Busy was the word of the hour at the Claire Moa Temple, as usual. The majority of the priestesses who lived there, when they weren't busy with sermons or attending to the locals of La-Lakoosha, had their hands full with different chores and jobs that needed their attention, both in the temple and elsewhere in the surrounding community. It was tough work, but then a lot of different tasks had come up at once from the town, so it was fuller on than usual.
Someone who had been up to her neck in it particularly was the High Priestess, who'd been on her feet all day making sure everything went smoothly. She trusted those under her care to pull it off with ease, but she preferred having the peace of mind that came with seeing it for herself. Now, though, she was worn out, sweaty, and needed to rest, so she limped back to the main chamber and sat down in her ceremonial chair so she could catch her breath. Shaking herself a little, she removed her hat and the outermost layer of her uniform to cool down.
As she slowly came back to herself, she recalled the day, years before, where she had been officially bestowed the rank of High Priestess. She was the youngest priestess in living memory to be granted that role, and she remembered it as being the happiest day of her life. All the work she had put into proving herself, and the impressive abilities she innately possessed, and it all paid off in being able to oversee the whole temple in its worship of Goddess Claire. Sure, sometimes it could be demanding work, but she wouldn't have it any other way.
The door opened, and she saw Leorina step into the room, wearing her priestess uniform. She too seemed to be quite tired out from the day's proceedings, but unlike the High Priestess was used to such hard labour from her time as a sky pirate, so was faring much better.
"Ah, Leo!" the High Priestess chirped with a smile, sitting up properly in her chair. "I presume that everything has proceeded well?"
Leorina nodded as she looked through the handwritten notes she was carrying. "As much can be expected after the workload that got hoisted onto us. But everyone's managed to step up nicely, and it should all be completed by the end of the day."
The High Priestess smiled warmly. It was times like this that made her proud of her congregation. "They are a wonderful group, truly. We must find some way to repay them for the effort that they've been routinely putting in."
Leorina cocked an eyebrow and smirked. "If you're planning another one of your "pizza parties," you'd better make sure to get enough for the rest of us this time. Last time all that I ended up with was the thinnest sliver of…"
But she trailed off as they both heard giggling and muffled whispering approaching the door of the chamber, which soon opened to reveal a decently sized gaggle of priestesses of different ranks and ages. Some of them looked curious, others seeming concerned or grim-faced. Lolo could be spotted toward the back, with a particularly troubled expression on her face, like she didn't want to be there.
Leading the group was a priestess with blond hair and a green uniform, someone that both the High Priestess and Leorina knew all too well. Someone who had been a continuing source of trouble for the two of them since the former sky pirate had returned to the temple. Someone who the High Priestess had not seen pulling her weight in any meaningful way during the day's activities.
"Juli." The High Priestess said curtly. "Do you need something?"
A smug expression on her face like always, Juli pulled out a book from a back at her side as she began speaking. "Well, I was hoping you could tell me. I was reading some of Goddess Claire's holy scripture recently, and there was a passage that stood out to me quite a bit and I hoped you could explain it."
Opening the book to a page singled out with a bookmark, she moved down to a particular passage and read aloud:
"A priestess' duty is to her work and worship, and she must not let her peers corrupt her from doing her duty; she corrupts her temple by doing so."
Upon finishing, she closed the book and looked up at them. "Corrupted by her peers; now what an interesting phrase. It was spoken by Claire to her congregation following her banishment of the dark side of herself, a side of excess, anger and lust. And as the book this passage is in claims, she was referring to the relationships between two priestesses, and how it must not be allowed to become more than platonic."
She stepped forward, making her point clear. "Your affair with the sky pirate Leorina is no secret, High Priestess. I knew that such a relationship was not allowed under the teachings of Goddess Claire, and it seems that I was correct."
Leorina stomach dropped, not having been aware of this specific passage that was apparently about their very relationship. She looked up at the High Priestess, hoping she would have some answers, but although her face remained calm, her eyes betrayed a look of worry. A look that signified she knew very well about that passage but had disregarded it to follow her heart. The very sight of it caused Leorina to blanch in fear.
