Chapter 17: Princess
Montana watched Bertha sink. Felt the storm rising, but she was no Witch. What did the death of a Princess do to the world? As Bertha sank, she could see the shoals. Montana could see the corpses, dozens of ships sunk by their own crews rising out of the surf. In spite, in vengeance, in search of a better life. Deliberate suicide as a form of war. Now echoing, weaponized.
Her crew was rebelling. Demanding on board libraries and regular lunch breaks. Swimming pools and book clubs and art supplies. They were breaking her from within. One of her turrets blew up as a Nightmare took its hammer fists right to the shells stored in the turret. Montana fell to her knees. Crew tried to seize her engine room, but loyalists fought them off.
Everyone else was worse off. She had her position, her reinforcement and bond as a Flagship. The other girls were not as lucky. They were dying. Being torn apart, blowing up from within. No one was spared. Most of her turrets were still tracking. Montana aimed at the sinking ship and wondered if she'd have to kill a Princess today. She prayed not. With a Flagship as a focal point, the others joined in. The [Abyssal Call] ringing throughout the ether. An alarm, a call, a prayer for aid, from a fleet marooned on hidden shoals and in need of a guide through the shallows.
• • •
Midway was deep in her Ritual work when the call came in, blaring in her bones. Such was her focus that but a small fraction of her attention noted it, trying to decide if to rouse the rest of her. She felt East respond, using one of her ready Rituals, passing through the Abyss and her Wards to emerge in the lagoon in seconds. She would deal with it. Midway could get back to what really mattered.
• • •
The Empress was not a happy Princess. She emerged from the pool of Abyssal waters in a fountain that spit her up on land, already running. Having to willingly sink herself unharmed was always unpleasant, but a small price to pay for the strategic mobility. Even with the bites the True Abyss took out of her in tribute for the passing. She could take it. Having to spend such an asset was less than ideal, but she couldn't delay responding to a chunk of her fleet in this much trouble. That the Perfect Princess was not to be disturbed in her Ritual work was well established.
The Battleship Princess arrived ready for war and found a Graveyard. The hulls of ships broken, sinking, many half sunk, but already doomed. She felt the
{Boat Graveyard}
try and touch her august self and unleashed her own glory in response.
{Hakkō ichiu}*1
The clear sunny sky, the Roof of the World, exploded into the dying Nightmare, lifting the spirits of every ship present, buoying them out of the reach of the depths. One was the aura of a broken, defeated thing, newborn. The other a Princess that was damaged but at the height of her power. It was no contest.
Not all could be saved. Wakumi was hugging two girls. One of which was bleeding and broken from internal explosions, but now arrested mid sinking, clawing for life yet again. She'd survive as long as the Princess's aura was there to deliver her to the baths. The other had pointed her own cannons at her bridge and fired. She was beyond help. Midway would have to pull her out.
The Empress turned to deliver her judgment. She felt no signs of the clotting, cloying madness in the girl, but that was no reassurance. The Battleship Princess advanced, putting the girl under her guns. The Court could sort her out after she'd enacted her vengeance. No one killed her girls and got away with it. Least of all, a ship that would abandon Her Fleet. How dare she?
Then Montana was between them, bowing deeply.
"Your Glorious Imperial Majesty, I beg a moment of your forbearance." She considered it.
"You may speak." The Empress allowed.
"My eternal thanks Your Blessed Imperial Majesty. I believe her acting in ignorance, not malice. I would swear that until a moment ago, she had not even known how to use her own [Fleet-sense]."
"That you would argue for the killer of your sisters shows your honor, but you speak nonsense." The Empress decried, walking past the bowed ship. It was a simple matter to disprove. Her will probed the disabled, sinking ship as her eyes peered deep into the fallen ships soul. The Empress saw only the deep blue, near black Abyss reflected back in them. No trace of the madness, or of any other fault.
"?a$%$r #=bert" The [Fleet-sense] yielded. The Empress blinked. Most of the letters sounded like screeching cats and so much was missing. Wasn't this a Uwi-Class? Where was its class designation? Where was the rest of it?
