Sure, she's so grateful to trade being the captive of some soul-eating demons to being lost in the Wyld together with a different soul-eating demon.

Ahem.

Probably the sarcasm isn't befitting her station or something, but. This has been a crazy time.

"Do you think we're still in the West?" she asks instead, squinting at the glass their tiny jerryrigged sailboat seems to be sailing on. Which is, at least, less weird than the last thing they sailed over. Or the noodle storm.

...Probably best not to think about the noodle storm too much.

"We are, technically, still sailing. So the concept of water is still being gestured at. Which means we are not entirely beyond the Pole's influence. So. ...Maybe?"

"It's been getting colder, though..."

"Northwest still counts as west."

"Well, hopefully it counts as leaving."

"What, you have important business to get back to?"

"...My normal life. And my responsibilities."

"I think the Threshold won't mind waiting a little bit longer for whatever imperialist exploitation your responsibilities entail."

"That's not what I'm doing."

"Uh huh. What are you doing then, princess?"

"Judging disputes. Enforcing the law. Helping ensure stability."

"Making sure everyone's kneeling at the correct height to fasten the yoke around their necks."

She looks away, scowling. 

"You're not arguing~ because you know I'm right~!" she singsongs.

"Just keep telling yourself that."

"I will. Because it's true."

Humph.

"You're cute when you pout, you know."

- Eep.

Giggle.

"Should I not have said that out loud?"

She mumbles something indistinct. 

"What was that? I couldn't quite hear you?"

"You're a pest." That doesn't sound like what she was mumbling earlier.

"I think technically the word is Anathema now."

"The annoyingness feels more relevant, right now."

"Good to know." She grins and winks.

She rolls her eyes, and makes a rather obvious disgusted noise in case Azure Blossom happened to miss the eye roll. 

"Aww, what's the matter, princess?"

"You."

"Can you be more specific?"

This is the face of someone who'd really prefer not to. 

"It's going to be a long trip home, princess, and there's not exactly a brig on this boat I can toss you into."

"Not to mention how that'd waste the effort you spent freeing me."

"No, you'd be my prisoner instead of theirs. Not an insignificant difference, I assure you."

"How so?"

"Well for one thing... I'd eat you out, instead of just eating you."

She doesn't miss a beat with: "Well, I'd need proof that'd be a step up."

"Oh! You wound me, princess."

"But I can give you proof, if that's what you really want..."

"Buy me flowers, first."

"You like flowers? What's your favorite?"

"Try harder, sweetcheeks."

She taps her chin thoughtfully. "I don't believe I've heard of that variety..."

"You haven't heard everything, then?"

"I'm flattered you thought so highly of me, but alas, no."

"You need to step up your game, then."

"Nothing less than perfection for you, princess?"

"You know it."

"Some people might call that spoiled."

"More like exacting."

"Hmm, no, considering your background, I'm gonna stick with what I said."

"I," she says, "Demand discipline."

Snrk.

"That's adorable. You trying to be all stern."

Does Blossom happen to be in kicking range? 

It's a pretty small boat, so that depends on how much risk of tipping over Moriya is willing to countenance.

The glass sea looks pretty solid, so, yeah. 

Blossom wasn't expecting her to actually follow through, and Moriya connects solidly. "Wagh! Hey!"

She gets knocked over, and combined with Moriya's movements, that's enough to disrupt the fragile balance of their little boat and it tips over, spilling them out-

- And through the glass which shatters like the sound of bells, into a dark void swirling with stars and impossible colors - 

And into a dusty marketplace, tumbling into an alleyway between two buildings with sides of slightly rusted corrugated metal. 

What in the shit???

She tries to push Blossom off her from where they landed tangled. 

"I'm moving, princess, don't get your panties in a twist-"

This... doesn't feel like the Wyld anymore.

Not in the slightest! It doesn't look like the Wyld, either, except for the buildings being made out of a weird material - still, wavy metal is less weird than many of the things she's seen. 

"I don't think we're in the Wyld anymore."

"I don't recognize this..." It feels hot, though, hot and painfully arid.

