...Decades Later...Papal Estate of Neia Baraja...
"Good morning my love." Neia said softly as she got up out of bed. Giving her morning greeting to Skana as she had for many years.
"Mphf, five more minutes." Was her usual response, as was Neia's laughter. It was older, it was creaky, it was nonetheless full of life, though she required a little 'help' now. The elf girl who assisted her as she dressed always cracked a little smile as the retired warrior pope made a remark that, once again, it was harder to manage a pair of pants than it had been to manage Remedios, and she needed a partner for it.
The servant was one of those Neia had gotten out of Kami Miyako in the days when both her despair and her glory had reached some of their greatest heights. The girl had been attending her for some fifty years now, and was well paid enough that she could have retired thirty years ago if she'd wished, yet here she remained, unwilling to concede her employment to the house that had rescued her, and for that, Neia was grateful.
"Today is going to be... a little different, Enlaith... I need you to send out some invitations, and then... I need your help writing some things, a lot of things." Neia said with a warm grin as she put her wrinkled hand on the young looking elf's shoulder. "You don't mind, do you?"
Enlaith smiled in return, "It is a point of pride to help you, my lady."
She meant it too, hour after hour the invitations were made and dispatched, and sent to the many corners of the Sorcerous Empire. To the newly settled lands out at sea, where the royal Governor, Goan, ruled the colonies, to the far south of Crescent Lake, to the very hand of Zesshi Zetsumei. From the far north in the Argland Province, to the east where the Imperial Governor, Jircniv's son, still ruled. From small homes to great palaces, invitations flew like sunlight at the break of dawn.
Skana of course, even if she did not move like she did in her sword dancing youth, was quick to take up Neia's notion of a grand ball hosting all those they knew who still lived. She sought to hire an additional hundred servants just to attend the great country manor for that day, only to find herself swamped with elven volunteers willing to do it for free, just to pay a small part of their debt back for their rescue a human lifetime ago. She laughed and acceded to their wishes, allowing them to train on site under the tutelage of those who had served at the grand estate for longer.
"Will this place hold everyone on the list, do you think?" Neia asked in a creaky, somewhat concerned voice.
Skana smiled, "My dear wife, always the worrier, yes, when the Sorcerer King created this place for us, he made it larger than any two palaces in the entire continent, the ballroom will hold everyone twice over with comfortable space to spare. I'm sure of it. The dragon lords of Argland will not be in their draconic forms anyway, so we'll be fine. Just worry about looking good for when they get here and... maybe buy a few footstools, you're not as tall as you used to be." She said with a wink, wiping away the concern on Neia's face and replacing it with laughter.
"I'm sure everyone will be careful, nobody will want to knock over little ninety-two year old me." She said sweetly. "Now, would you walk the estate with me, my wife, I brought some stamina potions so that we'd have the energy to make it." She then reached into a pouch and pulled out several to prove it.
Skana chuckled, "I may be ninety-six, but I'll bet you still use more of those than I do."
Neia's eyes of terror narrowed mischievously, "It's a bet." She said, and looked over to where Elesia stood, "Come along, help me walk, I'm in no rush, but I would like to see it all before dinner."
A strapping and young looking elven male took Skana's arm, and she looked over at her wife and said dryly, "It's barely breakfast."
Neia winked in response.
They shuffled along through the grounds of the grand estate, countless portraits and statues lined the walls. "This was, I think, one of Shalltear's best ideas." Neia said emphatically.
"What's that?" Skana asked beside her as they held one another's hands.
"Using our estate as a springboard for artistic careers. With so much space, she can promote many talented artists, but at the same time, keep it 'exclusive'. However once a painting has hung here for a year and we let it go, the artist's name is made, and they can find work anywhere in the empire. She came a long way from who she was so long ago." Neia said in a voice that spoke of her pleasure in praising the vampire girl. "Now what do they ask at museums before taking pieces? 'Has it hung in the papal manor?' I think it was something like that anyway." Neia tried to recall, but couldn't and shrugged dismissively.
"That was very effective I suppose." Skana acknowledged.
Neia's estimate of how long it took to traverse the entire estate was almost correct, they finished roughly one hour before dinner was due to be served.
"This is going to be a truly massive event." Skana said as they ate. "Perhaps we should make it an annual gathering." She said, brushing the long gray hair from the side of her face.
"My Skana, my precious Skana... you're always the optimist." Neia said with the warmth of a lifetime in the eyes of terror.
...Two weeks later...
