"Careful, Marie, not too quickly or you'll get a cramp."
Marie moved very slowly and deliberately as her mother helped coax her through the front door of the house. She was glad to have a full ensemble to wear, but the clothing made it even more difficult to squeeze through the front entrance.
The Enforcer guards stood by, awkwardly, happy to not have to stick around long but not entirely comfortable with the situation. They kept their backs turned to her as she started to work her hips through the doorway.
Three and Four were still inside the house, climbing over her to help tuck the folds of her clothes through the door frame and making sure nothing got caught. It was an awkward sensation, but at least it was them doing it and not some random nurse. The frame let out a series of distress creaks and groans before she finally got through and could bring her legs forward.
Marie slowly stood up, putting her hand on the roof to steady herself. This was the first time she had been outside with her full new height. Seeing the top of her house roof, she had a sudden feeling of vertigo as her mind tried to rationalise the new perspective.
"Marie?"
Marie brought a hand to her head. "I'm fine, Mother, just… getting used to things, is all." Callie hadn't had this much trouble when she'd gone out, but then, she'd always found it easier to adapt to new situations. Marie had always envied that.
"Well, let's not keep the coach waiting any longer. Can you walk?"
Marie flashed green and slowly made her way over to the large coach waiting on the curb side. Large coaches, like that one, were designed for use by giant and colossal squid inklings. Making one large enough to stand up in would be impractical but they were built with a luxurious reclining seat.
For Marie, boarding the coach was a delicate process for a body still not used to moving about much. Her joints and muscles already ached from the difficulty of just getting out of the house, but she managed to get into her seat in a somewhat dignified manner.
She let out a pleasant sigh as she felt the seat conform around her. She would never take properly-sized furniture for granted again. Regular sized seats flanked hers on either side down the length of the coach, allowing for a handful of other people to ride with her. Her mother, Three, and Four all elected to do so.
Her mother touched the intercom and told the driver to head out. Marie watched out the window as the house she had spent over two years in, the first property she and Callie had ever owned, slowly disappeared, and she had a strong feeling she would never enter that house again.
"Finally out of the house, how's it feel, Marie?"
Marie pulled her gaze from the window and down to her left where Four sat. Her mantle was a bright yellow and it rippled with excitement. Marie couldn't help but smile and pat her head – very carefully.
"I guess it feels less stifling, but I don't know if the Vasilika will be much better. At least there, I was in my own house."
"Ah, I get it, and now you'll be a guest in someone else's house. Yeah, that's not usually fun. I always had to be extra good when I stayed over at my grandma's, but hey, at least they have high ceilings."
"And it's probably safer," Three added. "At least Floa will be able to visit you."
There was that, but Marie had been having suspicions about her being moved to the Vasilika. She'd had a choice, of course, but almost anything was better than one of the care facilities or some random safehouse, and they were right, the Vasilika would suit her size much better. "But it all seems awfully convenient."
Her mother frowned. "What?"
Marie flashed red. "Nothing. Sorry, Mother. Just talking to myself."
Marie decided to put such thoughts aside and enjoy the ride. She looked out onto the sights of Inkopolis, noting that they now had holiday decorations up, giving the city a much needed boost of cheer at a time when things seemed grim. Marie tried not to feel offended when the truck had to make a small detour around a bridge they were too overweight for. After that, there were no real incidents all the way to the Vasilika.
"You've been before, right?"
"Yes, Four, but not the Palace section. That's the original part of the Vasilika. It's been undergoing renovations as far back as I can remember."
The driver didn't stop in front of the front gate of the Vasilika on the South side, where everyone else went, but took a small service road around to the West side, where a pair of enormous bronze doors loomed over them.
"This is where they told me to drop you off," the driver said, uncertainly.
"It's fine," her mother replied. "We'll just wait in here until someone comes out."
They didn't have to wait long. Barely a minute after they arrived, the huge doors slowly swung open, revealing a pair of two large hallar, not much shorter than Marie. Between them, Floa trotted out towards the coach.