"W-well, now… I'm afraid that it's not always that cut and dry with Claire's teachings… and as I see it, this conclusion is more of a personal… interpretation…"
A fair point it may be, but her shaken conviction was all the ammunition Juli needed. Lolo looked shocked that Juli was going this far. She had tried to get her to drop it when she'd been told about the passage, but to no avail, and now her friends were in the crossfire. The only reason she had tagged along was in the hopes she could say something to assuage the girl who she was quickly finding it hard to consider a friend, but every time she tried to open her mouth, no sound came out.
"Well, by all means, you're free to find a passage from Claire's mouth that contradicts this, but I believe it to be cut and dry, and I know many who will feel the same way." Juli said, the smug expression never leaving her face.
"A presumptuous assumption." The High Priestess huffed, trying to regain control of the conversation.
"Perhaps." Juli conceded. "Be that as it may, as far as I'm concerned you have two options to save face and clean this temple of your sin: end your unholy affair entirely or step down from your positions and leave this place!"
…
"What the hell do we do?!" Leorina said, pacing around the room in an agitated state, trying to rationalise a next move.
"The first thing is to try not to panic." Said the High Priestess, deep in thought. The two had moved to her private quarters to discuss the situation and decide what should be done next. "It is a well-established fact that Goddess Claire's scripture is open to interpretation in many ways. We could easily argue that Juli is extrapolating details as she sees fit."
"Well, if she is, it's working!" Leorina said, unable to come down from her panicked state. "Have you seen what kind of public speaker she is? She's all fire and brimstone and eternal damnation unless you follow what she claims is Claire's word. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if she was out there right now making us look like a pair of godless harlots!"
The High Priestess grumbled frustratedly. She had wanted to crack down hard on Juli for a while, since she'd been becoming increasingly belligerent and outspoken in her beliefs, but some of the higher ranked priestesses had attempted to overrule her due to her genuine talent as a priestess, so her hands were tied. And this is what she got for her trouble.
"Then we'll just be harlots, I guess!" the High Priestess said in reply, raising her voice as she got up and put her hands on Leorina's shoulders to try to calm her down. "Listen to me, Leo. I don't care if the entire temple thinks of me as godless, I'm not going to leave you."
"But… but they'll make you leave…" Leorina asked, trying to still her breathing. "I… don't want to do that to you after all the work you put in to get there."
"It's a real possibility. And perhaps once upon a time I would have tried to save face." The High Priestess told her, chewing her lips briefly as she thought through what to say next. "But since I got to know you again… and we grew closer… I've found myself unable to bring myself to let you go. Even if it meant saving myself."
She gently cupped Leorina's chin to look into her eyes.
"Whether I'm the High Priestess or just plain old Ōmiko, I don't mind, as long as we're still together."
A tear rolled down Leorina's face as she pulled her lover into an affectionate hug. They stood there for a time in that embrace, holding each other tightly, knowing they didn't want anything else but to be together, whatever happens.
Still though…
"I… still don't like the idea of giving up…" said Leorina, her face partially buried in the High Priestess' shoulder.
"And I don't intend to." the High Priestess smiled. "I intend to fight this best we can. I'm sure you can find some way to do that."
Leorina thought for a moment. She was still busy with her duties to the temple, she didn't intend to neglect those just yet, but perhaps there was a way she could work around that…
…
"Leorina wants us to do what now?"
Lolo sat in her dormitory, looking at Tat with surprise. The feline had made a surprise visit to her accommodations, saying they needed to talk, and as it turns out it involved the potential scandal that Juli was trying to bring on her friends.
"She'd like you to go to the La-Lakoosha library and take out a number of scripture produced by Claire, then sift through it to see if there's anything in the more obscure tomes that contradicts what Juli is trying to claim. She's provided a list of the volumes she believes will be most relevant."
Lolo thought for a moment as she perused the list. "W-well… I do really want to help Leorina and the High Priestess… but I don't know if I'll have enough time to go through all those volumes in time, not while juggling my own duties to the temple."