The arrival of so many great world figures had become the talk of the Sorcerous Empire, almost every Guardian of Nazarick was in attendance, as was the Sorcerer King himself, Imperial Governor Jircniv, the entirety of Blue Rose, the ruler of Newlands, Governor Goan and his team, Kuuderika and Nemu, Zesshi Zetsumei, Draudillon, Calca, even the many children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren of Neia and Skana who had scattered themselves to the four winds, returned for this occasion, aided by copious use of the Gate spell, even the now ancient Enri and her husband left their estate.
It was a true 'who's who' of world power. But to Neia and her wife, it was a 'who's who' of who had shaped their lives and the world they knew, and too, it included a long list of those they loved, from the now powerful Robel, to the always energetic Cersei and her consort, Ulthis.
The great green grounds were immaculately prepared and decorated for their arrival. It was with an energetic wave that it had taken two stamina potions each to give them the power to make, that a widely smiling Neia and Skana greeted their long awaited guests. The Sorcerer King and Albedo were the first to approach, and of course he embraced the couple warmly. "Daughter, daughter in law, I'm so happy to see you." He said, leaving off, as all others did, that the couple looked every inch their ages, bowed by the weight of time and held up only by canes and supporting arms.
"Come in, come in!" Neia shouted, giving her voice a burst of evangelical power as she inched her way back into her home from atop the stairs, they made their way joyfully into the great hall.
As they gathered, they found a great feast had been prepared, there were blood donors for the vampires, wearing formal attire, theirs were unique in that the forearm sleeve was red, while the rest was black, thus vampires would know whom they could feed from without offending or upsetting others. Among the many guests were those from her famous hundred who still lived, some were very old, while others had through one means or another, retained their youth. Stories were traded left and right as food and drink was consumed, and many a long distant companion was embraced again as if they had never parted. Zesshi Zetsumei made sure to take the time to find a few moments with the warrior pope.
"It's been a long time." Zesshi said, a smile gracing her lips as she gently took the hand of the one who sought to save her people.
"Wouldn't know it by looking at you." Neia said warmly as a wrinkled smile stretched across her face.
"Listen, I never got to say this before, and I didn't want to say it any other way but in person. But... thank you. Thank you for seeing us as people. If you hadn't, I don't know what I would have done, or where I would have turned when my eyes were opened. You did a great thing for me, and it will be remembered as long as I rule at the very least." Zesshi said with a mix of sincerity and humility in her voice, and she bowed her head deeply.
"I did what needed to be done, and so did you, there is no need for thanks, I wish I had been able to do all that I sought to do." Neia said in answer, and she grasped Zesshi's hand in both of hers.
'So frail...' Zesshi thought as the wrinkled grip held her hand, 'but those eyes, even more powerful than the day we met.'
Shortly thereafter, the meal was done, and the army of servants who had been giving food and drink to their guests, removed tables and chairs, and musicians appeared as if by magic.
Again Neia's voice reached out to every ear as she announced it was time to dance.
She embraced her wife as she drank another stamina potion, her arm wrapping around Skana's waist, she took her hand and as the music drifted over them all like a warm summer breeze, the attendees moved to take partners and joined hands. The movements were slow, out of respect for the hosts, it was kept to music that the elderly women could manage.
In the arms of one another, gazing into each other's eyes, the long years of life fell away, and Skana saw not the elderly woman, but the woman who she loved at her finest hour, who screamed such defiance at demihumans and who fought so hard that the terrible beasts who treated humans as food, shrank in terror from the gaze of the mad eyed archer. She saw the woman she loved on their first night together, when Neia had been at her most vulnerable, and had allowed that first embrace. She saw the woman she loved on the night of their wedding, when the Sorcerer King stood for her as a father might, and Calca had stood as a mother. So too, did Neia see into her in turn, the playful smile, the teasing looks, the fierce look of loyalty that would not let her fight alone against terrible enemies and terrible odds. For just that moment, their ages were no longer evident to one another, and it was another time and another place, and none of the world existed, until the music stopped.
It would be but a moment before another song began, so Neia leaned in and whispered, "Let me go see father for this one."
Skana smiled and squeezed the hand of her wife, then let her grip slip away as Neia drank another stamina potion, hand hobbled over to where the King was preparing to dance with Albedo. She laid her hand boldly upon Albedo's arm, and gave the beautiful succubus a smile. "Excuse me, may I cut in, just this once."
Albedo gave a small nod of approval, and stepped aside, allowing Neia to fall into the always powerful grip of the undead ruler she loved. Once upon a time, Albedo would have cut someone down for making such a suggestion, however it had been Neia's counsel that set her at her ease when the Sorcerer King's time as a human had taken place. Neia's support for Albedo as his first wife had proven significant, such that the demonic succubus found her way to a degree of appreciation for the relentless human girl, and so granted her broad leeway that she did not grant to any other.
