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Alessia didn’t really get to talk to her mother the next day either.

Or the one after that, for that matter.

Her father’s house had a single floor and a single small tower. It was expansive enough to house their servants, who could be identified by wearing priestly colors on their tunics, and big storage rooms just for themselves. It was big enough to house guest rooms, too, and the servants numerous enough to serve them as well. It had red tiles for a roof and white painted clay bricks for walls.

As befit the house of a Priest, the frescos on the walls were of devotion and images of prayers, easily indicating the status of the people who lived inside.

The plot of land on where it was, was spacious enough to have a small garden in it. One where they grew some of the herbs they used to cook.

…And some others that compromised a few of the secret ingredients needed to properly garnish sacrifices.

And all this, when they were in the middle of the Tritos.

As the temples were in the middle of the city, so too did the Anax of Tritos have to be. Space came at a premium when agora hugged shops and homes, but some always stood above others. Just like the gods sat astride the world, so too did those who served them if only by a fraction.

It was what it was, and Alessia knew her place.

That is why she hated it.

In a room where she had lived all her life, because her father didn’t allow anyone in his room but his wife…or Chiara Alessia guessed, she waited patiently as if she were a 12 year old.

And not the grown woman about to take up shawl and Torch to pacify the gods.

“I would think your daughter would be here,” a voice said from the patio outside.

“She is still an apprentice,” her father, of course, replied.

“She’ll be a Torch Bearer by the end of the year,” another voice pointed out what Alessia had already surmised, “she would benefit from being exposed to what we do here.”

“Would you rather I give voice to my thoughts of your houses as well?” Alessia’s father grunted, “She is young, and she has the rest of her life before her to learn the ways of these meets. Now, turn your minds to the news my wife brought lest I cut this meet short.”

“You should forgive your father,” Frija, in the robes and chiton due of her rank as the wife of the Anax, apologised to Alessia, “He is a rather…procedure-minded man, as I am sure you know.”

“Elders Zina, Eulalia and the others all allowed me to be parts of the meets,” Alyssia breathed in hard to keep herself calm, “It’s what they do with their own apprentices, too, when they can benefit from being in them.”

It was the third day now, and Alyssia finally had her mother to herself.

The beautiful woman that made her heart beat with admiration and, Alessia would not deny it, attraction, had attention that was a sought-after commodity. The elder Citizens of the city had all come to welcome her after she had rested the first day.

Given she was still not a full woman, Alessia hadn’t even been able to be part of that.

“All men are blind to the growth of their children,” Frija tried to defend Alessia’s father.

“Mother, I-” Alessia struggled to explain herself.

It was noon now, and she had done her shares of the chores of the house. Something that once she was a Priestess she would technically no longer have to do, yes. But she wouldn’t put it over her father to not regard her “responsibilities as a daughter” over those she had as a servant of the gods.

“-I don’t mind that he is so inflexible with everything,” she tried to explain all the same, “‘Steadfast’ is what they call it, yes?”

“Yes?” Frija raised an eyebrow.

“Father doesn’t hold the same to himself,” Alessia replied shaking her head, “Not where it matters.”

Religious meets usually only had religious figures in them, and Frija was no priestess. Something close to it since, as Torch Captain she could keep the Torches in her ship lit, yes, but not the same. So it was all of Pasimani’s Temple Servants and Torch Bearers who had bothered to impose on Alessia’s home as guests were sitting around in the gardens outside with her father.

Talking about the happenings of Frija’s journey.

It left Frija all to herself, yet, ever since her father had sat around with the Elders an hour ago, all Alessia and her mother could talk about was about what was going on just outside their walls.

“Oh, honey,” her mother, the very beautiful older blonde that she was, enveloped Alessia in a hug, pressing Alessia’s shoulder into her breasts. This action was meant to be filial, to be maternal, yet it was impossible for Alessia to ignore the body of the woman who reached her heart, “Not even the gods are perfect. Is it really so strange that your father would have flaws as well?”

Alessia could have let it off at that. She could have allowed her mother to keep hugging her as she rocked her back and forth, like when she had been a kid.

But she couldn’t.

Her heart was already overflowing.

“Everyone falls short of their ideals,” Alessia hissed. She knew that even her emulation of her mother would fall short, but- “Not everyone does away with them.”

