A Real Goddess Would Let Nobody Die

With the same measured pace as all of her movements, and the same sense of delicate precision, Pyra slid the door open. A burst of moist warmth escaped from inside and drew a few soft exhales from Keyic guards and attendants, none of whom had found that gale any more enjoyable than Suri had. It would be outright false to suggest that the warmth felt in any way like home---it lacked the same density, somehow, a veneer of over-hot mist suspended in cool air rather than well-mixed, soupy humidity---but it was enough to let Her spine and shoulders release some tension.

Task complete, Pyra returned to her place beside the doorway, executing the same footwork as always to make an in-place half-turn before repeating the same bow.

Before crossing inside, Suri paused at the entrance.

"Follow when you are ready," She murmured. "No need to rush or be anxious."

"Most divine of all goddesses, this humble life has only one purpose," Pyra recited smoothly, still bowing but raising her eyes enough to show light auburn irises. "Pyra comes at once, always."

<Very nervous, but not frightened,> Zyriko judged. <Best guess: Afraid something might happen that changes Your evaluation of her. Hopes and half-believes You really are different.>

<I'll take it.> A giant leap from stammering, groveling terror. <Leave it to Me from here, please. She deserves some genuine privacy.>

<Agreed, long overdue...Fully shielded now, including from me.>

<Good husband.>

<Can't let anyone into the mind of my wife's preferred bathing attendant, now can I? For what it's worth, she has zero desire or intent to harm You. No capacity for violence whatsoever.>

Indeed. The only way for a 'personally supervised' girl with zero privacy of thought to survive was to warp her own mind until she became the only person she was allowed to be. Cindershine may or may not have been capable of violence; 'red girl' survived because she genuinely wasn't.

If not for Suri's glow, the chamber housing the spring would have been pitch black. Long, narrow windows lined its roof, but they were currently useless, the Sun having set some time ago, and whatever moonlight or starlight there might have been was totally obscured by dense storm clouds. The roaring wind outside was muffled to only a tolerable groaning, implying that the windows' glass was either very thick or multi-paned. That was a sensible feature to prioritize, given how common these storms off the frozen ocean to the south were said to be.

In contrast, the vertical walls had no windows of any kind, perhaps as a privacy measure. Instead, volcanos were etched into the same obsidian paneling that covered much of the palace interior, with red stone inlays---jasper?---representing lava flows and ejecta. Channels of red ran down to the obsidian floor and meandered across, eventually flowing into the spring itself.

Somewhat off-center within the room, the spring was an irregular blob, possibly its original, natural shape, and was large enough to hold dozens shoulder-to-shoulder along its edge. Suri couldn't tell how deep it was from Her current position near the entrance, especially with such soft lighting, but the sense She'd gathered was that it was more suited to sitting and soaking than to swimming.

From behind, there was a scraping and click as the entry door was slid shut.

Suri twisted around and, perfect memory or not, was dumbstruck all over again. It really did feel like Zyriko's non-existent power-marked little sister, or better yet their Heiress-to-be daughter from an alternate timeline, was a total ditz trying to swap places with an attendant, somehow unaware that being the prettiest little lava-haired cutie pie in the whole domain meant she had no chance of going unnoticed, especially while wearing ballroom makeup and jewelry.

After stepping out of her slippers, Pyra began the process of unravelling her outermost, solid crimson robe.

"Too warm?" Suri asked.

The attendant's hands dropped immediately to her sides, and she bent into a bow.

"Most divine goddess, the warmth is pleasant, but Pyra must beg forgiveness: her filthy sweat is ruining her."

Alas, everyone responsible for that thought being in Pyra's head was already inscribed atop Suri's list.

"It is natural to sweat in here, and feel damp," Suri soothed. "Sweat is part of being alive, not something to apologize for, and not something that could ever 'ruin' you. Ruin your eye paint, maybe, but not you, not what matters. Go ahead and make yourself comfortable; I didn't mean to stop you."

Pyra deepened her bow, then resumed fussing with her robe. Suri continued.

