Vol.6 Ch.11.2 – Melinoe’s Rest(lessness) II

I half expected a butler to come rushing out to greet Melinoe but that didn't happen. Instead she pulled a set of keys out of her bag of holding and opened the door, then stepped inside and held it open for us.

Inside the place looked... surprisingly normal. Anna had thankfully kept us away from most of the nobles so far but even so I had accompanied her a few times to meet important nobles in their mansions, and Melinoe's place looked almost exactly like those.

The mansion was lit with light crystals that emitted a soft, warm glow and the foyer was decorated with surface world plants and various accessories that had clearly been gifts.

“Are these sunstones?” Alisha asked, examining one of the light crystals. Sunstones were a very special, very expensive kind of light crystal that replicated sunlight. Apparently a mage could also use them to channel searing beams of light magic, so for normal people they were far too expensive to use as a mere light fixture.

“They are,” Melinoe said with a nod. “I'm surprised you could tell.”

“The plants you keep can't survive without actual sunlight,” Alisha said, “so it only made sense.”

“Although I wonder,” I said, “could you keep plants alive without it?” Demeter, as a goddess of the harvest, had been able to keep vegetable patches growing on the clouds surrounding Mount Olympus, letting them thrive despite being planted in soil that provided them with nothing. I knew that Melinoe's mother Persephone still had some connection to that same aspect of the harvest and so it only stood to reason that Melinoe would at least have traces of it.

“Only if I keep them very close to me,” she said. “It's easier with apple trees but everything else needs close contact.”

“How close are we talking?” I asked.

“For about a century I kept an actual vine plant on me, letting it grow along my arms,” she said. “It was a stupid vanity project and I gave it up the first time I saw grandmother's vegetable garden.”

“Hit too close to home?” I asked.

“Yeah,” she said. “I never want to turn out like her.”

“You won't,” I said gently. “Unlike that crone you have people who care about you. Both your parents, and us.”

That got her to smile, the anxiety that had been on her face since we'd gotten here sloughing away.

“Lady Melinoe?” a woman's voice asked and a pretty woman in maid attire rushed into the foyer. “Oh thank the gods, you're back! We were so worried.”

Meli began blushing immediately. “I apologize, Lucille. I didn't mean to make anyone worry.”

“Well,” Lucille said, “we noticed that the problem with the ferry seemed to be solved but then when you didn't return we feared the worst.”

I winced. Yeah, that had probably not looked great. They had likely thought that she'd died killing the monster.

“May I tell the others that you are safe and sound?” Lucille asked. “And who are your,” She eyed the way we were standing so close to Meli, “guests?”

“You may, Lucille, thank you. And they are my friends, Felix and Alisha.” She seemed beyond uncomfortable calling us her friends, likely worried we would misunderstand her. And, truth be told, it did sting.

“Shall I prepare rooms for them, my lady?” Lucille asked.

Meli bit her lip, then took a deep breath and said: “No, they will be staying in my room.”

Lucille raised an eyebrow and I was worried we were going to have a problem with her, but then she smiled. “I understand.”

The maid rushed out of the foyer and Meli turned to face us, looking like a beaten puppy. “Can I... Is it alright to call you my lovers? I... I didn't want to pres— Youch!” That last exclamation was because I had flicked her forehead, hard.

“I told you before, there's such a thing as being too modest,” I said.

“I'm sorry,” she said, sounding chastised.

“And here I thought we were just friends with benefits to you,” Alisha said, though her tone made it clear she was just teasing. Well, clear to me, at any rate.

“I'm sorry, I really didn't mean— Ouch!” She stared at me indignantly as she rubbed her forehead. “Will you stop that?”

“I'll stop when you do,” I said, then raised my hand to flick her again if she started apologizing again.

“Ah, my lady,” man in a butler outfit said as he approached us. He was an older fellow, human with gray hair and a mustache, though still sprightly. “I am so glad you are safe.” He paused. “What is that red spot on your forehead?”