As a Priest, Alessia’s father was not allowed mistresses. All his carnal liaisons had to be sanctified before the gods, yet any more wives than he had would have made Frija’s family turn against him. Ergo, by his own standards, his need and ambition, he needed to be chaste all but one month out of the year.

Alessia had once respected that…

“He doesn’t deserve you,” Alessia, to her own surprise, allowed that thought to be voiced.

Her mother stopped hugging her.

“Oh, honey, “ Frija gave her a sad smile.

“Frija-” Alessia’s father pounded at the door, “The meet has questions. Please come and answer them.”

“We’ll talk later,” Frija promised and opened the door.

“We have a chair for you,” her father told her, not even giving Alessia a glance. So, as he made to close the door, Alessia found herself stopping it.

“What?” the Anax of Tritos glowered at the hand stopping the door.

“I am a senior apprentice,” Alessia, who cared less and less about that by the day, reminded him, “Surely there is something someone like me can do with everything that’s going on?”

“There is,” he snorted as he let go of the door and started walking outside, “Remain chaste, remain pure, take care of the house and don’t make us look bad.”

“Surely that’s easy enough even for someone like you?”

Alessia’s father didn’t see how much she glowered at him. Nor did he see Alessia leaving the house.

It was not worth it to stay there anymore.

She went out into Tritos.

The wedding of a rich Nori or Tristo family, or any other rich person in Pasimani for that matter, could and would entail a couple of day's worth of celebrating. With enough casks and clay pots full of wine, a party could stretch as long as larders held. Food could be preserved from day to day, servants could be made to go through shifts where they saw to every single thing, and patrons could enjoy it all without noticing that these things were happening.

A proper Priest could contribute to such a celebration by keeping it going even past its natural end through simple blessings. If the right gods listened, of course, and the right words said. Even better if there were sacrifices involved.

But the best was when the power invoked enjoyed the celebration for what it was.

The celebration of the Port Call of a Torch Ship did not require a Priest, if only because rich patrons all but fought over the chance to provide for such an event. But it wasn’t like any would turn down the chance to bless it either. If nothing else, Priests would already be under call to give Torch Ships proper maintenance.

And if all things failed, well, there were always the Torch Captains themselves.

Existences that invited admiration that they were, they had enough influence, enough connections, enough wealth, to throw month-long parties all on their own. If a port was not happy to see them, that could easily be changed. That could easily be turned around.

Now, Alessia’s mother acted demure when she was in Tritos. She acted like a proper quiet woman when her husband was around. But she was a Torch Captain all the same, and that mask could not diminish the signficance that she had in their city.

So the wine flowed.

And a feast extended day after day.

Company lined up to entertain and, in turn, be entertained by the company of the men and women who crewed Frija’s ships.

Alessia could do many things in this time to spite her father, if she dared. If she desired.

But she had ambitions, and these circumstances provided her an outlet to see them done.

People came to Tritos from all over the island ostensibly with gifts in hand, but they were really here to partake in food and drink. At any hour, the house of a major family might be crowded with people who came to cheer and talk up one of the crewmen. During the day, the plaza or the forum would make way for one such persona so that they could witness or officiate promises or trades.

During the night, the houses of rich men would fill with people coming to refill horns or bladders with wine.

The inns of the town would turn into drinking halls, and, like tonight, members of a crew would show up and almost make the whole building collapse.

The afternoon gave way to the start of the evening, and that meant that she was just in time to meet her mother’s crew before they would be somewhere difficult to find them.

It was as easy as asking for directions, as simple as seeing who was easiest to find.

A small part of her was slightly worried about come accross her ex-friend, but, in the spanse and revel of her city she need not have.

Alessia had not seen Chiara in the last three days and, quite frankly, she did not want to. As easy as it was to chalk that up to the going ons of the city, Chiara could have also sought her out. They had not met because she didn’t want to talk to Alessia either.

Contrary to what Alysaa expected, even that hurt. She already felt used and that just seem to reveal how brittle and weak their relationship had been.

But that was fine.

For once, Alessia’s future did not need her in it.

“Excuse me,” Alessia pushed her way through a thick crowd. Most of them were just there to drink, but plenty of them crowded a table with 4 of the crewmembers of the Marin. Despite that, only a few people sat with them. People that regularly traded places with others like them, ironically giving them space to enjoy themselves, “Please, out of the way.”