"Well, you don't have to do it on your own." Tat replied. "You could get Klonoa and his friends to do most of the heavy lifting, then have them come running when they find what we're wanting."
"True…" Lolo scratched her chin, wanting to go through with any help she could in support of her friends. "I could ask them, I guess…"
As it turned out, Klonoa had heard of the commotion at the temple, and also wanted to help out however he could, jumping at the chance to do so. He quickly set about getting together a few of his friends he knew would be willing to lend a hand, like Popka, who wanted to help Lolo's mentor for all she had done for his friend, and Chipple, who basically did anything that he had the vaguest notion that Klonoa wanted.
Heading to the library and checking out the boatload of religious texts they needed (using the High Priestess' influence to grease the wheels), they carted them off to somewhere they could convene and begin pouring over them, hoping they could find something that could save their friends' careers and relationship…
…
Leorina walked through the corridors of the temple. She was doing her best to complete her tasks regardless of the situation, but the whole thing was making her nervous and on edge. Quite a few of the priestesses had come over and offered their support, but there were others that seemed more on the fence. Whether they truly hated her or were just being swept up by Juli's proselytising was unclear, but either way she didn't like the way some of them looked at her…
She knew what Juli was going round doing. Heading out to town to preach to the choir and gain support. Saying just the right things about endless torment and despair to frighten people into supporting her. And to make matters worse, Leorina had heard that she'd been strongarming priestesses who she knew she could manipulate with the fear of Claire's retribution to bring them over to her side.
Just a couple more things to do, then she could rush to her quarters and lie down… try and sleep off all of this and approach it with a clearer head in the morning-
"Well, well, look who it is."
Nuts. Of course, it was too good to be true, she thought as a familiar and very much not desired face walked up to her from around a corner, as if they'd been waiting to fun into her.
"What do you want, Juli? I'm kinda busy here."
"Oh, I think you'll be fine to make time, this does concern you after all." Juli said as she turned to corner, a couple of her closest followers (though they were more akin to cronies in function) hanging around nearby.
Leorina wanted to ignore her. To keep walking and not give her the time of day. But something made her feet stop in their tracks.
"Oh really?"
If Juli was trying to make nice, her face didn't show it; it was almost like it was permanently locked in an expression of self-satisfaction that made Leorina's blood boil.
"Well, you and the High Priestess seem to be under the impression that what I'm doing is in some way a personal attack, which simply is not true. I'm simply carrying out what I believe to be Claire's word. Nothing more."
Leorina scoffed. Not even her anxiety could hide her incredulity at that cock-and-bull statement. "Claire's word, huh? I find it hard to believe she would want to tear apart two people who are very much in love."
Juli shrugged, her smug expression only getting more insufferable. "Well, that's how it is sometimes. Claire works in ways we perhaps did not wish, but her word is law in these walls. The High Priestess should have no trouble understanding that if she's truly worthy of the title."
"Oh, come off it!" Leorina yelled, her voice raising as she tried to stand up to her tormentor. "Don't pretend you aren't vying for the High Priestess job! You'd be happy to have her gone so you can step up and take her place!"
For the first time a flicker of indignation crossed Juli's face, but it was quickly buried. "Do you really think that I need to use such tactics to gain that title? I could easily reach it on my own merits, with or without her being removed!"
"Is that so?!"
"Of course! And even without that, her actions are proof enough that she's undeserving. Allowing outsiders into these walls, taking in a known fugitive, and then getting all lovey-dovey with them! And all for someone who long ago rejected and insulted our ways! In what world should a woman like that lead Claire's will?!"
Leorina went quiet for a moment as something clicked in her mind. This wasn't just an underhanded power grab. It was something she'd long suspected, but now she was absolutely certain of it, and it made her stomach drop…
"This is all about me, isn't it?"
Juli raised an eyebrow. "Excuse me?"