Three hit the button to open the doors and she and Four disembarked, followed by her mother. Marie was more reluctant to move. She'd gotten rather comfortable in the chair and her joints ached in protest as she forced herself to slide out.
Floa gestured for them all to hurry inside and Marie forced herself into a brisk walk. The others had to jog to keep up with her, and the effort really tested her muscles and joints. She was relieved when her feet finally landed on the paving stones and the hallar pulled the doors shut behind them.
"Welcome to the Vasilika," Floa said cheerfully. Nice to have a hallway you can stand up in, eh Marie?"
The hallway felt more like a cathedral's sanctuary, with a high ceiling that even Marie wouldn't be able to reach and four stories of open corridors on either side, which again induced that familiar feeling of vertigo, but she managed to fight it off better this time.
"Wow!" Four exclaimed, looking around in awe. "The regular part of the Vasilika is huge enough, but this is crazy! I can't believe anyone would need hallways so big."
"You would if you ever met who it was made for." Floa signalled for them to follow her and she took them down the massive passageway. As they walked, they passed other large doors that broke up the lower floors of open corridors. Large banners and curtains hung down along the walls and fabric also covered parts of the ceiling. Marie wondered if that had been an original feature of the palace to reduce echo.
"This is the original palace built over 300 years ago for Queen Immelina. At the time, it was the biggest building in the world and represented to the country back then what The Pinnacle did for us after the Great Turf War. After all, Queen Immelina was the one who united all the disparate Inkling tribes and territories into Calachora, and they wanted the whole world to have a symbol of the nation's united strength, and of their leader. After all, who'd want to mess with someone who needed a palace this big?"
Four stared up at the ceiling and asked. "How big was she?"
"You'll get a pretty good idea when you see her furniture. Restoring that was part of the renovations."
"What did the renovations entail?" Marie asked.
"Modernisation, mostly. Putting electricity in some of the rooms, updating wiring, electric lights, power sockets, wi-fi, completely gutted the kitchen too. I heard that last one upset a lot of historians, but they don't have to live here."
"I wasn't aware anyone lived in the palace section of the Vasilika."
"Not many do now, but back when Queen Immelina bequeathed it to the Ecclesiarchy in her will, they used pretty much every room until the new section was built. The public's generally never been allowed back here except for making films, documentaries, and the occasional tour with foreign dignitaries. We have used a lot of the rooms for storage though."
Her mother cleared her throat. "As fascinating as this is, Floa, are we actually going somewhere Marie can rest? She hasn't built up her endurance yet."
"Don't worry, Auntie, we'll be there soon." She grinned, her mantle rippling with anticipation. "And Marie won't be lacking for space, I can guarantee that."
They eventually reached a T-junction and Floa took them down the left hallway. Here there was more traffic, both on the bottom floor and on the open corridors lining the walls. Marie was roughly at eye level with the people walking on the second floor corridors. They kept going until they reached another pair of enormous bronze doors, guarded by two more giant hallar.
Marie flinched inwardly as they looked right into her eyes. Their gaze betrayed nothing other than a subtle feeling of expectation. Marie didn't quite understand it but she wasn't about to ask, she simply bowed respectfully, showing them proper difference. The hallar were always to be respected.
They opened the doors, revealing a sight that took Marie's breath away. The room had to be at least eight stories high, with massive arches that held the ceiling aloft and left a massive open space larger than any stadium pitch, in fact, it was probably about as big as the larger Octarian domes. Even Marie felt the vertigo of looking all the way to the top of the massive dome that brought in natural light that filled the room. It was like something from a fantasy story or a movie. Even she felt diminished in this space. She was so awed by the architecture and engineering that she almost didn't notice the small party of blue-robed inkyora standing nearby.
Floa approached the one in the lead, who Marie guessed to be about middle-aged. The large hooks at the ends of her tentacles betrayed her colossal squid heritage. Floa bowed, and through tuk'yan, surrendered her authority. The inkyora then flashed green and dismissed Floa before approaching Marie.
