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As much as people would wish it otherwise, all things ended. The same was true of bad times and, yes, parties.

The celebration of another successful voyage the Marin, Tritos’ most famous Torchship, had the merit of being celebrated for a whole month. But, despite being able to feed and wine a party for that long, not even Tritos could function with its people being wasted and rambunctious through that whole time.

Two weeks.

Two weeks was how long the Citizens of the Thing were willing to allow the people of Tritos to celebrate its greatest Captain and her crew.

At just one week into the whole party, though, things were beginning to petter out. Instead of taking to the streets, people were beginning to enjoy themselves in private abodes. Instead of stealing away to inns and taverns, private homes, even those of poor people, became the place to waste the city’s wine. Not only did the wealthy allow their alcohol to be pilfered this way, but they encouraged it as it allowed the city to start functioning again.

Alessia remembered her younger years, before she was picked up in apprenticeships and pilgrimages to all the temples in the isle. She remembered thinking she was smarter than she really was with Chiara only pushing her on more and more. She remember having other friends, once upon a time, that fell to the side as responsibility all too soon found them all, but it was with laughing children that she explored these celebrations. She couldn’t say that her first taste of strong alcohol was particularly pleasant, but she got to see the same things she now saw:

People drinking themselves mad, waking up with a hangover, bothering the City for flour and drink, and then absconding to their homes to repeat it all before the sun dipped.

There would be an extensive period of prayer and sacrifice following the party, to apologize for all the wrongs that were committed. But for now even as the party started slowing down, there was no need but to hold on to the last vestiges of it.

For all that it invited abandon, however, it wasn’t really something to be done alone. Maybe, if things had worked out, Alessia could have tried partaking in the party with her…prospective wife, but as it was? The Alissia of now, 19 years old and about to become a Priestess, did not see much point.

But that did not mean others didn’t.

“What do you mean you can’t find him?” Alessia frowned as she checked her third home.

“My apologies aristoria, we simply have not seen him since this morning,” the slave of a citizen house Alessia had been told was the place Elder Eulalia would be staying at said, clearly uncomfortable to bear her frustrations.

Finding and talking to Elder Zina had been incredibly easy, in comparison. While the party was wild and the only people who did not go out were the wealthy who wanted to keep a “dignified” image throughout the whole thing, it was easy to find who the Elders were visiting; there were only so many “principled” pricks that were in their own houses the host them.

But even just two days after she had talked to Elder Zina, the whole celebration had migrated indoors.

Not that she regretted talking to the Elder. One simple talk just wasn’t enough to do what she wanted it to do. Having the Elder rely solely on her word would be useless, so she had to get her in contact with a few people who would “illuminate” some things. Well, after making sure they were sober that was.

Now it was Elder Eulalia’s turn.

Or it would be, if only she could find the old miser!

But no, no, despite what circumstances might say, there weren’t an infinite amount of places for the Elder to visit. Just about a dozen or so. Someone as old as he couldn’t really visit too many places, after all.

So Alessia took a deep breath.

“Do you know where he might be?” she asked the servant.

“I..do not,” the slave bowed, “This slave is not told the going ons of the guests.”

“Of course you don’t,” Alessia huffed. Well, she only needed to visit every single place the Elder could be.

As daunting as the prospect seemed, it wasn’t actually impossible. Alessia knew Tritos, she knew the roads and the ways the Elder could go through. She could come up with a travel plan that made it unlikely for the Elder to slip out of her net.

It would take the whole day for certain if she did, but it would make sure she found him. That made it worth doing.

“Well, if the master or mistress of the house asks, tell them I left,” Alessia waved the slave off and made to exit. It was better to get started right now, after all.

“Um,” the slave piped up, making Alessia pause, “If it matters, Miss, the Elder headed East? I know that much.”

Alessia tipped her chin.

“Giving it thought? It just might.”

Alessia had to modify her net to accommodate starting her search eastward first. Nothing too complicated, but it would probably take her an extra hour or two in the worst case.

No matter, some direction was better than no direction.

She went to the house of a rich man first, who had his own private pier with his own private Bireme. If he actually used it for anything, he might have been known as a trader or raider, but he did nothing with it. The ship sat languid on the shore, its eyes looking into the sea with nothing to do.

Alessia could relate.