"We should go find someone. See if we can figure out where we are." She pushes herself to her feet, then offers Moriya a hand up.

She takes it.

"I think I hear voices..." she says, gesturing to one end of the alleyway.

"That's a good start, then." She drags Moriya in that direction.

"Careful - "

"Aw, come on, princess. Live a little. It's gonna be fine."

"I'm going to haunt you if you get me killed in recklessness."

"Promise?" She grins back teasingly.

Then- out into the marketplace.

Marketplace: Is actually pretty crowded! All with people who sure seem to be normal humans, though their clothing is weird (heavily favoring shirt, denim or fake leather pants, denim or fake leather jacket; it's also oddly colorful when it isn't faded or dusty, with a large variety of cheap costume jewelry on display around people's necks and on their ears), and the marketplace is even weirder, with stalls of metal and plastic, hovering vehicles chugging along slowly through the crowds... And an anxious knot of people around a scene where three people in a dark uniform with darker spherical helmets are talking to probably-a-store-owner who's very, very upset right now, and cussing the uniformed people out. 

Huh. Blossom is probably going to stand out, with her iridescent hair and the white gold woven into it and her blue silk blouse and embroidered leggings.

Looks like a shakedown over there. She drifts in that direction. Well, probably a shakedown, those guards could be taking a statement or something following some kind of robbery- but she doubts it. Something tells her those guardsmen are foreign, and foreigners are never on the locals' side.

Well, the locals sure seem to think she's a foreigner, going by the stink eye a few give her. Also, this is apparently about taxes the shopowner owes and has been unable to pay, but thinks are ridiculous. 

Taxes are ridiculous. Thievery that pretends to be legitimate by just hiding the sword off in the distance with some other fellows who wear the same uniform. Blossom pushes through the crowd to confront the guards.

"What's going on here?"

One of them turns fully to face her, while the other guard splits her attention between the crowd and Blossom, and the third keeps his attention on the shopkeeper, albeit with a heightened awareness of Blossom. All three are holding dark metal cylinders, their hands on clear grips, their fingers near a weird metal bit. They aren't pointing the cylinders at anyone, but they're clearly at the ready. All of the guards also have batons and weird black boxes with little stick-up metal bits and other odd objects on their belts. And the dark uniforms possibly hide or include partly quilted armor? It's got some solid bits.

The one facing her says, his voice hard: "This doesn't concern you. Move along."

Flamepieces, maybe. Their backer much be rich. "Such a brazen attempt at daylight robbery should be concerning to everyone, I think." She lifts her chin and sets her weight just so. looming much more impressively than a moment ago. "I won't be moving along. Not until you do."

They stiffen, and the crowd starts to melt away like civilians not very enthusiastic about being near a fight where one side has flamepieces. One shoots the shopkeeper a nasty look. And: "This nonsense isn't something we have time for," their superior snaps. "We'll deal with you later." It seems addressed to both Blossom and the shopkeeper.

"Any time you're ready, bully boys," she says tauntingly.

The man who'd initially turned to face her seems somewhere between terrified and furious - but the lead guard snaps at him, "Fall in line," and marches off with both of the other guards trailing behind him, trying to make a show of not being actually intimidated. (It's not a very good show, to Blossom at least.)

"They're going to retaliate against that man the instant they think you've left," her companion says, softly and barely audibly, from where she's hovering behind Blossom. "You'll need a more permanent solution."

"Suppose we'd better follow them and track down their base. Drive the message home."

"You'll risk destabilizing things, especially if they're the local government and not the mob, and if you only use threats."

"It's kind of cute that you think I care about the stability of a government that acts like that."

"What do you think will happen if a power vacuum occurs?"

"The people who live here will have a fair chance to determine their own fate."

"There'll be violence," she warns. "Far more than you're seeing now."

"I'm a pirate, princess. I've seen violence. It's healthier than this shit."

"The only way you can think to solve 'this shit' is with violence? And here I thought you Anathema could charm a dragon out of its scales."

"When did I say that my only solution was violence?"