"Is this one not called "Bertha"? she inquired.
"It is my understanding that Shinigami named her such, Your Eternal Imperial Majesty" Montana hinted.
The Battleship Princess pondered that.
"We are most vexed, good servant of our dear friend. Known well to Us is the propensity of our first to take on her own shoulders the burdens of her little sisters. But this wound is beyond her ability to mend. That she would hide this from Us? It is most distressing." she admitted.
"It is my belief that the instant she was capable of it, she severed herself from every other ship in the fleet. In all the fleets, Your Fabulous Imperial Majesty ." Montana testified.
The Empress blushed, snapping open her fan to hide her shame.
"Uncouth flatterer. Known well to Us are the wiles of those of the West." she warned seriously, but her eyes were laughing above the waving fan.
"Very well, The Court will hear of this. The fault will no doubt fall upon Midway as her port of origin to pay recompense. Our own failure is lesser and some was repaid in spilled blood. Debt for debt, through another must by necessity judge the balance of those scales." she spoke, pinning Montana with her burning eyes.
"Advise your Mistress not to jest in this manner, or I shall be very cross with the both of you. My honor is at stake. Mishandle it at your peril." she warned in a voice that promised fire and death.
So done, she clapped and by now everyone knew the drill. Those that could, helped up those that couldn't, or carried them, buoyed by the false heath of The Empress. Montana carried Bertha. She'd stopped sinking when her bottom had hit the seafloor between her sandbars, with her bridge still out of the water. She was out cold and her rigging had melted into murk. As Montana carried her, they left a trail of blood seeping from Bertha-s wounds and seawater dripping from her feet.
The instant the last girl was out of the room and the aura with them, the abused building collapsed. The Empress just knew Midway would be petty enough to charge her for a replacement.
*1: Hakkō ichiu-The World Under One Roof
• • •
Taylor woke to steam. She was still in quite a bit of pain, but at least some of it had faded. It was not a familiar way to awaken. She'd had quite a few. Begin yet again naked irritated some part of her, but mostly she was surprised to still be alive. The repair baths were not where she was expecting to wake, if she woke up at all. If she wasn't mistaken this was the VIP section. Not what the Abyss called it, but the inside of her own mind was her own.
Taylor had stood beyond those doors in her early days, waiting to be called to fetch some minor delight while Shinigami luxuriated in the back. She wasn't alone here.
"Awake then? Good. The baths are fairly dull without company."
Taylor turned to look at the speaker. It wasn't easy. The pool she was in was fairly large, big enough that if she slipped down Taylor could drown. She wasn't sure she'd have the strength to get up again. Shifting her legs made every crack hurt all over so Taylor made the sane decision not to move. Still, she had managed to turn her head.
A towering, pale beauty was in the other working pool, her elbows on the edge and in a similar state of undress. Maybe it was the steam, or her own state, but she didn't want to deal with this right now, so she turned her eyes away.
"Oh. A Westerner then." There was a loud clap.
"Towels."
A girl scurried into the pool room, carrying large, fluffy towels. The woman took hers with a regal air, wrapping them around her with practiced motions. Taylor had to be covered up like an invalid. Which was better than she expected to come out if this, if she was being honest.
The other pool was silent until the girl was out of ear shot. Taylor didn't really register what she said. While being helped, something had deeply confused her. A part of her was telling her that the girl was a Light Cruiser. Fair enough, that matched her expectations. But the ship part of her was roughed up, full of holes and very tired. Taylor was a mess, yes, but she hadn't felt this human in weeks, months.
So what Taylor saw wasn't a Cruiser. Or a warship. Taylor saw a five foot nothing, fourteen, maybe fifteen year old. Eager to please and more than a bit scared she would mess something up, disappoint her elders and suffer for it. Being able to recognize expressions again was nice. Taylor would definitely recommend Abyssal health insurance to her friends. But what really blew her mind was how she had never, not even in her dreams, noticed just how young she looked.
"You must have many question and I've quite a few of my own. Shall we trade?" the woman offered in a calm, confident voice. The question piecing the fog.