The next house, that of a well-to-do Citizen who did not have the wealth to have servants or slaves do everything for him, was far more humble in comparison. A single house that contained various generations of family, the future of Tritos seeming to spill from its walls. Seeing big families like that always left a bitter taste in her mouth, because realistically speaking there should be nothing she should be envious of. But she couldn’t help but feel like she felt.

The Elder wasn’t there, anyway.

There was a small shrine nearby, that had long stood unused after the Temples had been expanded. It was before her time, but a lot of the Elders liked to visit such places and perform a few rites. Whether it was for nostalgia or because there was a tangible benefit from the gods Alessia did not know. But she figured it couldn’t hurt either.

But alas, the Elder wasn’t there.

An inn by the side of the road as one got close to the coast wasn’t where one would normally find an Elder. But in times of celebrations, the owners could invite one into the privacy of whatever homes they had connected to it.

The smell of alcohol and vomit convinced Alessia that Elder Eulasia, however, would not be there and so on she went.

A few houses, a few homes. A few establishments, even one tomb. The Elder was in none of the places in the Eastern part of Tritos and Alessia grimly readied herself to searching the whole day.

Or night, as the sun was starting to dip as the quickest road to the center of Tritos took her near the shore first.

And it was here, as Alessia passed a cliff overlooking the ocean, that she spotted familiar robes. The arrangements of colors she saw were ones that no one this side of Pasimani would have worn.

“Gods be praised,” she muttered under her breath when she got up close and confirmed that, yes, it indeed was the man she was looking for.

“Indeed,” Elder Eulalia replied, surprising Alessia with his keen hearing, “the gods should indeed be praised. If for no other reason than providing us this lovely view, yes?”

The old man was pointing out at the sea, where the horizons made sky and water meet. The Sun was not yet blinding from this angle, but red stripes were starting to rush across choppy water and cool air was bringing briney smells to their noses.

“I guess you are right, Elder,” Alessia, for a moment, stood transfixed.

It really was a lovely view. But she shook her head.

There were things to do, “Do you mind if we have a talk, Elder?”

“My ear is yours any time, Alessia,” the old man padded the ground next to himself, “Though I can’t promise much would come from it; this conflict that you have with your father isn’t really one I should get involved with.”

“...did you speak with Elder Zina?” Alessia suspiciously asked.

“So what if I did?” the old man chuckled, “She said you’d be looking for me, and now here you are.”

“Well, you certainly didn’t make it easy,” Alessia huffed as she sat next to him.

“I knew you’d find me eventually,” the old man retorted, “You don’t give up easily, after all.”

“Now, why should I intercede in your father’s business?”

“Elder,” Alissia’s hands ticked against her own thigh, “I believe that’s the wrong question.”

“Well, little Alessia, what is the right question?” Eulalia humored her with a snort.

“Can you afford not to?” Alessia was more than happy to supply.

The Elder was silent for a moment.

“...given Zina is willing to act, probably not,” the old man sighed but put up a hand to keep Alessia from getting too happy, “Before you begin, however, allow me to say my piece.”

“Um, by all means, Elder,” Alessia, who didn’t have a way to deny him, invited him with her palm.

“Do you realize what you are doing?” the Elder asked.

“I am aware of the ramifications of my actions.” Alessia's jaw clicked shut.

“Oh, then do you DO know you are stabbing your father in the back?” Eulalia asked.

Alessia’s mouth opened.

And then shut.

“I have no idea what you are talking about, Elder,” Alessia hissed between her teeth, “If I am at all transgressing, it is because I am picking the gods over even my own kin.”

How could he know, really? How could he really know about her father taking the woman she planned on marrying and making a mockery of her mother while he was at it? How could he know of the constant public humiliations, the constant unmeetable expectations and the failure to live up to them himself?

Unlike the public condemnation she thought about earlier, It’s not like this was going to destroy him either.

No, her father might stop being either the High Priest or the Anax, but he would certainly keep one of those positions. What this was about was humbling him.

“Well, you certainly have the ‘hiding behind good pretensions’ part of our calling alright,” Eulalia sighed.

Before Alessia could say anything, he waved her down, “Listen, I do not bring your motivations up because I want to quarrel with you. I bring it up because I am not altogether sure you know exactly what is going to come from this.”