"Threats and intimidation are violence, thug. A sword hidden by silk is still a sword."

"And you're the one assuming that's what I'm going to keep doing."

"And what are you going to do?"

"Depends what their base looks like. Come on, before they get too far ahead."

She's following. Doesn't mean she isn't mouthing off, though. "'Mysterious' isn't a cute look on you."

"I'm glad to hear you're keeping track of my cuteness levels, princess."

"I track many things."

"How industrious of you."

"Something you should consider aspiring to, peacock."

"But then how would you distinguish yourself?"

"It's a Dynast's honor to lead her allies, no matter how temporary, to greater power."

Blossom snickers.

"Do they make you memorize that in your schools?"

"We had a discussion group."

"That must have been a riot."

"It occasionally grew heated," she acknowledges. Sometimes literally.

"Arguments about the relative size of your... family trees?"

"Not in that group - the Cloister didn't approve of that sort of talk in classrooms, and I was too busy to sit around gossiping outside of class."

"Holy shit, you were serious? You went to school and had actual indoctrination sessions?"

"Not indoctrination."

"'Dynasts are better, blah blah, climb to power on the backs of your underlings, blah blah blah'. That's indoctrination, princess."

"And not what the Cloister teaches."

"What is it that they do teach, then?"

"Wisdom," she begins, "And mastery of yourself. How to recognize what you believe, and what others want you to believe. The laws of the Realm and of the major Threshold states, and some examples of unusual systems we might encounter. How one crafts a law, how the political process works. Languages and cultures of Creation, and their current beliefs. History and natural science - more than is normal for a Dynast education. Oration. Literature, poetry, art."

"Wow," Blossom says. "That definitely explains some things about why you are the way you are."

"And what did you learn?"

"Swashbuckling, knavery. How to hoist a sail and pull an oar. How to tell an honest dockmaster from a bent one, and the best ways to charm the former into the latter. How to read the sea and clear a deck, discipline a sailor and commend a marine. And, lest we forget," she grins, "how to rescue a damsel in distress."

Small, reluctant smile. "We each learned skills useful for the lives we were leading, then."

"Funny how things work out sometimes."

"Though it remains to be seen which skills are most useful here."

"Well, if all else fails, I'm sure you can lull them into a stupor with a blisteringly dull recitation of exactly who fucked who going up the past seven hundred and sixty years of all the various side branches of your family tree."

"Tragically," she says, tone immensely dry, "I doubt I'd succeed. That wasn't my interest. Though I suppose you can list your pirate ancestors to the thirtieth generation, with how much you care about people's ancestries to the seeming exclusion of all else...?"

"Ha! No. Mother was born of the sea, and that's all she'll tell me."

"That's an impressive level of bastardry. Was your father a storm?"

"I would not put it past the woman."

"She normally has good taste?"

"Eccentric, shall we say."

"Like mother, like daughter?"

"Oh, she's much worse than I am. And I still have some soft, happy edges. Hers have all been scoured away."

"Try to hold onto those soft edges, then."

"You like a girl with a bit of padding to her?"

"I'm sometimes a silk and goose down kind of girl."

"Ooh, decadent."

"Except on special occasions."

"What do you prefer for those? Leather straps and metal chains?"

"With the right company."

"How interesting," she purrs. "You have hidden depths, princess."

"Surprised?"

"Pleasantly so."

She laughs. (It's the first time Blossom has gotten more than a reluctant smile out of her.)

It's a nice laugh. Blossom will definitely have to try for more.

Have they gotten close to anything like a base yet for the goons they were tailing?

Seems so! There's a big official building overlooking much of the city, and they go into a squat well defended building nearby it. This involves doors that open themselves. 

Fancy. Very fancy. This place... seems to have more technical know-how than most others she's been to.

"Looks like a barracks and town hall."

"...More complicated than that, I think..." she says, squinting at them. 

"What do your discerning bureaucratic eyes tell you?"