"What I actually meant with My question was: Are you undressing only because I said you would be trying Keyic styles? I want to be clear: If you don't want to try Keyic styles, you don't need to. And, if you would prefer not to undress out in the open, you don't need to do that either. I can make you a screen, if it would make you more comfortable."

Suri demonstrated by quickly knitting a simple washcloth in Her hands, and held it out to Pyra.

Crimson outer-robe now hanging loosely from her shoulders, Pyra stared at the cloth in silence, processing, and Suri didn't rush her. The outer-robe eventually fell unnoticed from Pyra's shoulders into a heap atop her slippers, leaving her dressed in pure obsidian.

"...The most divine of all goddesses wishes for Pyra to take into her unwashed mortal hands this sacred cloth woven from pure divinity?" she asked in a hush.

"Yes, and use it however you like, for your sweat," Suri confirmed. "Or, if you don't mind Me touching you, I will do it Myself."

Pyra still did not reach out to take the cloth, but did let Suri place it into her hands.

"Go ahead and use it, however you like," Suri repeated. "Neck, arms, wherever you're feeling uncomfortable. In case it isn't clear, I will be making your new clothing the same way, if you do want to try some Keyic styles. It's up to you."

The attendant was frozen; none of that 'thorough' training was anywhere close to covering this situation. Categorically resolved to let Pyra set the pace and make choices for herself, Suri settled on a plan.

"Here..." She removed the flower from Her hair and placed it atop the cloth in Pyra's hands. "Keep it, and let it remind you that you are worthy. You are worthy of wearing Keyic styles that I make for you, because I say so. It's that simple. The only question is whether that is what you want to do. The Keyic custom is for people to dress how they want to dress. I am going to go dip My feet into the spring, because that is what I want to do. If you decide that you want to try Keyic styles, walk over to Me and say so. If you prefer to keep wearing your Zyzz clothing, and paint, and jewelry, that's fine too. If you prefer, you can leave and wait outside with the others. This is not a trick. The only way to make a wrong choice is to pick a choice you don't truly want."

Suri turned to walk to the spring, but paused.

"By the way, your thoughts are private: they belong to you, and you alone. My husband is shielding your mind, and will keep shielding you until Our visit ends. We can't have anyone intruding into the mind of a person who helped Me bathe, now can We?"

A person named Cindershine was still in there somewhere, sufficiently intact to be so humiliated by her circumstances that she couldn't bear being called by her real name. The only question was how long it would take those embers to flare a little hotter.

At the spring's edge, Suri rolled Her Own robes above Her knees, took a seat, and tapped a toe to the water's surface. Hot, well beyond warm, but not scalding. So, She slipped Her feet in, calf-deep, and began mentally paging through centuries of Twilight's summer collections, trying to predict what Pyra might like. The most un-Zyzz features would be...open-shoulder designs, or open-back, frilly little skirts and half-skirts, plunging necklines, two-pieces...no reason Pyra couldn't share Twilight's taste for snug neck-to-ankle bodysuits, but those would need to wait for a cooler chamber...anything from Twilight's current sheer cape phase was probably a non-starter....

...Mm...actually, it might be a bad assumption to infer that Pyra would be drawn to airy, vivacious designs just because Zyzz trended so bulky and conservative. Being treated like a piece of meat for so long might lead her to prefer a more reserved aesthetic. No way to be sure without giving her a full selection....

While She mused, Suri knit a larger towel. It could double as a changing screen, if Pyra wanted one.

In the end, the wait was only a few minutes. Pyra abruptly appeared at Suri's left, having fully removed every scrap of Zyzz clothing, and knelt to dip the cloth into the spring at a spot just outside the region where the water had picked up a faint glow. Without saying a word, she raised the cloth to her lips and wiped away the paint. Dipping the cloth again, she began wiping at her eyes.