"Don't deny it, it's true isn't it?!" Leorina cried, her words starting to stammer as emotion welled in her eyes. "You NEVER believed I belonged here, and now you're trying to take down Ōmiko for daring to let me back! Far as you're concerned, you just think I'm still an irredeemable criminal! Admit it!"
Juli's face didn't move as Leorina spoke, but then it changed subtly. It was hard to detect, but the smug aura had taken on a sharper tone. More malicious. Sadistic.
"Fine. You want honesty? Here it is, missy. You don't belong here. We offered you sanctuary long ago and you spat in our face. You led a lawless and godless life that struck fear in the hearts of many. And then you have the audacity to try and come back into the fold as if nothing has happened?"
Leorina took a step back when she realised Juli had started to advance on her. "I… I didn't just rejoin… I was invited…"
"Yes, by that bleeding heart fool we are forced to answer to every day." Juli continued, her words becoming more barbed the longer she went on. "She's a disgrace to the rank of High Priestess, and her greatest shame is not only allowing you to taint these walls with your presence, but to defile herself with you in her bedchamber! You, who would drag us down with you into corruption and darkness, who destroys everything it means to be a priestess."
Tears rolled down Leorina's face as she felt herself backed up into a wall. "That's… that's not true…"
"Oh, it is." Juli drawled as she got in Leorina's face. "And every priestess here knows it, even if they won't admit it. As long as you walk these walls, you shame us. And as long as you continue to forsake Claire's world with your presence, you bring us all down. So why don't you finally do something virtuous in your life, go to the top of the tallest cliff you can find, and—"
*POW!*
Juli's hateful rhetoric was cut short by a sudden hard and fast blow to the side of the head. Leorina was so stunned she didn't know what had just happened before Lolo suddenly rushed into her field of vision and landed another punch on Juli's nose before she got her bearings.
"THAT'S ENOUGH!" Lolo screamed; her face wracked with a rage that Leorina had never seen before. She got between her and Juli, as if acting as a shield. "GET AWAY FROM HER!"
Juli looked at them both with a mixture of anger and fear, her smug façade cracked and her nose bleeding heavily, before she finally cut her losses and took off running down the hall with a final dirty look at Leorina, her cronies following closely behind.
"AND DON'T GO NEAR HER AGAIN, IF YOU KNOW WHAT'S GOOD FOR YOU!" Lolo yelled after them, before turning to Leorina, who had started hyperventilating in shock.
"Oh gosh, Leo!" Lolo cried, her angry face turning worried as she rushed to her side and tried to hold her steady. "Do you want me to get the High Priestess?"
Leorina tried to respond, but no words came out. She could barely see from the tears blurring her vision, before finally she let out a defeated wail and collapsed to the floor, bawling loudly, Lolo trying to hold her close, not sure what to do but wanting to provide support for her friend.
A friend she knew had just as much a right to being a priestess as anyone…
…
Meanwhile, at Guntz's home, Klonoa and some of his friends were poring through Claire's religious texts dutifully. They weren't sure why they'd ended up at Guntz's house, but it was where they had ended up, and they'd managed to rope him into helping them read through, looking for the perfect passage to support their cause.
Guntz, Popka and Chipple were already lagging behind, tired and grumpy for all the reading and highlighting potential options. Klonoa, on the other hand, was still going strong, tearing through scroll after ancient book, looking for the right one. He wasn't about to give up, not if he could help it.
As they kept going, the door to the kitchen opened and a weary Janga walked into the room, wearing a dressing gown. He had been living with Guntz and the recently resurrected Batz for a little while now, and it had finally begun to reach the point where it felt normal, and he really felt like he belonged there again.
As he started to brew some coffee, he looked over at the pile of books on the table. "Studying for a test, are you now?"
Guntz looked up, tired out, having almost fallen asleep on the book he'd been looking through. Chipple had already done so and was loudly yawning. "W-*yawn*-we've been trying to find something in these books that can save the jobs of Leorina and the temple's High Priestess."
Janga raised an eyebrow. "Oh yeah? What's the problem?"
Popka piped up. "They said they can't have a relationship together. Something about Goddess Claire not letting priestesses love or something."