Squint... "This is a democracy, though perhaps in name only," she says, watching the people who ebb in and out. "That isn't a town hall - they might not have a physical version of that - nor a place of legislation. It's a bureaucratic center, perhaps a courthouse? And that's not a barracks - I'd guess a guardhouse for law enforcement, probably including a small jail for those waiting trial. But I don't think anyone is habitually sleeping there, and I don't think they consider it militarized nor exceptionally well defended, and it's a place normal civilians can enter..."

"You really know your stuff, princess."

"Surprised?"

"More wondering what someone of your obvious talent was doing out at the ass-end of nowhere to get snatched up by those fae."

She tries not to preen too visibly. She's really bad at hiding her reactions, though. "I've been told I'm indiscreet and need more experience."

"Their loss is my gain."

"You haven't recruited me yet, pirate."

"Yet," she smirks.

"I suggest trying much harder."

"Your invitation is noted."

Smirk.

"So, how hard are you going to try at changing this town?"

"Enough to glow, maybe. Haven't done that yet, I've heard it's supposed to be pretty fun."

She really shouldn't be smiling. But. She is. "I haven't seen that before."

"First time for everything, right?"

"I suppose so."

"So," Blossom says thoughtfully, tapping her lips. "If that place is courthouse, we could go inside and ask the person in charge to please stop prosecuting tax evasion."

"Something that might get the judge simply recalled and replaced..."

"It'd buy time, at least. If the administrators are rich enough or skimming enough, maybe they could make up the shortfall out of their own pockets."

"They won't," she says, "Especially if they're corrupt. They'll cling to every last grain of wealth."

"Well, yeah. But maybe all they need is incentive. Or... They call Luna's chosen the face-stealers, don't they?"

"...Yes," she says, like she doesn't like where this is going. 

"So, if they really don't want to cooperate... Then I take their authority and use it for myself."

"I'm just spitballing here. I'm open to suggestions, princess."

"What happens when you leave?"

"Maybe I can institute a weapons redistribution program before I go."

"You court worse chaos and destruction, with no guarantee this is the will of those affected by your choices."

"If you can perfectly mimic anyone - why not pick a successor? Why not work your way to the top, and declare the law is such, and establish an enduring system?"

"Because that sounds like it would take a long time and also boring."

"Then you shouldn't start endeavors you won't see through."

"Where's the fun in that?"

"The satisfaction of a job done well?"

"Ugh."

"Hey wait- you've got bureaucracy experience, I could make you my successor. Or just get you to design the enduring system or whatever."

"This is your idea. Your project. Not mine."

"So cold and compassionless, princess. You'll just have to suffer through my clumsy fumbles then."

"So you're unable to take advice into account, without someone else doing the work for you?"

"Able, but unwilling."

"Lazy, then?"

"Sounds about right."

"Not a particularly attractive trait."

"We all have some of those. I wouldn't want to lie and hide it from you, princess."

"Any other traits I should know about, then?"

"Dozens uncounted, at least. I am a complex being."

"I'll work hard to draw them out, then."

"A project to keep you entertained?"

"An enjoyable one."

"As long as you're having fun, I guess."

"It's not the most important thing in the world, but..."

"Don't discount it, princess. That's what makes life worth living."

"An interesting philosophy."

Wink. "I am all about interesting."

"I'm beginning to notice."

"Good."

"Then if you're really unwilling to step in and be sensible, I'm going to court a little chaos."

"And I'll be hanging back to say, 'I told you so.'"

"Enjoy the show."

Now, head up, shoulders back, and walk into the place like she owns it. Which she soon will.

She very easily sways nearly everyone she talks to to her side, and the holdouts can be convinced to not get in her way. She's glowing softly with Luna's argent light, and they're looking at her in fear and rapture and wonder. 

As it should be. Now, she has some opinions about how this town should be governed, in terms of laws and taxes and so forth...

Laws flow from her mouth to their hands almost as if by magic. 

Always a pleasure to work with an eager crew. She'll have this port shipshape in no time.

Almost eerie, how well it's going. 

Only natural, with how great she is. And Luna's gift, of course.

Still, she's not here to rule this town forever. After a short while, she'll start investigating ways to leave.