Taylor tried to reply and had to spend a minute coughing and spitting out blood. How she'd survived with only one lung was not something she wanted to think about right now.
"How old is she?" she asked. The woman gave her a considering look.
"Not one I was expecting. Well done. She is four and seven months, if I don't miss my guess. Through perhaps we should not count the months she spent in the care of the Abyss. What's your name Little Sis?" Japanese. They were speaking in Japanese. So not quite all the way dead, eh ship self?
"I understand you are trying for some kind of pretense of civility, so I'll warn you: Don't call me that."
The woman blinked. "Whyever not?"
It was Taylor's turn to consider the other woman. Repair baths were not so bad a place to be, all things considered.
"Shinigami was quite fond of calling me that. I am not fond of her, or the memories," Taylor tested the waters.
"Shinigami will be having quite a bad month when I get to her. Her service in battle must be considered, but that will not shield her from this." she said.
"That would be quite the trick. Wasn't she a casualty?" Taylor wondered.
"Indeed. That is why her service is to be considered. I suppose I have until Midway's Ritual to consider her punishment. What is your name?" the woman asked.
"How is a ritual going to change anything? You planning to talk to her ghost?" Taylor asked. She was met with silence and a raised eyebrow.
"Am I not Bertha?" Taylor challenged.
"My dear, we both know you are nothing like a Bertha. For all you've drawn a following for your more motherly skills." she answered with a short smile.
"It's Taylor" she grumbled. This was among the softest interrogations she'd ever had. The tilted head prompted her to expand on it. "Taylor Hebert. Not Herbert. Hebert."
"And I am The Empress. Mandatory The." The woman was being dead serious.
"Since you are a peer, I suppose a simple Majesty will do in public. But our adoring subjects are away and so we can dispense with formality. You may call me Konoe."
"My question?" Taylor insisted.
"Well, it's simple really. Midway is going to raise those lost. Re-summon them from the Abyss. We've done it plenty of times."
She now had Taylor's full and undivided attention.
"You can do that? Just raise the dead. All of them?" Taylor hoped.
"All she can. There's a degree of bargaining to it, but with the supplies you delivered there should be no problems. It's Midway." Konoe finished, smooth, unruffled confidence oozing out of her.
Some part of Taylor suddenly relaxed. With the hope had come fire. She'd already suspected with how this whole life had gone that some manner of human sacrifice would be needed for it.
"She won't need some live sacrifices for that near trick, will she?" Taylor asked, trying not to show how rattled this conversation was making her.
"That's two questions, but I'll be gracious. No, for all that they call us Sea Witches in those horrid papers, that's just silly. What would we even do with human blood? It sticks to everything and is useless as an agent. Just spoils the broth." The Empress shook her head.
"No silly, she'll be using her own blood. To better connect to the Abyss. Now I've been rather patient, but I really must ask: What do you remember?" Taylor flinched. There it was. She did not need to fake the grimace her scattered recollections of the End, or the first memories of her new life brought.
"So bad? I supposed we all have our secrets. Another question then."
What? Was she just going to let it go like that?
There was that head tilt again. Her eyes were ramping up, going from warm and red, like a fire pit, to an open furnace. "Taylor. If a Princess tells or shows you that she does not wish to discuss her life Before, you will not insist on it. Am I clear young lady?"
She nodded. It hurt to move, but her tongue had dried out just from being near that flame. The room was a lot steamier. "We're few enough already, without killing each other," she admitted glumly.
Clap!
"More water." she commanded.
• • •
The conversation that followed was halting, but very informative. Unwritten rules, customs, the basics of magic, skills. Taylor didn't like the information, but had no idea why the woman would have lied about any of it. Well, no, she had many ideas, but none that stood up to scrutiny. Most deceptions fell apart when it looked like Taylor was going to be allowed to walk out of here under her own power to go see for herself.
It was hard to accept, but made a disturbing amount of sense. Not with her waking life, but the dreams? A disturbing amount of sense. Most of it.
"Explain that to me again. Because that sounds crazy." Taylor insisted. Because it was crazy. Literally.
