her wife stand. “She seemed to realise the connection from its all black hide. Said it was an extinct breed of warhorse…”

“Oh, shit,” Jasmine mumbled. “I guess we’ll have to take her word.”

Claire nodded. She looked over at Ursa, who was tilting her head. It looked like she wanted to say something. “Do you know something?” She whispered to Ursa.

The warrior nodded. “During our initiation ritual, he rides in on a black horse.”

Both women exhaled. They had mixed feelings about the whole thing.

“Okay. That makes sense why he looked so similar.” Jasmine muttered.

Claire nodded. “They weren’t depicted in the church, by the way. No mentions of goblins, only about Samira’s mural.”

“Alright,” Jasmine said, rubbing her chin.

“I’ll have to ask Her about it the next time She visits me,” Claire said with a sigh. “We’ve identified two of the symbols. That just leaves the raven.”

“So the dog was Bennos?” Jasmine asked.

Claire nodded. “Shepherd breed.”

“We’ll see what Lily finds out,” Jasmine said. She held out her hands to the two. “Come on, Toni wants to meet you. Since you didn’t get the chance last time.”

She guided the two upstairs, hoping Claire could resist Toni’s blessing.