Confused, Marie greeted her as respectfully as possible, feeling that deference was the safest course of action. The inkyora stopped a few metres from Marie and bowed. She was about half a metre shorter than her.
"I am Lufelza, and we will be your caretakers for the time being."
Marie's mantle flared. "Caretakers? I didn't ask for any–."
"You will be brought to bed and fed when you wake up. Your doctor will then examine you and we will apply her recommendations in terms of diet and exercise. Now come."
Marie stood motionless for a moment, bewildered until her mother snapped her out of it.
"Marie!"
Marie jerked and began to follow Lufelza, who was already walking at a brisk pace, and Marie actually had to jog a few steps to catch up. Three and Four had to break into a brief run, refusing to be left behind. Her mother seemed content to follow slowly alongside Floa, observing events as they proceeded.
Lufelza led them around a large wall which blocked the view straight ahead from the room's entrance, and on the other side, a massive pool spread out in front of them. It was bigger than any pool she had ever seen and seemed to take up most of the room's floor space. A stone ramp sloped down into the water until it abruptly stopped and turned into a sheer drop.
A large clothing rack with castors had been set up next to a stone bench beside the pool. Marie guessed the bench was original.
"Disrobe here," Lufelza commanded.
Marie hesitated. She wasn't exactly keen on stripping in front of a bunch of strangers but she knew she had no choice. She'd known from the beginning that staying at the Vasilika would come with some kinds of conditions. These caretakers had to be one of them, but she wished Floa would have told her ahead of time.
Withholding a sigh, Marie did as she was asked, sitting on the bench to remove her simple shoes. The bench was at a very comfortable height, making the process easier.
She recalled Four's question about Queen Immelina's height. If this bench was used by her, then she must have been about the same height as me.
As she continued to disrobe, the caretakers took each article of clothing and added it to the rack. Once she was completely stripped, she made her way to the water's edge and tentatively dipped her toe in. The water was not particularly warm, cooler than the water of her pool at home, but not uncomfortably so, and there was something else about it.
"This is saltwater," she said.
"Filtered seawater," Lufelza told her. "Even 300 years later, it's the only practical way of getting so much water into such a large pool. You will adapt soon."
Marie proceeded down the ramp until she was about waist deep, then sat down to let the water come up to her chin.
"You should find the bed on the bottom. While you rest, we'll sort your things."
Marie frowned but her protests died in her throat as Lufelza turned and left with the other caretakers without waiting for a reply, taking her clothes with them.
Marie swam over to the pool's edge next to the ramp where the others gathered.
"How's the water," Floa asked?
"Easier to float in, I guess." She glanced back towards the caretakers then whispered, "who are they?"
"Retired hallar who volunteered to be your caretakers. Lufelza's strict but I think you'll be okay."
"Marie needs someone strict," her mother said in that knowing, maternal tone. "It'll keep her from moping around too much."
Marie pouted but knew better than to contradict her mother in these situations.
"But this is some pool room!" Four spun around while looking up at the enormous dome high above them. "It's like we're in some super huge concert hall with all the seats ripped out."
"It really is amazing," Floa agreed. "I was shocked when I first saw it. Getting this room prepared was the biggest part of the renovation project. They had to drain all the water at one point in order to do the work properly."
"But this isn't the pool room, is it?" Marie asked. "Lufelza mentioned a bed, and I can see a breakfast table over there," she gestured to a huge chair and table set against the wall, in the exact place a beam of light from the dome above touched. "And if it were just a pool room, they wouldn't have bothered with all the drapery to reduce the echo."
Floa smiled. "Ever the observant one. Nope, there is no actual 'pool room' per-say, although this room was basically used as one for a while. This was Queen Immelina's private chamber. This pool is where she slept, relaxed, exercised, and laid all her eggs."
