Brushing her fingers along the rough jade walls of the courtyard, Naomi walked through her temple, taking in the conversations and prayers of the surrounding women. Waiting at the temple, she hoped to see Bella, the young girl who had piqued her interest when a servant of Soalis prayed to her about the girl's situation. The girl and her mother intended to visit her temple. She waited to see if they had already arrived, relying on her heightened senses to locate them.

  Naomi, thankfully, didn't have to wait long for the two to come into sight. Upon taking the form of a white cat, Naomi brushed herself against each woman, peering into their memories to list the wrongs she would rectify in the future. Brushing up against Bella, Naomi felt her anger flare as she examined the many abuses the girl suffered regularly. From being locked away, starved, and beaten, feeling that she couldn't flee because of her mother being trapped in marriage by another goddess. But it was the disregard and the active destain the head of the merchant guild held for her domain of protecting women but greedily sought the protection Soalis offered. As Naomi let Bella pet her, Naomi gave Bella a blessing of protection and courage, empowering the girl to act independently. Naomi dashed off as the girl went to join the group, discussing a way to escape their abusers.

  Concealed from mortals, Naomi traversed the temple. After stepping outside, she altered her plane of existence and reappeared in the immortal realm as a jade woman. Approaching the Forger's ethereal forge, Solias met her, appearing as an orange calcite man. "I felt your anger from here, Naomi. What earthly grievance ignited your anger?"

  "A rather contentious mortal that seeks the favor of one protector but dismisses the other," anger staining Naomi's voice as she slipped her arm through the other immortal's, keeping at him at her desired pace.

  Soalis let out a throaty laugh in amusement. "Ah, mortals, such brief notes in the queen's song, but surprisingly varied."

  Naomi glared at Soalis for finding amusement in the pain of those she protected. Her already inflamed anger growing as she couldn't help but think that perhaps it wasn't only the mortal men that she had to protect her charges from and that it wasn't all the mortals of Fartell's fault but the patron god who watched over said city.

  While Soalis laughed, Naomi considered how she would show her displeasure at the dismissal of her domain by Bella's father, knowing Soalis had always kept the other immortals' influence on the port of Fartell limited. Then she recalled the mother's vow that trapped her and thought of leveraging it to her advantage, knowing his great dislike of the Namiakes Patheon.

  "You know, Soalis, I would really like to teach this mortal a lesson. The problem lays in the scale needed to do, so he cares little about anything but himself and coin from what I can gather from his daughter's memories. His position in mortal affairs in your city needs to be compromised. Now there are several ways I could normally do, but I feel anything I do is to be seen as Losea's influence finally coming for the man."

  "I see, and you want to clarify that it is our Patheon or in truth you who corrected this perceived wrong. Your plan requires a catastrophic event for the mortals of my city. What did you have in mind? I do hope it will be entertaining else I am afraid I won't be able to assist you in this endeavor."

  With a roll of her eyes at her fellow immortal's cavalier attitude and prioritizing entertainment over his followers, Naomi explained what she wanted to do.

  "My thoughts turned to assisting the daughter in her escape. I believe stealing one of her father's prized vessels, perhaps a gallon, would require significant confusion. I thought a large fire would suffice. It would also damage the father's standing. I intend to turn that ship into a floating temple, using it and the girls aboard as my revenge, attacking Fartellian ships for the daughter's lifetime. This will limit the city's damage and strengthen your followers' faith with a show of healing or two during the fire."

  "I think what you suggest is doable. I can check with the spider and see what is required for a favorable outcome in my plans should the fire disrupts major points. After all, they play a crucial role in the songstress's song with the young Urhalla's future creations. Besides, it will be interesting to watch," said Soalis with a wave of his hand as they reached the ethereal forge's entrance, a glowing doorway of green light framed by delicate woven patterns of silver that wove down to the base of sapphires, rubies, emeralds, and other precious stones. Naomi gave a nod to Soalis, watching as he bowed, sensing their conversation had ended.