“For example, do you know what it means to make an enemy out of your own father? He won’t be able to keep you from picking up a Torch when we anoint you, but I am wondering if you even want to become a priestess.” the old man said.

She didn’t.

“Well, that’s just the thing, Elder,” she said, “If anything is to come out of this, I think it prudent to leave my name out of it. After all, everyone might think this is just an unmarried daughter using the clergy to settle a childish grudge.”

Elder Eulalia gave her a flat look, “Right.”

“So, do you want me to tell you what is going on?” she asked.

“Zina already told me a bit about it,” Eulalia grumbled, “But I have questions, so by all means, start.”

—----------------------

The window of opportunity to talk to the Crewmembers of the Marin was quickly running out as, to her surprise, more than a few had announced their retirement. In retrospect, it made sense as her mother had been sailing before Alessia even learned to talk. A lot of people like Dares had even been with her for most of that, so it was just really bad luck that it was happening right now.

There were certain advantages to that because it decreased the number of people she had to convince, but all the same, it increased the number of people she had to compete with. Determined as she was, her circumstance of birth worked against her in this instance.

So far she had 3 people she was sure she could count on, but finding still relevant crewmembers was proving to be harder than she expected. It was a matter compounded with her business with the Elders also vying for her time. There were 3 weeks left before the Marin sailed, and she needed to have everything ready when that happened.

Technically, she could just wait for next year to set sail. But taking up a Torch as a Priestess also laid certain burdens on her that, once picked up, could not easily be laid down. This ambition of hers might just be two weeks old, but her only chance of seeing it fulfilled might lie in achieving it this exact month.

With time starting to get short, that also meant she couldn’t be happy talking to just any member of the Marin now. Alessia actually needed to prioritize and aim for those she knew for certain were going to be leaving in the next voyage…and weren’t going to give her the runaround. It would be best if she talked to everyone but…

Well, it was what it was.

Unfortunately, that meant Sabina rose like foam to the top of her list.

As Alessia ventured to the South of Tritos, she began entering the sort of forums that traded in things too big to show in the normal markets. Down here, where leather workers lived and plied their trade, where the laundry businesswomen passed clothing through huge pots of urine and then water, where even fish sauce was made, was where the flesh markets laid.

Pungent smells weren’t very worrisome for cattle and goats, after all.

And what slaves thought of it was fairly irrelevant.

Sabina the Trader, Sabina the Anilan, Sabina the Slaver. There were many reasons why this woman was part of the crew, not least that a liaison with a person who hailed from Anila allowed the Marin to trade fairly with the Mainland. The people of the Old Lords might expect fair trade from their ships at Palemani ports, but the reverse was not necessarily true.

With Torchships, it wasn’t something that really mattered as the world was big, and trade was endemic everywhere. But since just skipping Anila wasn’t exactly a good idea either, having someone like Sabina was practically a blessing.

And yet, the most common out of all her monikers was The Slaver. It didn’t particularly endanger affection for her in Tritos since anyone she bought would never see their home isle again. However, Alessia was ready to admit the people willing to sell Persimoni slaves out of the isle were just as guilty as her. But, personally? Alessia had never talked to the woman and never not felt like Alessia was the butt of a joke.

Sabina was a woman of average size, being a 5 feet and 4 inches. While her eyes were dark, her nose was aquiline, the only woman Alessia had ever seen with such. Unlike every single other member of the crew, she did not have the musculature of a combatant or an oarswoman. But she was still slim and her breasts were VERY generous. Her ass and thighs were fine, but her center of gravity was evidently very high in her body.

It was honestly a little bit distracting.

She was also 29 and unmarried as far as Alessia knew.

Regardless, it would be impossible for her to stay in Parsimoni and her voice tended to have a lot of weight on the ship, given her position of Purser in the ship. Those two things were worth more than any other crew member had going for them.

Finding her wasn’t hard either, as she didn’t spend more than a few days on the celebrations and preferred to keep track of the things she could buy.

“Let me let you know-” was the first thing the woman from Anila told her as Alessia climbed the stairs to the roof of a building, “-that I am rather surprised that the daughter of our pure and holy Captain is seeking me out.”

That’s how things always went with her, with the woman seeming to make digs here and there that were never insulting enough to bring up. Alessia, however, wasn’t even bothered; yes, the whole city respected and revered her mother to, perhaps, an unrealistic degree. What of it?