Marie felt discomfort crawl up her back. Queen Immelina had been dead over 200 years, her grandparent's grandparents might not even have known her, and yet, she felt like she was invading someone's private space or committing some kind of sacrilegious act.
Floa sensed her discomfort and gave her hand a reassuring pat. "Don't worry, the old queen would have been happy to have you in here if it would help you. Besides, you're one of her descendants."
It was true, but a large portion of Calachora's population could make the same claim. Queen Immelina had laid literally thousands of eggs. Apparently, all hatched in this very pool.
But if she had so many descendants, why are Callie and I the only ones to get this big? We aren't even of giant or colossal descent and nobody with dreadnought heritage ever had their size affected.
"Marie," her mother said gently, "Stop worrying and get some rest. If there was an issue the Ecclesiarchy wouldn't be putting you in here."
Marie flashed green, reluctantly. Something was still nagging at her, but she couldn't quite put her finger on what it was yet. Maybe after some rest, she'd figure it out. Bidding a brief farewell to her family, she fully submerged herself in the water and headed down.
The sense of freedom she got having so much space to swim around in was tremendous. The pool was almost as deep as the ceiling was high. Plantlife grew on the bottom of the pool just like the sea along with some forms of simple sea life, creating an ecosystem that helped keep the water clean without a mechanical filtration system. That couldn't have been easy to do 300 years ago, and Marie wondered if the plants and animals had to be transferred somewhere else during the renovations.
Marie found the bed, a rather new-looking underwater mattress. Even today, some inklings preferred to sleep underwater; though it was a luxury usually reserved for the wealthy. She circled around it a few times, searching for the presence of any unwanted small animals, then allowed herself to settle onto the bed. Before she lost consciousness, she hoped that she would be able to share this experience with Callie one day.
—-
Tephy had gotten much better at keeping step with the rest of Callie's retinue. She'd learned it was simply a habit from their time in the army and it seemed to be a kind of pride that they maintained it.
Surrounded on all sides by their guards, Callie and four of her caretakers walked along a well-beaten but reasonably well maintained path on their way to meet the Octarian exarch, the leader of their equivalent of the Ecclesiarchy: the Ministry of Providence, with Callie personally carrying the Archon's gift.
Of all the domes that Tephilla had seen so far, this was probably the nicest. Only a few of the viewscreen panels on the walls were out, a few were faulty, but most still showed a beautiful landscape with the sun high in the sky overlooking waves washing up a picturesque beach. There was even the sound of waves. Callie explained that the sound came from hidden speakers. It has a subliminal relaxing effect on people, especially those who live in enclosed environments. After all, octolings and Inklings both originally came from the ocean.
The dome appeared to be mostly residential with many apartment-like structures built all the way to the ceiling, doubling as supports for the dome – she guessed, but in the centre of the dome, was something that she could describe only as an oasis.
Large garden plots were arrayed in a series of concentric circles divided by narrow, elevated paths. The plots were all in different stages of development, with some of the plants looking ripe for harvest while others appeared barren. In the centre of these circles, raised atop a hill, was a large structure that looked to be made of a mishmash of different buildings, all old and somewhat dilapidated, but not nearly as bad as many of the other buildings she'd seen and, individually at least, the various pieces of the structure were quite nice.
Waiting atop the stone stairs was an older takenam garbed in the black blouse and red skirt of an Octarian arch-priestess. They'd all reviewed protocol about dealing with the Ministry of Providence prior to coming to ensure there would be no mistakes or miscommunication, but Tephilla wasn't sure why she was going with them.
The plan from the beginning had been to keep her within Callie's residence as much as possible. As the only other inkling in a country full of still fairly xenophobic people, her life was in constant danger, and while Callie was an octarian citizen and a noble, she was none of those things. To avoid trouble, she needed to be kept out of sight, and approaching the head of their heavenly order was the opposite of that. She didn't understand why Callie insisted on bringing her along.
The arch-priestess bowed humbly but maintained an air of authority that Tephilla found somewhat off-putting compared to the more reserved priestesses of the Orphan's Temple.
