"Wha—"

Sable looks up, having clearly lost track of time. Several pages are now full of formulae and diagrams detailing how to create and attach a pair of tentacles to a girl about Anselma's size.

Her stomach growls a bit.

"Oh. Wow, it has been a while. Stew sounds great. Thank you, love."

"I'm so glad you're a person and there's someone on it when all the squishy humans are distracted."

She laughs. "It does come in rather handy, doesn't it. Honestly, it's nice to have two to take care of now."

"Having Anselma here is nice." She stands and stretches and twists. "Okay, off to the galley with us."

"So," she asks as they walk, "did you like this one better?"

"Yes! It was overall really good. The ending was disappointing, though."

"Oh? What would you change?"

"The ending was that they got really good at hiding. They shouldn't have to hide!"

"Oh you're so right! I hadn't event thought of that, probably let my suspension of disbelief run away with me a bit. Now I wanna see that version! How do you think they manage it?"

She tugs Anselma into a delighted hug.

"I don't know, I don't understand what they're hiding from. Like--King Arthur was more weirded out by the kissing other girls thing than the drinking blood thing? And they weren't hurting anyone, so why were people trying to hurt them..."

"Well, I think in Arthur's case specifically it might've been pretty close, but overall people have a history of not liking things that challenge their control, especially women. Girls who prefer girls are girls who might not want them, and might not want to raise their precious noble heirs, you see, and that threatens their need to continue their legacy and authority. And once you've been labeled 'evil', for whatever reason, it's very easy for people to decide that not hurting anyone is just a great big 'yet'."

"That doesn't--make more sense."

"Which part?"

"The--'evil' part."

"Ah. That particular bit of garbage. So certain groups — nobility and church leaders on the surface especially — have a tendency to use loudly professed moral divides as the foundation of their authority in their communities. 'We're virtuous because we do this and not that.' At its core it's tribalism again, the old human drive to know that your tribe is the best. Typically when this happens, community leaders declare that the things that keep the community going the same way it already is are the virtues, and that leads to everyone who isn't like that being seen as sinners. If the community is mostly full of the 'traditional family with a strong father', then lesbians, independent women, people who defy gender norms, and other such differences get treated as wrong."

She sighs. "And then the rest of it follows from the human tendency to generalize from categorization. This person did something 'bad'? Once you believe that, it's easier to believe other 'bad' things about them, and harder to believe 'good' things."

"I don't have any idea how to fix that."

Sable shakes her head. "Honestly, same. Only way I know is slowly teaching people to think more carefully."

"That's also why we live out here on the Zee: anyone who has a problem with us can simply be left behind at the port and not met with the next time we dock there."

"If I were rewriting the ending I would just have them beat up everyone who tried to make their obnoxiousness the protagonists' problem."

She laughs brightly and nods. "That would be more satisfying. Branch out into some more combat magic, fortify the castle to hell and back, unapologetically declare to the world that they're here, and they're sharing their scientific and magical research, and anyone who doesn't like the family they've made — whether because they're gay or because they're witches or because two of them are vampires — is welcome to refuse the benefits of all the medical research different members of the family keep getting interested in from time to time."

Then she grins and adds, "And anyone who tries to pick a fight with them over bigoted nonsense quickly finds that while Lilah's family doesn't start fights, they certainly finish them."

"Yeah!!!"

"And that," she adds, "is why Sable keeps investing in upgrading my guns and crafting better ammo for me."

And as she says that, they reach the galley to find rich, savory-smelling chicken stew simmering on the stove, and a pair of warm sourdough rolls to go alongside.

Mmmmmmmmmmmmm oh wow that smells amazing. 

"I was just about to ask how well fortified you were."

"Very," she says as she ladles out two bowls full of steaming stew, handing one to each girl along with a roll and a spoon. "Quality materials are a big part of what took Sable so long to save up to build me. She used the best steel she could get her hands on to armor my hull."