Janga's eyes widened, and he nodded solemnly. He didn't pretend to know exactly what they were going through, but it reminded him of his own relationship with Batz. There had been those in the bounty hunting scene, once upon a time, who had cried foul at them growing close after all. "Is there anything I can do to help?"
Klonoa brightened up at the offer. "You could lend us a hand! We're trying to find something in these books that proves that claim wrong. Like, Claire actually not minding it, I guess."
Janga smiled and set his coffee cup down, picking up a random book from the pile and flipping through it.
After a while, he spoke up. "Hey, I think I spotted something here. You reckon this might be any good?"
He bought the book down to show Klonoa what he had found, who almost jumped out of his seat at the sight.
"EUREKA! THAT'S IT!"
…
"In Claire's name, I will have her head for this!"
After a short time providing emotional support to a devastated Leorina, Lolo had managed to calm her down enough to bring her to the High Priestess' side to help her get back to a stable frame of mind. And if Lolo's anger had been high, it was little compared to how worked up the High Priestess had gotten when hearing what Juli had done now.
"First she shames her tail, then she tries to gain support to have us torn apart or else expelled, and now goading her into…" she covered how mouth, unable to finish her sentence. "She calls us a disgrace, but Goddess Claire would be ashamed to have someone like her speaking her words!"
"It's all my fault." Lolo said quietly, sitting while the High Priestess paced round the room, Leorina resting in her bedroom. "She'll surely use her bashed-up nose as further ammunition to shame you both. She could well be going round saying it was Leo who punched her."
The High Priestess took a breath, trying to calm herself down. "I would have preferred you not resort to violence… but given the circumstances, I can't find it in myself to blame you. People like her are just so…"
She looked out of the window, a grave expression on her face.
"This has gone far enough. I cannot permit this shaming and abuse to continue."
Lolo gulped. "W…what can we do? She's managed to whip up a lot of support, and there's increasing calls for you both to be expelled from the temple!"
The High Priestess looked over at her, a resigned expression now coming over her face. The fight she had wanted to give was waning. She walked over to the door leading to her bedroom, and peered in, looking upon Leorina's sleeping form. She mulled over how, by not properly accounting for people like Juli, she had unintentionally bought stress and harassment on those she cared for dearly.
Oh, how much she would give and sacrifice for them…
"Then perhaps that's how it has to be. Juli wants us gone so badly? Very well. She'll get what she wants, but I'm doing it on my own terms."
…
The High Priestess walked down the hall with Leorina, both of them dressed in their uniforms for what they felt could well be the last time.
Leorina was breathing heavily, still feeling emotional about everything she had gone through.
The High Priestess gently squeezed her hand to provide support. "Do not worry, Leo. Whatever happens, I'll be right there with you."
The halls were quiet, and mostly devoid of people, but that changed once they reached the main hall of the temple. A crowd of people had gathered there, mostly people who Juli had managed to get behind her, the young woman herself in front of them delivering one of her speeches. A wave of surprised gasps speckled through the crowd, which mostly remained quiet in anticipation of what was about to happen. Even so, though, some heckling could be heard through the noise. The High Priestess held Leorina's hand tighter upon hearing her begin to breathe harder in fear.
Juli turned to them, having been faced away with a book to punctuate her points during one of her sermons. Her face was bruised, and her nose covered by gauze from where Lolo had punched her. She looked surprised to see them, but quickly a look of triumph came over her.
"They've come to show their faces!" She said to the crowd, before walking over to them both, well prepared to enjoy what she was sure was about to happen. "What can we do for you both, then?"
The High Priestess shot her a dirty look that would have sent most people into a cold sweat, but it broke into a defeated expression as she knew the cards were not in her favour. She slowly removed her priestess hat, letting her turquoise hair fall free.
"Juli, we have heard your message loud and clear, and I've decided this cannot continue any longer."
Juli grinned, relishing the moment. "I couldn't agree more. How do you suppose we end this charade, hm?"