There's ships - flying ships, enormous things of metal and glass. This port doesn't get many, and they're leery of officials and leerier of changing laws, but there's enough turnover she can probably find something. 

She's never seen an airship, but these seem to be much more sophisticated. This place, wherever it actually is, really is astonishing.

Blossom doesn't want a ship that's too big- too many records. Nor too small to take passengers. Something reasonably sized, preferably on the greyer side of legal.

Those, at least, seem to be a dime a dozen...

Though the girl in a flowing, chaotic dress that seems to consist of multiple silk scarves sewn together isn't a dime a dozen. She has a hood on and a very volumnous scarf hiding her face, but she's also pretty clearly staring at Blossom and Moriya with her head tilted like a strange bird. 

Nice dress.

"Something you need?"

"Thanks," she says, brushing a hand over her skirt. "I made it." And: "You're looking for something, aren't you? For somewhere."

...She didn't say that out loud, did she?

"What makes you think that?"

"You're looking to leave. So you're looking for something."

"An astute observation."

"I'm an astute girl."

"Do you have a ship, astute girl?"

"One with a fair captain and space for more passengers, if they're paying."

"We've got two, and we can pay."

"We'll have to ask the Captain, but she'll say yes."

"You know that already?"

"I know her."

"Suppose you ought to introduce us, then."

Moriya nods, reservedly.

"Kay! The ship's this way..." And she leads the way to a very battered-looking ship, one clearly modeled after some kind of animal or another, though it's a rough sort of styling. 

What a piece of junk. Blossom of course knows better than to voice this thought aloud- the condition of the ship is either a bad sign (in poor repair) or a good one (function over form). And in either case, the captain is likely to be touchy about criticism.

"She's protected us through a lot," she says. "And she's a Firefly class ship - those're old enough that still being around means they were very well built."

"And, also, no one tries to steal her."

"-Okay, I know I didn't say anything that time."

Giggle! "Whoops! It's hard to tell."

"You're reading my mind?"

"You're very loud! Not like her. She's quiet." She nods to Moriya.

Who is staring at her intently.

"Seems like an unfair advantage."

"But you can do unfair things too, can't you?"

"Unfair is a word here meaning 'something I can't do'."

"The same observation applies."

"I can't read minds."

"You're not the only person in the 'Verse."

"But I'm the one that matters most to me, so that's where I judge fairness."

"So you don't think things can be unfair to others?"

"Sure, but they can do their own complaining about it."

"The things you can do are unfair to others. That's what words mean."

"Words will mean what I tell them to mean, if they know what's good for them."

Giggle! "Words might be stronger than you."

"Yeah, well, I'll deal with that when it comes up."

"Lots of stuff might be stronger than you. You've drawn attention."

"And whose mind did you pull that from?"

"It's a whisper in the void. No one I get close to."

"Oh, that's comforting."

"As comforting as the cold touch of outer space?"

"Yeah, that sounds about right."

She laughs. 

"So, introduce us to the captain?"

"Sure."

The Captain: is findable! And more than a little wary. "Where are you going?" is the first thing she asks.

"Away from here. Not too picky on the direction."

"Anyone after you?"

"Not yet. We are, shall we say, beating the rush."

"Who's likely to be after you?"

"Good question! Military types, at a guess. Representatives of the official larger governmental body, what's it called, the Alliance?"

"There's an extra charge for passengers who have Alliance bounties, arrest warrants, or general animosity, or who are targeted to be disappeared, or anything of that ilk."

"Of course, captain. A wise policy."

"Any other complications?"

"...How good's your drainage?"

"Good enough for what you're thinking of."

"River," she says, exasperated.

"No other complications, then."

"Fine."

"If anything you're not mentioning endangers this crew, if you're lucky I'll wait until the next port to drop you off."

"No, I gave you the big one."

"I think she likes you two," River stage whispers. "Normally she wouldn't mention the port option."

"Just as you predicted, right?"

"I'm usually right."

"Handy, that."

She sighs. "Are you going to want two cabins or one?"

"What do you think?" she asks Moriya.

"Two. We have the money."