Painted toes, Suri noticed, for all it would ever matter beneath robes and stockings. But worse, there was no chance anyone had ever asked Pyra if she wanted to wax her legs and arms, yet waxed they were. If even her thoughts weren't private, why should her body ever be? Plucked brows, pierced ears, updo hair, painted nails, waxed everything...someone else's choices, top to bottom.

This abominable world was full of cruelties, but none had ever made Suri's skin crawl in quite the same way. A first-rank Heiress was compelled to maintain certain standards, but as similar as it was superficially, it really wasn't at all the same. Suri had plucked and waxed when She knew it was necessary to play Her role, not whenever Her owner had decided to have Her plucked and waxed. Her nails were painted because She liked having painted nails.

Coincidentally, Pyra was at that moment staring at her own nail paint, trying to figure out how to proceed.

"I can help with that, if you like," Suri offered, and held the towel toward Pyra. "You can wrap yourself with this, between outfits. Would you prefer to have a proper changing screen?"

Pyra shimmied closer and smoothly accepted the towel---it seemed she'd surmounted that mental block before walking over to try clothing of the same kind---but she chose to place it beneath her knees, facing Suri.

"Most divine goddess, Pyra is honored, and grateful, but there is no need." Her heart was visibly pounding, shoulders heaving with deep breaths, but she carefully kept her eyes raised toward Suri. "Pyra has been dressed and undressed every day for years while many could see her. There is no shame left. She would rather try Keyic styles sooner."

With a sense of heavy finality, she reached behind herself, drew the obsidian needle out of her hair, and set the last remnant of her Zyzz outfit aside.

"Her hair is cleaned, combed, and oiled when she is dressed and undressed." She gathered it over her shoulder and held it up for Suri to inspect. "And all her skin is washed and wiped. Afterward, for overnight, there is a cream for her face and a balm for any damaged skin, and for the day there are lotions. Summer sun burns her even in the shade, which needs healing. Before she is washed, she must do stretches and exercises to shape her body prop--"

"It's alright, Pyra," Suri interrupted, once She understood that Pyra's words weren't venting, but closer to a pet trying to transfer ownership by reciting her own care instructions. Or maybe a pet worried that she might be returned once her new owner learned how much maintenance she required.

On the one hand, Suri would very much like to assure this particular 'pet' that she had value independent of being beautiful. On the other, there were practical limitations. From Pyra's perspective, the whole situation was already dangerously close to too good to be true. The 'most illustrious Keyic Heiress' deeming her worthy of owning and treating well because she was special and beautiful was a tweak of her worldview, not a full overturning, and thus a more solid foundation for feeling secure. And everything needed to match the Patriarch's expectations as closely as possible, including both Pyra's public behavior and the tale Suri would be spinning. So, for now...

"I know well that the most special and beautiful flowers demand the greatest effort, and that's fine: they are worthy." Suri held Her hands toward Pyra's right. "Shall I help you with your nail paint, or have you changed your mind?"

Having adopted what seemed to be a 'no turning back now' attitude, Pyra gingerly held her fingertips between's Suri's palms, and Suri closed around them, taking care that Pyra's nails were pressed flush against Her skin.

"Pyra is profoundly grateful for the goddess' blessing." Her voice trembled slightly, but only slightly.

"Do you have any ideas for what styles you might like?" Suri asked, while waiting for the tunic to finish its work.

"The most illustrious Keyic Heiress knows best. Pyra can see that what the goddess weaves from pure divinity is different from what the Keyic attendants wear, so she does not know what styles there are. And she would not know how to choose even if she knew."

From the back of Her upper hand, Suri materialized a liquid miniature of Pyra wearing a frilly, flaring, off-shoulder minidress that had featured as the summer cover design of Twilight's 8710 Timeless Classics collection.

"I will show you some styles that I think you might find appealing, like this, but you will need to pick the ones you actually want to try wearing. The way you choose is simple: pick the styles that make you feel most proud. The ones that make you look at yourself and think, 'wow, I really am someone special.' The ones that most make you want to go out into the hallway and show everyone how beautiful you are."

That definitely constituted plagiarism, but the Goddess of Fabulous would surely forgive it.