The music began again, and they started to move with it. "It's been amazing, hasn't it." Neia said to her father with a wan smile on her face.
"It has." He replied. "When I first saw you, you were a bold little girl with a fierce gaze and a death wish. But you grew so fast, faster than I'd dreamed possible."
She laughed, "I had a great teacher, father. When I first saw you, I saw a terrifying but noble being, and the hope of my kingdom. You never failed to impress me, not even when you confessed that you were basically 'winging' all your greatest moments."
"Now here we are." He replied wistfully.
"Yes," she said softly, "I still wake up and wonder that this is all so, and not just some dream during the invasion from which I will awaken."
"It's real, of that you may be sure." He replied, "I'm so proud of you." He whispered to her.
She pressed her face against his chest, keeping her wrinkled face turned to one side as he wrapped his arms around her back.
"That's the greatest reward of all, father." She whispered and rested her head wearily into his chest as the song went on.
Though the hour was not late, as the music faded, Neia called for a halt to the dancing and the army of servants appeared again, this time bearing many chairs, enough for every guest to take a seat in the grand hall. Only when everyone was seated in luxuriant comfort that was enchanted for just that purpose, did she take center stage for herself. Standing as she did, she took one more stamina potion and gingerly asked, "Are you going to let me stand here? I'd like a chair too." She winked, and a special chair was brought out for her, one that gave her a few extra inches of viewing height as she was seated. Enlaith helped her into it, and then she said, in a voice made powerful again... "Can I ask for my children, grand children, and great grand children to come up, please, stand behind me." A myriad of faces rose and walked between the rows, until they stood behind their ancestor. "Skana, please, join me at my right hand. Father, please come to my left." Her voice, though it reached every ear, had already begun to lose some of its volume, even if it retained all of its power.
When they were all standing where she'd asked, she reached out and took their hands in a grip weakened by a lifetime, then and only then did she begin to speak to the gathered host.
"I'm sure many of you all are wondering why I've invited you here today, some of you I have seen often, some of you I have seen seldom, but all of you have been part of my life for so long that I can barely recall a moment when at least one or more of you was not at hand." Her voice bore the weight of age on it, but the power to move hearts had yet to fade from her, and she restrained herself not even a little. "CZ, you were the first real friend I ever made. Lakyus, you became like a sister at the last Battle of Prart. Calca, you stood before me at my wedding. Albedo, your wisdom propped up many a flagging moment of doubt, and you treated me as if you'd borne me yourself. Ainz, my father, you were all the god a world could ask for, all the king a kingdom could ask for, and all the father any girl, any woman, could ever ask for. Zaryusu, we trained ourselves beyond our limits, pushing minds and bodies to the breaking point only to find we could still do more... Skana, my wife, what more could I have ever dreamed of in a mate? You filled a void in my life I once thought would remain ever empty. Vanysa, clever demoness, you took personal care to get me the help I needed when my courage in asking for it faltered. Demiurge, your test of my will and devotion gave me my place in Nazarick's order, brutal as it may have been at the time, the will to do what is needed, no matter what it is, will always be vital to the future of the world..."
She paused, her breathing was difficult, she looked down, her chest was rising and falling, finally she looked up, the eyes of terror with their whorling darkness were more comfort than anything. "And our children, grand children, and great grandchildren who have gathered here today, in you lies the comfort of knowing the world will be well cared for, whatever challenges may come. I... have so much to say, but speaking is so much more tiring than it once was so..." She gestured to her left, and began to breath hard for a moment, as if she'd finished a long battle, not a short statement, as an elf wheeled out a cart bearing letters. "I have one for all of you. I pray that will be sufficient."
"Neia..." Ainz said hesitantly.
She looked up at him as she took his hand, "Father... father please let me finish... it is hard to get it out so please, while I can..."
He went quiet.
"I have had... quite a life, adventure, danger, terror, pain, hardship, growth, happiness, love, loss... if there were other gods than the one I serve, they would be named Magic, Tragedy, and Necessity, and all three would have walked with me up to this very moment. But for all the worst parts in dark days, the best parts shine brighter than the sun on a clear summer's day, and I am glad of having walked the road I have, even if it was less traveled by than it might have been. Doing so made all the difference, and even though not all made it with me to the end... Gascon, Gilcrest, Gustav... Il-Ilyanna... I'm still glad I walked it. It has still been an amazing life, one I wouldn't have traded for any other. I helped change the shape of the world into something entirely new. I couldn't have asked for a greater privilege, and it became something I don't fit into anymore. After everything that happened, maybe that should have made me bitter, but it never did. If anything, despite everything, I'm happy, because a world where people didn't ever have to be that way, was what I wanted all along. Thank you, thank you for everything... I love you all. I'm- I'm going to sleep now. Wake me if you need anything."