The High Priestess looked to Leorina at her side, who was quietly crying into her hand, and knew that she needed to take this step to save her from this abuse.
"It is with a heavy heart, but in my belief that it is the right thing for us both, that we—"
But before she could finish, the doors to the chamber suddenly burst open and Klonoa, Lolo and the others came running through yelling "STOP! HOLD EVERYTHING!"
Everyone in the room looked at them all, not having seen this coming at all. Even Juli looked caught off guard for once.
After catching his breath, Klonoa finally spoke to the crowd. "The evidence Juli is using to dethrone the High Priestess is completely wrong! Goddess Claire never wanted to stop priestesses from loving each other!"
Juli turned to him with a frown, incredulous that this child would attempt to burst in at her moment of truth. "I beg your pardon? I think you'll find the evidence I have put forward is solid!"
"No, it's not!" Klonoa said as he bought out a book and opened it up. "This is a copy of the ancient and obscure script On Claire's Reign, written at the same time Claire was laying out her plans and wishes for the world. It contains direct quotes from her declarations including this particular passage:"
He thumbed to a highlighted sentence and read aloud:
"A Priestess' love may be for any who loves them in return, whether that be their congregation, or their peers."
He addressed the crowd again, apparently tapping into a hidden talent of public speaking. "Does this not seem cut and dry in its intention? That priestesses were permitted to form relationships if their love was true?"
The crowd murmured between themselves, absorbing this new information and seeming more unsure about their convictions than they had been just a brief time before. Sensing danger, Juli decided to stage a defence against it. "That could mean anything; platonic affection, friendships, who knows?! And how do you explain this discrepancy against the evidence I have provided?"
"Because it was taken out of context!" Lolo piped up, waving a book in her hand, ready to finally stick it to her once and for all. "According to this same script, the quote you refer to was originally intended to refer to priestesses being coerced into committing crimes like thievery and murder, and the version you're using was taken from a religious text written several centuries later by another overzealous priestess who distorted its meaning to support her own false arguments!"
Klonoa took Lolo's words and ran with them. "This evidence is complete bogus and is nothing but an attempt to discredit the High Priestess and her loved one! All because that loved one happens to have been a Sky Pirate once before being redeemed!"
Lolo spoke quieter but delivered one final line that hung in the crowd. "Are you willing to potentially defy Claire's word just to do what you think is right?"
The crowd hummed with discontent; stern looks were cast onto Juli's form; she could feel that she was beginning to lose their support. In a last ditch effort, she did what she had done previously: appealing to their fear of damnation.
"LIES! IT'S ALL LIES!" she bellowed, causing everyone else in the room to go quiet. "LIES DESIGNED TO DEFILE THESE WALLS AND DISTORT OUR GODDESS' WORDS! THESE TWO HEATHENS HAVE CORRUPTED OUR WAY OF LIFE! THEY MUST BE EXPUNGED, OR YOU WILL ALL SUFFER IN THEIR PLACE-"
Her words slowly trailed off as an intangible energy suddenly began to creep up. The skies went dark, grey clouds sudden rolled into a previously sunny sky, and a bellowing female voice seemed to echo from the heavens.
"SHUT UP!"
A lightning bolt flew in from an open window and hit Juli directly, electrocuting her and causing her to fall in an unconscious charred heap before the clouds dissipated and the sunny day continued as if nothing had just happened.
There was a moment's silence, before all hell broke loose. Most of the crowd fled the hall in terror, unable to reconcile what they had just witnessed. A couple grabbed Juli's severely burned, but still alive, form and dragged her off to get medical aid. The High Priestess remained silent for a moment, before dropping to her knees and offering a silent cowed prayer, Leorina and Lolo quickly joining her.
Klonoa blinked in confusing for a moment, before tapping the High Priestess on the shoulder. "Um, miss High Priestess, um… what was that?"
The High Priestess remained in quiet prayer for a moment longer, before opening her eyes. "I believe it was a message from our Goddess Claire."
Klonoa's eyes widened as he looked up at the sky. "What… did it mean?"
