She works. She's off her game today, but Tap Inner Beauty helps. It's not going to be enough money to pay rent, but what else can she do?

At the end of the work day, there's someone to see her. 

She recognizes this woman. She was at the whipping yesterday. She doesn't know her though.

"What can I do for you?"

"I thought what you did was very brave," she says. "And I heard that all your property was confiscated by the guards. I - you don't know me. I was the girlfriend of one of the working girls you saved. She left without telling me. But I heard, and..." 

She looks down at her hands. "What I mean to say is, if you need somewhere to stay while you earn a little more money, there's a spare room available for you. It's where my girlfriend used to stay when she was off work."

She doesn't know this woman. 

She's going to trust her anyway. 

"Thank you," she says. "I - I'll do my best not to cause trouble."

"You and I both know that's not going to hold for long. But I'll do what I can to help. It's what the Lady of Blackberries would want."

Oh. 

So this is what it's like to be saved. 

Thank you, Goddess. 

Honestly, thank her when she actually spends something. She didn't even have to nudge here.

"So what's your name?"

"Rose. Let's get going."

She goes. 

Rose's apartment is smaller than hers, and less well-maintained. But it's more than enough. There's furniture, even. 

She's going to be okay.

And in the background, the news spreads...

She notices the uptick in Caydenite clients almost immediately. Any adventurer who cares about slaves at all is going to want to sleep with the whore who's freed eight of them. She makes good money. Cayden's people are good customers, too. 

She doesn't go meet her worshippers again just yet, not with the guards still watching her. Rose does that for her. 

She loses her old apartment, but she doesn't need it. Rose is a decent enough roommate, and she's able to contribute to rent now. 

Every day, Rose comes back saying that a few more people have joined the congregation. 

And the word eventually filters back from Andoran that all her escapees are safe, thanks to the existing abolitionist organizations there.

Aya has a Cleric circle now, and she's shepherding the church in Andoran. Thanks to daily Remove Sicknesses, she's even starting to kick her drug habit. 

And eventually Pen comes back.

"I'm seeing a lot of interest in this new goddess of yours," he says. "I'd like to run an article on the tenets of her faith. Have you ever thought about setting down some of what you know?"

She hasn't really thought about it, no, but it would obviously advance the cause of her Lady. 

"That's actually a good idea. Let's see what I can set down."

"Where would you like to start?"

Where to start, indeed? 

"I believe that the Lady of the Blackberries is first and foremost a goddess of..." She searches for the words. "Pleasure, especially sexual pleasure. She values sexual variety, trust that's well-placed, sex being done in a safe and healthy way. She's sponsored the invention of multiple magical sex toys, encompassing ones that cause pain and pleasure both. She believes that everyone is entitled to pleasure and satisfaction in their lives, and that the art of indulging in good things is worthy."

She bites her lip. "I don't think she approves of addictions - Aya is being encouraged to kick her smoking habit - so not every kind of pleasure is good. I would say she values the kind of pleasure that's an artform. That inspires people to be creative and build on themselves. That makes people stronger, instead of weaker. I bet she approves of happy marriages. She might care about love."

Pen looks up from his notepad. "I can't see how she would not, if she's all about the kind of pleasure that builds people up and makes them stronger."

"Yes, it's obvious that she's a love goddess in retrospect. But she's not like Calistria or Shelyn, she's kind of a strange mixture of both. She cares about passion like Calistria, but also about commitment like Shelyn. She must have known that I would choose to free those women, so she intended that. She made it sexual for me, made the punishment more bearable by letting me see it in a way where it advanced my goals and was actually kind of hot. There's a way she makes sexuality grant strength and I don't quite have my finger on it. She likes... people in cornered situations, kind of like Milani or Cayden, except she likes it when people choose to be bound. You could say she's honorable, but not like Iomedae: she doesn't care if I'm evasive with a town guard, she sees the point in that. She likes it when people help those who need it."

"You seem very cheerful for someone who's been whipped and lost her apartment and most of her possessions. You consider that to be an acceptable price?"

"Yes, and I would gladly pay it again if I had the chance to."

"I probably won't publish that, it's best if the authorities aren't breathing down your neck. But it's worth considering that perhaps the Lady of the Blackberries intended that too."