Ainz looked at her, he could make no expression, but he whispered softly, "Neia... daughter... please..."
She whispered softly, "Is this not the goal of all life? Besides, don't worry, it's like I told my wife when we were before the Golden Fortress, 'You will never lose me.' She spoke a little louder then, as if desperate to be heard from across a chasm that was growing wider with every moment. "Please... know this, that if those who pass from this life do have souls that know still who they are, and carry with them the love of those they knew, though I am unseen, I will not be far from you, in strong winds and gentle breezes, think of me, and I will be again." She reached gently squeezed the bones that made up the Sorcerer King's fingers, he forced himself to relax, and squeezed her hand, her own grip was already more fragile than he had ever known it.
She looked over to her gathered host and as she closed her eyes, she said in a voice weaker than any had ever heard out of her, but which carried to the great full hall from nearest ear to most distant, "I'm tired... so very, very tired." So her eyes closed, though her lips moved, no words came out, and then she was still, in less time than it takes for a leaf to fall from branch on a windless day, all were silent.
Her breath halted, and her heart ceased to beat. Thus, Neia Baraja, woman of legend, who rose from orphan squire to the voice of an unliving god, who heralded the new world and birthed it in blood and pain as if it were another of her many children, quietly slipped away. As if it were the last part of her to die, the weak grip she had maintained on the hands of her wife and her divine father, grew slack as the strength and warmth of life fled her body.
In the moments after her death, the elf servants did as they had been ordered, and distributed her final words to one and all. Ainz's emotional dampener was shattered into a thousand tiny fragments and a cry of loss escaped his mouth as he felt life leave her flesh, but it was not rage that broke through, it was mourning. The guests, her companions, peers, loved ones, one by one, each lost in their own emotions, opened her final parting words for them, and more than a few broke down completely over what they'd read. When it was over, and Skana quietly clung to the hand of her wife, wet tears dripping slowly down to touch the fallen legend, and was slowly surrounded by their children and the children of those, and the children of those, who embraced her fiercely, sharing in her loss. Ainz took the letter meant for him, in trembling, skeletal hands, and read while the already cooling body of his daughter proved to the world that another of the great heroes of their age had passed into the realm of legend.
Neia's body was wrapped, preserved, and carried in a state funeral all throughout the Sorcerous Empire, where crowds in the hundreds of thousands gathered to pay their respects, but nowhere outside of Nazarick was she more honored, than in the provinces of the Elves, where Queen Zesshi instituted a state holiday expressly to allow all those who had escaped bondage thanks to the lifelong efforts of the Pope and founder of Black Justice, to attend the passing of her body through the capital. This passing was unique to all others, in that Zesshi had arranged that every elf who was rescued by her or her organization, was allowed to bear the glass container holding her body, and pass it overhead to the next person. The line stretched for three and a half miles before the pall bearers who brought it, took it up again. It was said that if one could gather all the tears the elves shed that day, from the lands of Aorli to the lands of Zesshi together, you could have turned the sea salty.
It was months before the long circuitous route finally brought it to Nazarick where Ainz had a small stone mausoleum put into place on the sixth floor on an island he had raised within the lake, just a single room, large enough for two to pass abreast, and for two bodies to be laid out on display. When the body of his daughter finally arrived, he saw personally to her internment, suspending all other work and placing it there with the greatest reverence. He lingered there for a very long time, until Albedo herself came to draw him out, and they shut the heavy door with care together and sealed it up. Sealing it was utterly unnecessary, but it was the last protection he could offer her, and that he would not be denied.
It was not unsealed again until two years later, when Skana finally joined her wife in death at the age of ninety eight. The couple was survived by eight children, eighteen grandchildren, and nine great grandchildren.
In the days and years that passed, the story of the pope became one of the most popular legends of the New World, her eyes inspired endless works of art, and to play Neia or Skana on stage and do it well, was said to be the greatest launching point for any actress, or the career ender, if it was done poorly. Old legends were retold, and history kept alive by the immortals who bore witness to her actions, and the long lived races of elves did not forget their patron saint. Zesshi had special coins minted that bore the face of their saviors, and these were put into circulation only once a year on the anniversary of Neia's founding of Black Justice.
However in tandem with the stories of old, a new story began to grow, seemingly out of nowhere, the story became that Neia was not truly dead, but only 'sleeping' and would rise again one day at her father's bidding when she was needed to confront a foe that would require all the power the empire could muster in order to save itself. Thus after death, she gained one final title to add to the litany of ones she already had attained in life: 'The Once and Future Pope'
Whenever Ainz was asked about this however, he would always give the same response, "Let my daughter rest. She has earned it." Then he would resume his work.