There was a carefully curated list of people that a Torchship crew had to meet upon landing, with everyone else being merely lucky enough to catch their eye. Eventually, the party would peter off and the crew would all split to spend time with either their family or patrons, but for now, they would all be here in Tritos. As Frija’s daughter, she would be able to meet them during the latter part but…

It would be useless if she couldn’t meet them on her own terms.

So she was here.

With jugs of wine in the tray of a hand.

And flowers on the other one.

Getting to talk to the crewmates of her mother shouldn’t be hard. But given she wanted something out of it, she had to play to her strengths.

“Attention!” she called, barely making the people next to her to give her a glance, “I have a drink for the gods!”

“And flowers for the dead!”

People parted for her.

“Someone help me if I am wrong, but this is drinking hall and not a temple, is it not?” Dares, a wrinkled old man who had crewed many a Torch Ships asked.

He’d never married, bought land or settled his accords on the island. It was said that he planned to die at sea and absolutely nothing he did indicated otherwise.

“Ah, but she is Priestess, so it might as well be!” Chares, a much younger man than him, noted and made the people around them laugh.

Even the girl in his lap.

“Well,” replied Dina, who was Chares’ wife. Unlike her husband, she was paying careful attention to the girl in her lap, pushing her hand through her hair, “As we are neither gods nor dead, either you are mistaken….or you are abusing your position to take a place at our table.”

“Neither,” said Birger, who had neither woman nor drink in his hands. No, what he had was a bronze dagger with which he was carving a length of wood, “She is Frija’s girl, so she is a mere apprentice.”

“That was, ah, Alessia, yes,” the old man snapped his fingers as his memory fought through the fog of his drink.

The married couple with women warming their laps gave her small smiles, but Alessia could see they were immediately on edge at that.

Hmmm.

“If you like, tonight I am none of those things,” Alessia said as she took a seat at their table, giving each of them a flower but keeping the drinks to themselves.

“A goddess, are you?” Dina couldn’t help but snort as she put one of the flowers in her ears.

“A blasphemer, more like,” her husband also relaxed as he took the flower.

“Hmmm, no,” Birger didn’t take one, “I would know what you want out of us.”

“And I-” Dares huffed into his cup, “am too old for games.”

“Maybe I merely wanted an excuse to abuse my power?” Alessia opined.

“Ah,” Dares laughed, “Little brazen for a future Torch Bearer, isn’t it?”

“And a tad too irrelevant,” Briger did not stop carving the piece of wood in his hand, “Were you hoping for niceties, little Alessia? Go to your mother. She’ll call if she cares to introduce us.”

“...did something happen to him?” Alessia asked the other three.

Alessia had been acquainted with Dares, Chares and Dina in passing from years before, but Briger was a Nori that had newly signed up last year. Certainly, he owed nothing to a stranger, but she was a bit more than just Frija’s daughter. Her Priesthood was all but set in stone, and snubbing one wasn’t what anyone in Tristo would normally do

“Ignore him,” Dina said before the man in question could, “He’s just unused to leaving all the burdens of the ship behind.”

“This, too, is a lesson, son,” the old man gestured at the Nori with a wine-filled mug, “Learn to let go.”

“Is that so?” Briger put the wooden figure in his hand down, “Take your own advice and drink on your own then.”

He got up from his chair and walked out of the inn.

Alessia looked at his back dumbfounded before her gaze went down to the figurine that he left behind.

“Looks familiar, doesn’t it?” Chares said. Alessia looked at him intensely at the same time as the other people in the table did, “The figurine, I mean.”

Alessia blinked and saw that the stick of wood had, at least, the same sort of nose that Alessia and her mother possessed.

“Is this…,” her head rose in time to see Dina giving her husband an ugly look, “Who I think it is?”

“It’s no one,” Dina informed her, “He won’t be going on the next trip either, so it doesn’t matter.”

That…was not the sort of information they usually talked about.

At least not with her.

“I know Torchships always shed some crew when they come home,” Alessia replied, “But then, the trip can be harsh, yes?”

“Hehehehahaha,” Dares, the old man, palmed his face and laughed, “That is one way of putting it.”

“Gods damn it all, Dares,” Dina growled and pushed the girl off her lap, “Shut your mouth.”