"We all have a twist. A place in our soul where we were broken, where the Abyss seeped in. You are not spared this. A twist can be little, or twist a girl entire. It depends on the girl. But perhaps familiar examples would help. Knowing what you know, can you guess what twists ail Shinigami? Or Sapphire?"
Taylor thought about it, combing her memories.
"She's a Big Sister." she guessed.
"You say the words, but have you understood them?" The Empress challenged.
"There is no may, or can, will? She is a Big Sister. A Good Big Sister. Every subordinate she has is her Little Sister. Disturb that fantasy and Shinigami becomes violent. Stay within it, and she is among our better Division leaders. " Taylor was not convinced.
"I can see that disbelief. She is kind, affectionate and caring for her Little Sisters. She would face hell for them and Shinigami has died in their defense. She fights all the harder for each one and demands excellence and immediate obedience for hesitation can kill in battle. But stray from that safe island of fantasy and you will earn her unending enmity until you fit into her world. Most don't get that far. Her girls guard her heart, as she guards them in battle. Most ships transferred under her command are swiftly taught to fit in by her subordinates. You, I hear, were a lot more stubborn." she asserted with a smile that swiftly curdled at the expression on Taylor's face.
"You could say that. It's understating things significantly, but let's go with that." Taylor tried to control it, she did. But she was empathically, viscerally unhappy with those two in particular. Which might be why their twists were the ones being expanded on here.
"They can't help themselves. None of them can. They can no more fly then resist their twists. It's what separates Us from them." She finished quietly.
"So what? If I'd only gone along with the crazy chick, everything would have been all sunshine and rainbows? That was the plan?" Taylor asked in disbelief.
"I'll have you know most young Abyssal need some structure in their lives. They were available, reliable and safe enough. Yes, if only you could accept the fantasy, this all could have been avoided. I felt you would, which is why I approved the posting. So some of that is on me as well."
Taylor allowed herself to glare at her. She was done with pretending. It hadn't worked out well. Maybe this would end better. Certainly it couldn't go worse. This mess was a pretty high bar to beat.
"I thought you were a freighter. They're practically spineless, the lot of them. It wasn't my responsibility to Announce you. It still isn't," Konoe said, rolling her eyes.
"Obviously if I'd known, things would have been different. Poor Shinigami must have been so confused that she couldn't break a freighter. She was doomed to failure from the start. We don't break." She lamented, shaking her head.
"I'd appreciate it if you did not speak of them abusing me like you were pitying them." Taylor objected.
"It is pitiful. From the moment I placed you with them, your conflict was unavoidable and none of us knew it. You were her subordinate. Shinigami could not, not would not, but could not stop trying to make you one of her Little Sisters. She sent Sapphire after you. That must have been unpleasant." Konoe sympathized.
"But it's also a sign of how close she was to breaking. She'd failed at making you a Good Little Sister and only her faith in a trusted, competent Second kept her going. That Saphire would make it work. That she wouldn't lose you. Because Shinigami had already taken you into her family." the Princess claimed.
"Oh she'd pretend not to care. Everyone knew. Every week the Divison would gather together and hear from Sapphire about your trips. Wakumi kept her current. Shinigami was so happy to learn you were thriving. Sad that it was something about her that was messing with your twist, but so happy to hear you were better. She sent letters for you to Wakumi, to give to you when you were ready. Forbidden anyone from coming to visit you, from pushing too soon, to avoid a relapse. Or did you think none of them seeing you after your Detached Duty began was an accident?" The Empress asked.
"None of that makes any sense." Taylor complained.
"It usually doesn't." The Empress sadly agreed. "But they were happy, so does it matter?" she asked.
"And what about miss "Cram a pacifier in my face?" Sapphire?" Taylor bitterly asked.
It was still humiliating to remember and Taylor couldn't quite believe she'd asked that. There was something about the Princess that made her human. Approachable.
"Sapphire can't fail. Not an order from a superior. Order her to charge Japan alone and she'll die trying. Sapphire will do her utmost to meet her duties. Every time. That's her twist. There's a reason why she's in charge of the Divisions supplies and logistics. But she should never be trusted with a girl's heart," The Empress said despondently.