"Spoilsport. Two, if you have them, please."

"We do, though one's small."

"That's fine, I'll take that one."

"Not going to demand the larger one?"

"I'm trying to get on your good side, princess."

"You'd need more than bribes."

"I'm working on it."

"Not very quickly."

"Are you implying I should hurry up?"

"You're the one who said it."

"That's a yes."

She smiles despite herself. 

And that's a victory.

"Permission to board, captain?"

Sigh. "Granted."

Smile! And on!

To their quarters first, or does Blossom want a tour? 

They don't have much in the way of luggage to drop off, so... tour?

Can River give the tour? 

...Sure, why not.

Should be fun.

She'll make sure of it!!!

What wonders await in this ship of stars?

A small mess hall! An open area/ landing bay! A storage area! A medbay! Two shuttles! Rules about no open flames on board!

...Not much, really. It's a small ship.

All enclosed, too. Not having a top deck really makes a difference.

"That's something you're used to?"

"My experience is with ships of the ocean. Sailing ships."

"Those are pretty much just a thing for rich people being weird."

"That's a shame. I'll have to look into becoming rich."

Giggle! "That's hard to do. And transporting your ship between planets would mean you'd have to be even richer."

"Every girl needs a hobby, right?"

"I suppose."

"Don't you have one?"

"Just a few."

"Anything juicy?"

"Depends on your definition."

"Can't you just pluck the definition I'm thinking of out of my mind?"

"Well now you're thinking more about juicy things."

"Natural instinct, sorry."

"The intended effect, more like."

"Could be!"

She giggles. 

Making a pretty girl laugh is a reward of its own.

Wink.

"What do you do for fun around here?"

"Play card or board games. Tell stories. Engage in personal hobbies."

"Mostly group activities, then."

"Good number of those."

"Are passengers permitted to participate?"

"In some."

"I guess that's better than none."

"If we're in the mess hall, you're good."

"Noted."

"You'll need invites most other places."

"Like private cabins?"

"Pretty much."

"Good to know."

What else do they want to see right now? Not that there's much...

Seems like they've covered all the public locations.

She'll show them their rooms next, then. 

Hopefully they're cozy enough to satisfy Moriya's discerning tastes.

She's dealt with worse. 

Glowing praise from the princess.

"She's not really a princess."

"She's pretty close."

"Maybe where you're from."

"Plus she made interesting expressions when I started calling her princess, so I didn't stop."

"The best reason."

She rolls her eyes. 

"See," Blossom says to Moriya, "she agrees with me that's a good reason to do it."

"You're ridiculous."

"Why, thank you!" she grins.

Ugh.

"Don't be so dour all the time, princess. We're about to go sailing in the stars! And we're even getting out of town before trouble catches up."

"Trouble moves faster than light."

"Does that mean it's already here?"

"So does the ship."

"Good to know."

"Though some physicists might disagree on the technicalities."

"And until I learn enough physics to argue with them, they're free to do so."

"It's a fascinating subject."

"Do you know a lot about it?"

"I'm not a specialist - but I know a lot."

"Maybe you could give us lessons some time."

"That'd be fun!"

"We've been just sort of picking things up piecemeal as we go."

"A single curriculum will help straighten things out."

"Yes, sensei."

Giggles!

Blossom grins back at her.

And an older man in a cassock pokes his head in. "Ah, excuse me, ladies..."

" - I gotta go," River says to Blossom and Moriya. "Are you guys good to settle in?"

"I think we can handle it."

"See you around, then."

"They seem pleasant," Book says as they leave.

Small considering nod. "They're out of this 'Verse."

"...Interesting turn of phrase."

Giggle! "Don't they look otherworldly to you?"

"Not like the locals, to be sure."

"They're a lot less local than normal."

"Interesting..."

"They're not the only thing you came to ask me about, though."

"We've picked up another potential passenger. One who reminds me of old friends, in some respects." From back when he used to kill people for a living.

" - I can't hear anyone new."

"Vindicates my suspicions, I suppose."

"Some people are very quiet... Might hear better when I'm closer."