“Can’t you see it in her eyes, woman?” Dares pointed at Alessia, “She is here because she wants to join.”

“Is that not so, little Alessia?”

Alessia leaned back as the old man gave her a knowing smile, all the plans to get into their good graces before getting to that question burning into a fine smoke.

“Stop it you old shit,” Chare said, “You are-look at her, you are making her feel self-conscious!”

“So what?” Dares waved his mug about, spilling drink into the table and himself, “Were you two hoping that she would replace the girl that just left Dina’s lap, hmm?”

“Shut up,” Dina hissed.

And now there was that information that she had to deal with.

It made her look at them.

As in, really look.

Chares and Dina were of old Pasimani stock, tanned and black-haired. Chares was handsome enough, Alessia supposed, with his thin eyebrows and thick mustache. But the rower’s muscle that his bare arms showed did little to excite her as, well, Alessia did not think she’d mind a hypothetical night with but she just quite simply wasn’t into men.

Dina though.

Dina looked good.

She was 10 years older than Alessia, and 12 younger than Frija, but her thick eyebrows along with her small nose made her honey eyes look good on her face. Her lips were soft, her chin was sharp, and, sure, her tits were pretty average…but shit did they look perky.

She had the body Chiara would have if Chiara had ever done hard work. Because, yes, Dina had the sort of thin hourglass figure that made the hips that she had look bigger than they were. Unlike Alessia’s previous crush, Dina had the muscles of a rower going through her arms and thighs. And unlike Chares? They looked absolutely fantastic on her.

The image that old Dares brought to her head, of Alessia simply walking over and stuffing her wide ass on Dina’s lap…

“I do want to join the crew,” Alessia huffed as she shook her head.

Her mother wouldn’t be distracted by mere sex.

All of the three crew members there gave her a pitying look, “That’s…fine, really, but why?”

“I want to lead my own Torch Ship, someday,” Alessia seriously said. Like my mother, however, went unsaid.

“I mean,” Chares bit his lower lips, “It should be possible, at least, for the daughter of the Anax of Tritos. A new ship of proper size, with the right fate, properly sanctified, with a Torch Bearer consigning their life to the sea-”

“-her family could just buy her one,” Dina cut in before Chares could go through all the things needed to make a Torch Ship, though he brushed through the most important ones, “Who knows, maybe there is another patrician family in the mainland looking to sell one of theirs?”

That was how they had gotten all of their ships, after all. For all that Pasimani had cities to be proud of, none of them had the facilities to make the sort of ship worth turning into a Torch Ship.

“Well, what about mother’s ship?” Alessia asked.

Their mouths snapped shut at that.

“Briger is obviously leaving the crew-” Alessia began to explain, “Or, oh no, did you have too many crew members?”

“Something like that,” Chares weakly said.

“There is no need to lie to her, fool,” Dares growl, “No, we have the opposite problem really: we’ve been sailing with too few people for years already.”

“And this next trip?” he rhetorically said, “It’s going to be the worst yet.”

Some things you only really noticed when they were gone. Like the warm embrace of a parent, or the easy unnuanced life of a childhood. Like clean clothes, good sandals or clean water. Like a good tablet of wax, instead of clay, and a nice comfortable spot to pray.

Or like the noise, the revelry, of the rest of the inn.

Those too far in their cups still made their noises, but as to the rest?

Dares’ unintentional announcement made them all quiet.

“Fucking why, Dares?” Diana slapped a hand on her face.

“I am retiring,” Dares said as he looked at his cup.

And if talking about the state of the Marin had caused them all to go quiet, this? This caused an uproar!

“Why-”

“Are you really-”

“What will you-”

“Like that dumbass,” Dares said, gesturing at where Bilger had gone, “I think my time’s run out. I cannot bear to be in the Marin anymore and I am far too old to get on another ship.”

“So yes!” he called out before either Alessia or his crewmates could say anything, “I am going to find my land legs from today on!”

Then he gestured at the air with his hand and a full mug was placed in it.

“I am a randy old stud, so I am sure I can have half a dozen lads inheriting my things by the time I die!” he shouted.

And then, after only a second of pause, the whole inn rouse their voices to celebrate that!

“The old bull!” they called as Dares escaped into the embrace of the party, “Takes a calf and many a calf he makes!”