"She'll follow orders, to the letter, rigid and unbending and care nothing for her past masters or the feeling of her current subject. Sapphire is a competent professional and she'll do what she thinks needs doing to complete her mission and do it well. Or kill herself trying." Konoe explained.
"In many ways, she's better off."
Taylor have her a disbelieving look.
"Oh yes. She has enough of a handle on her twist it does not leave her open to despair nearly as often. She understands that sometimes the world is unfair and the job impossible from the start. Or that success may not be entirely up to her. She can accept that, which is fairly impressive twist management." she praised.
"I'd inquired about your fate when she gave up on you. Sapphire said she'd done her part. Done things that should have broken any freighter. Clearly, you were the defective one and it was time to try something new. Sapphire was more right then perhaps she realized. You make for a terrible freighter. With a fire like that?" She looked at Taylor with piercing eyes.
"It makes me wonder. What have you been up to?" The Empress asked.
"Nothing." Taylor said, feeling a flush on her cheeks. The Black Market was hers and she wasn't giving it up.
What was with this woman? Why did Taylor feel like she should be respectful? It wasn't the ship stuff, she'd pulled that out and it was mostly asleep anyway. It was the air around her, her bearing, how she smiled, calm and considered. It was striking and Taylor was less and less alright with effect it had on her.
"Keep your secrets. I'll find out anyway. It's more fun to figure it out for myself. Too many are all too happy to bend to my every whim." she complained. That seemed like a problem Taylor might like having… what the hell was she thinking?
This conversation was breaking her mind in weird ways. Taylor peered at the elegant, confident woman. "I lost track, didn't I. How old are you?" she asked.
"What a rude question. If you must know I'm six and a half," she admitted.
Seeing the disbelief on Taylor's face, The Empress flushed.
"And fourteen days. I'm not an old maid," she protested.
Taylor decided that until she saw differently for herself, she needed to keep an open mind to survive this madness. Or she might just find herself one of the patients.
• • •
They talked for hours. By the end? Taylor wasn't at all sure what to believe anymore. She was still rather unconvinced on the whole Magic Rituals and Resurrection thing. But it wasn't hard to agree to wait and see. It was only a couple of days.
Two things from the rest of that conversation stood out.
Abyssal ship girls, the woman calling herself The Empress had said, all have a twist. A place in their soul where they were broken, where the Abyss had seeped in. Where it was still linked to them. This connection pulled them to it when they died and Princesses could pay the Abyss, bargain with it to have the girls back.
She'd framed it in almost religious terms. No, she'd not kid herself. They were religious terms for the Abyss. Like one of the Ten Commandments for a zealot.
"We feed the Abyss, and it feeds us."
The echo, the resonance in that thing had rang Taylor's skull even in her diminished state.
• • •
The second was more personally concerning.
"If this is how every girl in the Abyss is, if any of this is true, then how are you still standing? How do you wage war on entire nations and do what the Abyss has done? Conquer cities, contest the rule of an ocean?"
"Don't let Midway hear you say that. She fancies herself Queen of The Pacific Ocean. It's a work in progress." Konoe shrugged.
"And how?" she asked.
"We make it work Taylor Hebert. When their twists drive them to despair, we are there to lift them up. We care for and guide them, quell their ills and fend off their fears. We pick them up when they fail and clean up after them when it goes badly." The Empress said, looking at Taylor. Taylor did not appreciate the implications.
"We tend to their wounds, of body and heart. Should the day come that they sink to the Abyss, we wade into its depths to pull them out again. We are their lighthouses in the storm, guiding them away from dangerous waters, the reason why they don't fall to madness and the hope of a better tomorrow. Of grudges avenged and twists managed." she finished quietly.
"That is what it means to be a Princess Taylor Hebert. That is our privilege, our duty. Our burden." It was like The Empress was confiding in her. But it was the "our" that really bothered Taylor. Because it sounded like The Empress was including her in it.
And that? That was crazy.