"Long life", she greeted. "I am Viletta Skywatcher, the Arch-Priestess of Guidance. I welcome you to the Grand Temple, Kravah Cuttlefish."
Callie and the caretakers bowed. Only the guards kept their heads up.
"Long Life, Arch Priestess of Guidance. I humbly thank you for welcoming us to the temple and carrying my request to His Excellency."
"He is waiting for you inside." She gestured to the open archway and led them inside the temple.
Beyond the gate was a small courtyard where a handful of other octolings, young and old, tended the small gardens within. Tephilla spotted one with a right arm that split at the elbow into two smaller arms, each with their own hand. They all seemed to be doing their best to ignore the newcomers. Up ahead, an individual wearing large and very old-looking grey robes stood in front of the main entrance to the temple building.
Tephilla had never seen a male octoling – a takevir, in person before. All of the Octarians she had seen in Inkopolis were female. Apparently, only one in twenty octolings hatched were male, so they were kept in the inner domes where they could be protected and have plentiful access to fertile females. It made Tephilla wonder how their society had functioned prior to the rigid social structure of the domes.
The Exarch himself was rather small, barely half the height of the arch-priestess. His tentacles were grey and wrinkled with age. He had to be one of the oldest octolings still alive. His eyes were blue and sage-like, and held none of the suspicion or contempt so many Octarians regarded Callie with. He was pretty much what Tephilla would have expected, and that was a good thing.
Instead of bowing, Callie knelt before the Exarch, setting down the box gently on the flagstones in front of the temple steps.
"Your Excellency, I am Kravah Callabria Cuttlefish. I thank you very much for accepting my request to see you." She gestured elegantly to the crate. "I bring you a gift from the Archon of the Ecclesiarchy."
Bowing his head, the Exarch replied, "I am pleased to welcome you at last, Lady Cuttlefish. I have heard much about you."
Callie giggled. "Good things, I hope."
The Exarch didn't reply to that. Instead, he approached the crate and looked at it with interest.
The crate was only slightly shorter than he was. Tephilla supposed he was trying to guess what was inside. Honestly, she had no idea what it could be either. She doubted it was a soap basket.
"May I open it for you?"
"Please do. I'm afraid I'm not as strong as I used to be."
Callie smiled and placed the end of her tentacle atop the box, latching onto the lid with her sucker. "Well, I highly doubt the archon would send you a jack-in-the-box, so it should be safe." She flexed her tentacle and the lid popped off with a crack that startled everyone in the gardens. Callie then released the lid and allowed the Exarch to open it the rest of the way. When he peered inside, he gave a gasp and the Arch-Priestess started.
"What? What is it, Your Excellency!"
The Exarch reached inside and, very delicately, pulled out a huge book from within the crate. It was so big that he grunted with effort trying to lift it out but he managed.
The book was beautifully decorated with a leather cover fixed with decorative yet functional gold framing bejewelled with gleaming gemstones, a large emerald at its centre. He ran his hand over the cover with great reverence, as if he couldn't believe what he was seeing. Tentatively, he opened the cover and Tephilla thought he might cry.
"What is it, Your Excellency?" The Arch-Priestess repeated.
The Exarch sighed, letting out some of the emotions bubbling to the surface. "This is something I haven't seen in many, many years. It's an original print copy of the Book of Reasoning, written by the very first Exarch. It was kept in the original Grand Temple." He closed the book. "We left almost everything after the end of the war, when our People were forced to come live here. I remember that we had sent a plea to the Ecclesiarchy to preserve our artefacts. It seems that they were able to save at least some things."
With one of his tentacles, he motioned a young priestess over and handed the book to her. "Put this in my chambers for now. I would like to read it later. Be sure it is well protected."
The priestess bowed and hauled the book into the temple. But as she carried it away, a paper slipped out the bottom of the book and was carried by some unseen breeze to a corner of the temple building.