“The young bull!” they all sang, exiting the building as the party started to move elsewhere, “Horns the old bull and their hides we take!”

“The old bull-” the drunk continued to sing but Alessia was still staring at the last two members of the crew there with wide eyes.

“...you don’t want to join the Marin,” Chares advised, “Sometimes, it’s the distance that you have with your loved ones that allows you to love them.”

“What is that supposed to mean?” Alessia asked.

“It means that I should look for another girl to add to my lap,” Diana sighed as she looked around, “That is, if that fucker Dares didn’t pull them all with him.”

This whole conversation had taken a turn for the strange, but Alessia would not be denied what she came for, “Not that I don’t see that there are things brewing beneath the water, but will you do it?”

“Do what?” Chares asked.

“Will you speak for me when I try to join the crew?” Alessia asked. Out of four, two of them won’t matter. Out of twenty, eighteen will decide who joins the crew. If she could not convince Chares and Diana, she would need to convince sixteen of them, and that was already off to a bad start.

Chares and Diana looked at each other, besides slowly turning to Alessia.

“We’ll…we’ll see,” Chares carefully said in the way adult people had always stepped around her. And THAT was the thing that made her want to grind her teeth the most, “Where did the servers go though? A man’s got to eat. Excuse me.”

The man got up and a terrible idea that went against everything her father wanted occurred to Alessia.

One that made more sense the more she thought of it.

Because, really, how could she even get a spot in the crew if she couldn’t even convince them to treat her like an adult?

So Alessia got up as Chares disappeared outside.

She walked around the table.

And then, very deliberately, planted her ass in Diana’s lap.

She saw both of their mouths drop as Alessia’s big and wide ass spilled over Diana’s legs even as her hips made them want to tangle where Alessia’s crack was beneath her dress. She leaned bag into her mother’s crewmate, letting her back press against her breasts. All the while she took the opportunity to cross her legs and enjoy the feeling of having a woman beneath her.

“You said you needed a girl in your lap, didn’t you, Diana?” Alessia asked as cutely as she could, “Does this count?”

She felt hands twitch on her waist as they climbed down to grab her hips.

“I-um,” Diana cleared her throat as her fingers pressed against Alussa’s legs.

“I say that’s a favor, then,” Alessia said as she turned on her ass, rubbing against Diana’s legs, “A warm woman in your lap today and a warm word for me in the future, yes?.”

She thought she was doing fine, leading up to the fact that she was now a grown woman who could make her own mistakes. Privately, she had lines she would not cross, yes.

But feeling up against a woman she was attracted to wasn’t one of them.

Besides, once she was in the crew under the captainship of her mother she could show her worth in other ways.

She did raise her eyes when Diana’s hands started going for her crotch.

But, in the end-

Chares was returning from outside.

“We-I’ll manage,” Diana choked out as her hands pulled away, “Thhhanks for the offer.”

“Offer? I carried out my side of the bargain,” Alessia corrected, “I did sit in your lap after all.”

“Oh, you have no idea what I do with girls in my lap,” Diana whispered as Chares dragged a girl behind him.

Alessia laughed as she stood up from her, “Your hands gave me a pretty good idea.”

“Just…off” Diana pushed Alessia away before Chares could get there and gave them a look.

“Just think about it,” Alessia asked her and decided to leave.

As she did so, she saw a considering look on Chares’ face.

Had she been caught?

Well, even if she had, he didn’t seem angry.

The fact that Diana could have girls in her lap in front of her husband at all spoke leagues about their relationship, but then people did insane things during these celebrations. People who would be normally prim and proper.

“Did I even do anything?,” Alessia groaned as she walked out of the inn. She still had 16 more people to talk to before she decided to convince any of them; she didn’t need to take that risk right then and there.

But then, Captains like her mother needed to make split-second decisions like that during trips.

Execution, not decision, was often what mattered the most. If her father had taught her anything useful, at the very least, it was that.

No, it was no use regretting what she did. She’d just have to make the most of it.

But, as she exited the bar, she came face to face with someone she had not expected to meet.

Nor did she want to meet.

There, along with girls that were only friends to her and not Alessia, stood Chiara with a deep red face.

Why would she-

Wait, Alessia wanted to call out as she ran away.

But, no, she had made her decision and actions.

She would live with them.