And yet…perhaps Alessia had something to gain by playing into it anyway.

“Why the surprise?” Alessia asked, “It’s not like your existence is completely without merit.”

“Hah!” Sabina was delighted, waving Alessia towards her perch, “Is anyone’s? Though perhaps with that realization comes an appreciation for the unfortunate.”

“Tell me, which of them looks best to you?”

Below the building they were in, men and women in shackles were brought into a small field. The servants of rich people sat on chairs outside, looking at the slaves being brought out. Patriarchs and matriarchs not affluent enough to have servants that could be trusted to buy slaves for them also pushed shoulders with them. The owners of the slaves did their best to entertain them and, yet, Sabina was up here by herself instead of down there with them.

Curious.

“None,” Alessia replied when Sabina gestured at them again.

“None?” she asked.

“What makes anything ‘good’ depends on what use you need for it,” Alessia said, “And I have no need for slaves.”

Paid servants, like paid oarsmen, made for better workers than any slave ever could.

“Nonsense, everyone could always use a slave or two,” Sabina waved the notion away.

“Surely the Marin doesn’t use slaves,” Alessia sniffed, barely managing to keep herself from leering.

“Don’t dismiss it, girl,” Sabina replied, “The right slave in the right port is almost as valuable as bronze. That said, if slaves don’t tickle your fancy I can’t imagine why you would want to talk to me.”

“Is liking slaves the only reason why I would talk to you?” Alessia shot back.

“I don’t know,” she admitted, “But then, what else could I possibly have in common with the bearable folk of this island?”

Alessia took a deep breath, “If, and when, I try to join the Marin I want you to voice your support.”

“...huh,” Sabina replied after a moment, her fingers tapping her chin, “I don’t think that would be wise, especially with a mother like yours.”

“What about my mother?” Alessia frowned.

“If you ever become a crewmate, you’ll find that your mother has different priorities when she is on land than she is at sea,” Sabina laughed, “But hah, who am I to say no?”

“You’ll…do it?” Alessia hesitated to ask.

“Of course I will, girl,” Sabina chuckled, “For the right price, of course.”

“You want gold?” Alessia frowned again as she thought about the assets she could get a hand on. As it was, all the things that were hers were really belonged to her father, but perhaps she could ask her aunt for a loan-

“From anyone else? Maybe,” Sabina interrupted her, “But from you? Heh. I’ll be frank, Alessia.”

“I want your virginity.”

Alessia didn’t gasp but she did take a step back, “What?”

“Many things can be bought with gold, but not everything can,” Sabina shamelessly looked her up and down, “Taking the purity of my Captain’s daughter? That’s not something I could ever buy.”

“I-I’ll am going to be a Priestess!” Alessia croaked.

“I can take responsibility if purity matters that much,” Sabina shrugged as if it didn’t matter, “That way, if you fail to get into the crew, I can marry you and save your dignity when I make you one of my spouses.”

“Y-you are married?” Alessia gasped.

“I have husband and wife in almost every regular port that we have,” the Anilan licked her lips, “It lets me be well satiated no matter where we go. Well, except here, of course.”

“But you can fix that, of course…or be my little wifey at sea. I am happy with either thought.”

“Are you insane?” Alessia seriously asked.

“I believe that is up to you, isn’t it?” Sabina pointed out, “But sure, it can be just your virginity you give me. Nothing need come from it.”

“At the very least, however, that is the price for having the Purser of the Marin speaking on your behalf.”

Alessia wasn’t exactly enamored with men and she could very well go her whole life without knowing one intimately. Should she find herself a woman after all, well, her vaginal virginity would kind of be redundant with her male appendage.

But this was still a question of her dignity and purity. It shocked her that it was one of her mother’s own crewmembers who was asking her for this as much as the request itself did. It, well, it should offend her.

But the situation made it feel as though the temperature had increased twofold and the look in the eyes of this awful woman made her skin tingle.

The request was disgusting.

But the notion of accepting it was not. The woman making the request was not.

But above all, was the dream that had taken root in her heart when her mother came back. Of being able to go out into the sea and work on her ship doing things only Alessia could. Learning the ropes from her mom so that she could become her.

What was stronger, her longing for that dream?

Or chastity?