For the first time, the High Priestess allowed herself to smile. It was an exhausted smile, but a genuine one. "I think she was definitively condemning Juli's words once and for all."
…
The divine intervention, for lack of a better term, by Goddess Claire had well and truly shattered Juli's support she had cultivated. The message of it had been clear, and so the matter was quickly dropped, those who had disapproved of Leorina and the High Priestess' affair quickly changed her tune, and they were allowed to both remain in the temple and keep their relationship intact.
Juli suffered rather severe burns from being hit by the lightning bolt but was expected to make a full recovery. Now with her support gone and no longer in people's good graces, the High Priestess used the opportunity to finally strip her of her rank as priestess for all of her bad actions over the years that she had been forced to overlook due to her talent, not least her targeted abuse of Leorina. As much as Juli seemed to take it badly as she was forced to leave the temple, few of her peers were sad to see her go, least of all the High Priestess.
Even so, the High Priestess figured this likely wouldn't be the last she heard of her, but figured she'd have a lot of trouble gaining support from the masses after this.
Soon, life in the temple began to return to normal, or as normal as one could call it. The tension that had been shrouded over it since Juli had made her distaste of Leorina clear had finally dissipated, and a positive atmosphere was finally allowed to return.
One day, not long afterwards, Leorina was walking along carrying a bushel of apples she had picked, feeling rather good for once. A few priestesses smiled and waved as she passed by, and she did her best to return the favour.
As she continued walking, a priestess a couple of years younger than her suddenly came up to her, seeming shy but wanting to ask something.
"Hey, um, Leo?" she asked bashfully.
"Yeah?" Leorina replied.
"Um, well, some of my friends and I were thinking of visiting the La-Lakoosha beach later this week, and we were wondering if you'd like to come?"
Leorina's eyes widened at the offer, surprised anyone would think of her. "Why me?"
"Well, you seem nice!" the priestess said with a smile. "And we think your adventures as a sky pirate sound kind of cool! Is it true you once had to contend with an army of moos when trying to find treasure?"
Leorina chuckled as she went over the memory. One of her prouder treasure hunts. "I believe there were a lot of moos involved, yes."
"Sounds exciting!" the priestess said. "Maybe you could tell us more about it on the trip!"
Leorina thought for a moment longer, then shrugged. "Sure, it sounds like fun!"
"Great! I'll go tell them!" the priestess said happily before running off with a skip.
Leorina stood there for a moment, not quite believing it had happened, before continuing her walk, her posture a little more self-assured than before…
…
She knocked on the High Priestess' door and waited patiently, basket of apples in hand. When the door opened, she presented it to her with a smile.
"Oh, Leo, these look wonderful!" The High Priestess said as she looked them over. "Did you pick these for me?"
"Well, I was thinking of giving some to Lolo to bake summat with, since she'd been dying to, but I thought I'd give you first pick of the spoils!" Leorina replied, unable to hide her blush.
"Aw, how very thoughtful of you!" The High Priestess said as she took the basket. "Would you like to come in so we can sample them together?"
Leorina didn't hesitate to accept the offer. As soon as she was inside, the High Priestess set the apples down on a nearby table before turning around, pulling Leorina into a tight loving embrace, and leaning in for a kiss.
Leorina accepted it without hesitation, melting into her lover's touch all the while.
She had come out on top. The priestesses at the temple were finally beginning to accept her openly, she could continue her journey as a priestess herself, and best of all, she could continue to love the High Priestess as much as she wanted to.
It finally felt like, after far longer than she could recall, that things were finally, finally going right for her...
…
Up on high in the mythical Moon Temple, the Moon Queen looked incredulously at Goddess Claire, who was lounging in her throne with a kiseru pipe in hand, looking down at the world with an amused smile.
"I thought you said you were done with smiting people millennia ago!" The Moon Queen said with a huff. "It's a bad influence on my son Huepow!"
Claire snorted with a grin, rolling her eyes.
"Hey, ain't no way I'm gonna let someone come in and ruin my favourite ship!"