Melinoe spun around to glare at me, then turned back toward the man. “Heinrich, it is good to see you. Felix, Alisha, this is Heinrich, my estate manager. Heinrich, these are Felix and Alisha, my...” She glanced back at us, then finished: “Lovers.”

“Your lovers,” he said, looking us up and down. “It would appear a lot has happened since you went to the docks.”

“Indeed,” she said. “We have much to discuss.”

“Shall we move to the sitting room then?” he asked.

“That would be for the best,” Meli said.

**

The sitting room was a bit of pointless decadence I was glad our mansion didn't have. Three walls were covered in bookshelves that reached all the way to the ceiling. The floor was covered in heavy rugs and a matching set of couches and recliners was arranged in a loose circle around a tiny table just barely big enough to hold the four cups of tea Lucille brought us once we sat down. The only way the room could have been any tackier would have been if there had been a fake fireplace as well. A real fireplace was of course out of the question, hewn into the stone of the pillar as the mansion was.

And given how out of place Melinoe looked in that place I would have bet good mun on this room not having been her idea. Heinrich, on the other hand, seemed right at home.

“Please, Lady Melinoe,” he said, “tell me what happened.”

She nodded, then began to explain: “As you know, I went to investigate the commotion at the docks. There I learned that a monster had taken residence in the Styx, attacking any boat that tried to cross. I was arguing with Charon on what to do about it when a group of adventurers arrived at the docks.” She indicated us. “They were accompanied by the goddess Athena and offered to help deal with the monster. And I, in turn, decided to come along, to help take down the monster as well.”

“And they would just risk themselves for our problems?” he asked. He didn't seem to have a problem with us but he was shrewd enough to know that this wasn't the whole story.

Melinoe took a deep breath, clearly considering whether to tell him the bullshit the Olympians wanted us to say or whether to tell the truth, but then she said: “A group of Outsider cultists had overrun Mount Olympus.” His eyes widened but he kept quiet. “Athena had hired them, to accompany her down into the Underworld and to help her convince the Heroes of Elysium to step in and help. And so, knowing that there was a monster between them and their destination, they decided to help out.”

She took a deep breath, clearly to let a distressed-looking Heinrich calm down, then continued:

“We managed to slay the monster and went on to the Elysian Fields. They managed to secure the aid of the Heroes after Felix here beat Starfall Albrecht in a duel.” Heinrich's eyebrows were threatening to retreat into his hairline they had climbed so high. “I decided to accompany them to Olympus, where we then proceeded to liberate the realm from these cultists, saving the Olympians.”

“Even your grandmother?” Heinrich asked.

“I saved her personally,” Melinoe said. “And she made me regret it almost immediately.”

He chuckled tonelessly. “It seems you have been quite busy.”

“I was,” she agreed.

“Very well,” he said. “I shan't ask how you have grown so close to these adventurers so quickly, but only because I can see just how drawn to them you are. I presume you are only here to collect some of your belongings, then?”

She looked away in embarrassment. “I will still come to visit,” she said meekly.

“I wasn't admonishing you, my lady,” he said. “I am glad that you finally found people you feel comfortable with.”

“Will the town function without me?” she asked, then almost blurted out: “I'll visit regularly, of course, but...”

“Of course, my lady. Should anything happen that requires your intervention I shall of course contact you, but you needn't worry.” He paused a moment, then asked: “Will you be leaving immediately?”

“We had planned on staying here a day or two, then heading off to meet my parents.”

“Very well,” he said. “I shall make sure to let the chef know.”

“Thank you,” Meli said and in response he got up and left the room.

“Thank you,” I said when he was gone.

“What for?” she asked, then reflexively protected her forehead with one hand. But I had no intention of flicking it.

“There was no need for you to tell him the truth of what happened, but you did.”

“I promised you, didn't I?” she said. “No matter how much the Olympians try to bury what happened up there, at least as far as my influence spreads I will make sure people know the truth.”