"I'll get it!" Without thinking, Tephilla broke formation and rushed along the gravel pathway to the building's corner. She thought she heard Lakshi call after her but she didn't hear. A tiny current of air flipped the paper just around the corner and she knelt down to retrieve it, only for her hand to bump into another.
Tephy stopped and looked up, into the most beautiful pair of blue eyes she had ever seen. They belonged to a face a shade darker than her own, which was framed by short, dark-yellow tentacles with blue rings that began to glow and pulse.
They stared at each other for a moment, unmoving. Those eyes, those throbbing blue rings, they were mesmerising. She changed her own colour to the same blue as the rings and matched the rhythm of the pulse; although, she couldn't glow.
The wide blue eyes widened still further and a mouth opened, stunned.
"Tephy!"
Lakshi's bark shocked Tephilla out of her trance and back to her situation. She snapped up to attention and turned to carry the paper back. She sheepishly walked past one of the guards who had come after her and bowed her head as she offered the paper to the Exarch.
"I am sorry, Your Excellency."
He accepted the paper with a smile. "Not at all, not at all. Mansia! Come out now, no sense hiding around the corner."
Tephy turned around and saw the blue eyed octoling peer nervously around the corner. Her blue rings were still glowing but no longer throbbing, and her tentacles were a slightly darker shade.
Immediately, all the guards adjusted their grips on their weapons but Callie rebuked them harshly.
"Down!"
The guards were forced to lower their weapons, even as the girl drew nearer. They looked on edge.
The girl was short, only about the height of the Exarch, making her the shortest female octoling she'd come across; though she was a bit taller than Pearl. She was garbed in the white robe and red skirt of a temple maiden, but she gave off the distinct aura of a person who knew she wasn't wanted. It was a painful reminder of her own past as a foundling.
The Exarch suddenly handed the paper back. "I'm sorry, my Inklish is rather rusty. Would you mind translating?"
Tephy hesitantly took the paper and stared at it. She glanced up at Callie, uncertain, but Callie displayed that she should go ahead and that she would do fine. Tephy wondered if the people at the temple knew their patterns and flashes were communication.
Tephilla cleared her throat and began to read, slowly reading out the translation. Fortunately, it was written mostly in simple words.
"To the Exarch of the Ministry of Providence,
I hope this letter finds you well and in good spirits. I am overjoyed to be archon of the Ecclesiarchy at the time we are able to offer the reconciliation we have waited so long for. I hope the return of your holy book grants you hope and reassurance in these uncertain times.
In addition to that, enclosed in this crate are the deeds for every one of your holy sites that was granted to us by the government following the war. We tried to save as many of your artefacts and records as we could. I hope I live to see them all returned to you one day.
May the gods smile upon you and may the Sovereign God be your advocate in the times ahead.
Sincerely,
The Archon.
The Exarch stood stunned for a moment then peered back in the crate. Tephy was able to glance inside and saw several stacks of large papers at the bottom. The Exarch extracted a few of them and began to examine them.
"That must be what these are," he murmured. "Deeds… yes, those were the legal ownership papers." He stared at the papers and his eyes began to water.
"After more than a hundred years, it's finally started to come back to us."
She shuddered as the emotions washed over him then placed the papers back in the crate and wiped his eyes.
"Deed," he said again, and looked at Tephila. "I haven't heard that word in a very long time. How on Earth did you know it?"
Tephilla blinked. "Um… well, I suppose I overheard it once, and I just guessed what the word meant based on the… um…"
"Context clues," Callie finished. "She must have picked it up during discussions about the legalese around my home. We had to speak with the Ministry of Law a lot."
"Ah, I see. Yes, they might be the only ones who would use that word now. Oh, I'll introduce you."
He put his hand on Mansia's head. "This is Mansia. As you can see, she is a blue-ringed octoling." He smiled at Tephy. "That's why everyone else got so nervous when she appeared, you see."
The octolings shifted uncomfortably and Mansia hung her head. Tephilla didn't understand.