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  Naomi made her way down through the dark caverns at the center of Trella. Her progress was slower than she hoped the form she had to take that of a jade mouse as she bypassed the many stone born faceless giants made of stone gathering metal ore and gems from the many planes of existence that the song of the songstress's had created. Scurrying down into a rather tight crack, Naomi avoided being stepped on by a passing stone born. She rather hated having to come to the ethereal forge she would have come through in her true forum to get to the Forger quicker, but he had cursed her in a fit of anger when she had interrupted him during a crucial point in the cleansing of a soul.

  Reaching the forge, Naomi listened for the sounds of the Forger hard at work. Assured that the Forger was not completing a project of any kind. Naomi exited her hiding and scurried to where the Forger sat resting at a table, looking over a set of designs.

  Naomi softly squeaked when lifted upside down by her tail pinched between the fingers of the Forger. "You are pushing your luck, little mouse, coming here again. If you want me to remove the curse, the answer is no. Seeing Duri's children so helpless is rather funny to me."

  Naomi spoke in the divine tongue so that the stubborn king of the gods would hear her voice. She let out an indigent huff when the blackguard of a god pretended to not be able to understand her request. Then tossing her in the air rather rudely, causing Naomi to give a shriek of fright as she took on her more natural form.

  "As much as I enjoy seeing you trapped in a form you can't stand Naomi if I want to not spend the next century on your project, I will need to understand you more clearly and divine tongues give me such a headache nowadays because of your kinds terrible accent butchering it all the time. What exactly are you needing, lass?" the Forger questioned, heading back to his workspace, knowing she would follow as they talked.

  "I need a figurehead for a mortal gallon, one of the human ships. The figurehead needs to be made of divine metal. So that I can add blessings to the ship so that I may protect me soon to be priestesses' home from wear and tear of the sea. I want to spare them the worry of having to maintain the ship." Naomi, pondering other helpful enchantments for the girls, stated, "Their journey demands constant movement, safe havens uncertain. An enchantment providing them with portions of my food offerings and an enchantment to lessen damage taken on in a fight?"

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  Shivering and chattering her teeth from the rather cold bath she had been forced to take, Bella made her way to her father's office. He had found a rather vindictive way of getting back at mother through her. He had forced her mother to accompany him to a grand ball. But locked Bella in the mansion with the magic of his lord's ring. He had placed as many uncomfortable restrictions as possible on her for the next three days. All she could eat was stale bread and watered soup. If she tried to touch anything else, it molded before her eyes. Whichever ancestor created that spell she hoped felt many painful hammer's blows from the Forger's hammer the same she hoped to the one that created the charms that made the bath chamber's items attack till she was in the baths that would not heat because her father forbade them from warming while he was away. Thankfully, though, aid had come to her from the last place she truly expected the goddess Noami herself. Besides, giving her a chance to enjoy a warm bath the previous night, she had removed one of the biggest obstacles she faced in finding a way out of her father's control.

  She gained access to his office. There, she found ample evidence of her father's involvement in illegal activities, copying enough notes into her diary they could come in handy. Setting those aside for the moment, she looked over the many ships under her father's command. Bella's plan wasn't born of genuine concern for other women; the plan's appeal stemmed from spite toward her father. It also exposed her to the least amount of risk, giving her plausible deniability should it fail.

  It was rather simple to use the proof she had found as leverage if needed. To get her father to allow her to spearhead the creation of a book with a group of women from Naomi's temple to train their sons on sailing like their fathers. In truth, the book was an alibi. They would teach themselves to run a ship so they could steal one. If she had to pick a ship, she would aim for the one called The Lady Fair from the reports and logs of trips. It seemed to be the fastest of the ships and the most used of her father's fleet. That speed was necessary, as she couldn't avoid the many ships that would undoubtedly pursue them once they controlled the ship. It also had the effect of messing with her father's supply lines, from what she could tell. For once, she was glad of her father's hand in her education. He had insisted that she learn the basics of business to not be a burden to her future husband, as he put not yet aware that he could not use her as a pawn in business through marriage as easily as he hoped when he first came to Fartell. Since then, he had bared her entry to his office. For the exact reason, she was using it for though she doubted her father would comprehend it was his own actions that brought his own fears about. Getting herself comfortable, Bella sat out to sketch a semblance of a proper plan of action. Keeping in mind what Lady Devin had told her.