"You see, young inkling, many of those who are sent to live here at the temple are those who don't quite fit into the eugenic's program's convenient little box. So those who have noticeable mutations or have genus that are not desirable are often sent here after they turn two years old, and they live the rest of their lives with the temple."
Tephilla felt her soul crack. She understood too well how that felt.
"I was also… unwanted."
Mansia's head snapped up and even the exarch looked surprised.
"Tephilla is an orphan," Callie explained. "She spent her whole life up until now in the temple."
Masia stared at Tephilla, stunned, disbelieving. The Exarch nodded sadly. "Yes, sadly, orphans are one of those inevitable things. We may reduce their number but they never go away completely."
"Unfortunately," Callie agreed. "Anyway, we had best be going, Exarch, unless you have anything you'd like to discuss."
"Not right now, but after we're done going through these papers and after your debut to the Ravlada, I am sure we will have something to talk about.
Callie nodded then made a gesture, and everyone fell back into formation. Even Tephy found herself doing so automatically. Just as they were about to leave, Callie said, "feel free to visit some time, Mansia. You're always welcome."
Tephy doubted the guards thought so, but they wouldn't contradict Callie here in front of the Exarch.
As they headed off, Tephy could feel Mansia's eyes on her, watching her as she left. Tephy didn't blame her. That girl seemed so alone, so isolated. When had she ever felt wanted or welcomed in her life?
After they got home, Callie herself gave Tephy a stern lecture about going off by herself like that and how dangerous it might be. She did soften the blow a little by saying she was glad that she wasn't living in fear all the time.
Later, Tephy poured her some fresh tea and asked her, "Why are blue-ringed octolings not wanted?"
Callie accepted the tea and took a sip. "Because they're venomous, more so than other octolings. When they're fully grown, and I think she is about sixteen, they can kill anyone in minutes with just a small bite, so people are afraid of them."
Tephy thought about that for a moment. She could understand how frightening that might be but… was it really so bad? Given the means, anyone could do the same thing but they didn't. Up until the Liberation of Xapheerell, murder was almost unheard of in Inkopolis.
"Could… could Three kill someone that fast?"
Callie arched an eyebrow at her. "Not with venom but… yeah, she could – she has."
"Right, and someone with an ink weapon could probably do the same. Not as well and maybe not against certain people but…"
Callie nodded. "Yeah, I understand your point, Tephy, but not everyone sees it that way; they just see someone with a huge advantage that they don't have, and that scares them."
"But that's… that's just unfair."
"I know," Callie whispered, and she rubbed the top of her head with her tentacle. "So, we just have to think of ways to do something about that. It means changing the perception of an awful lot of people, but, hey, less likely things have happened. I mean, I'm an inkling who's an Octarian noble."
Tephilla managed to smile. "So nothing is impossible."
"Nothing is impossible," Callie echoed. "Sometimes it's just really really hard."
"Like presenting yourself to the Ravalda."
Callie's expression darkened. "Yeah… that. I've got plenty of things that should make most of them happy, but I'm still not sure how I'll deal with the loyalists and I don't know what they're up to either."
"So what are you going to do?"
Callie stared at the other end of the room, tapping her fingers together. Then, slowly, she smiled. "Maybe I'll take a page from our favourite ambassador's playbook and be bold."
Author's Notes:
Mansia I named after Brugmansia, a highly toxic plant also known as an "Angel's Trumpet". Despite Octavio not being a big supporter of the Ministry of Providence, they're well respected and loved by the people, so he had to look like he supported them to maintain the affection and support of the people at large, so he went to great effort to recover as many sections of pieces of temples around the Empire as he could for the Grand Temple for morale purposes. The Grand Temple has served as a politically neutral entity and dumping ground for society's rejects ever since. The Vasilika is proof that inklings can make amazing engineering feats when they're properly motivated, especially considering the palace is over 300 years old. Imagine what it would have cost back then to build it and how long it would have taken in a pre-industrial era.
