The patch of space Elora is talking about isn't far from Space's temple.

"Did someone burn a manor to the ground or something?" I ask. The space looks about the right size for a manor to fit. Off to the sides of the plot, there are more manors. Maybe this giant space is to give them a bit of privacy? Seems like a bit of a waste.

"Maybe," Elora says. "Wouldn't surprise me, but it's a big open space. Is it big enough?"

"Yes," I say. "This will work. Nobody lives in the manors, right?"

"No, these are normally guest quarters. Lensa is the only guest, and she is staying closer to the castle right now."

"Perfect, just tell your mother not to have anyone come wandering out here without my permission. I'll have Nanoka watch over it. I just need blood, and everything will be ready to go quickly. The writing isn't too hard for me to handle." That's another goddess I need to visit. Fucking bitch should be getting big right about now.

She helped me with my revenge. I guess I can forgive her. I was the one to visit her. Kou would've stopped me from going, I think. I was in a pretty bad mood. I don't have to visit her; I can write it all just fine. Worst case, I just have Space's priestess help me. The letters don't seem too difficult.

"I've got your slaves coming by," Kou says. "How much blood do you need?"

"Who all is coming?" I ask.

"Your shadow, Talindra, and Ashryn," Kou says. "There are some extra prisoners we can add if you need."

"I can just heal those three till they have enough blood for me," I say. There's always something I'm forgetting. Blood should be the last thing I need. Would've been smart to prepare some of the blood the women... 'Space, did you save any of the blood spilled in your temple?'

'Alzi...'

'Please? Just some of it. I'm happy to spill my Shadow and Ashryn's blood as well.'

'Fine. Just please be careful. What you're doing is dangerous.'

'I will be. Thank you.'

'I love you.'

'Love you too.'

"Ok, found another source of blood as well," I say. "We'll start with Ashryn and my Shadow. I can have Talindra bleed some. She's had it too easy for a while. Then we can see what needs to happen."

It's going to be difficult drawing with their blood straight from their body. I'll need a bucket as well. Hopeful a priestess comes soon, and I can ask them how they normally set up the blood for the rituals outside. Maybe they draw in the dirt and then pour the blood into the trench? That would make sense, and it would go a lot faster and make it a lot easier to just spill the blood directly from the body.

"Hello, Queen Alzi," a High Priestess says. "Seems you need some help with a ritual?"

"If you could just give me some hints and some blood?" I ask.

"Space knows about it already. But if that is all you want, then I can help with that. Need to know how to draw the runes in the dirt?" the High Priestess asks.

"Yes."

"Very well, Queen Alzi," the High Priestess says. "The best is to have several women ready to pour the blood out at once. The one who knows the runes and layout will dig it into the earth, and then many will carefully pour the blood into the markings. If you need help, I promise our priestesses are good and careful at it. Depending on the soil and preparations you make, you can have anywhere from minutes to days before the blood soaks into the dirt too much to be used."

"I should just need a few hours," I say. "I think my wives can pour some blood out."

"How about this, Queen Alzi," the High Priestess says. "You draw out the ritual, and I'll prepare it for the pouring, so you have a few hours to fill it all in? Will that work? I already know the pattern you are going to draw, so it won't hurt anything for me to see it."

'Space, you promise you won't stop me?'

'I would've done something already if I didn't want you to go through with this. I don't blame you for doing this, and I will be watching over it so I can do my best to protect you. But it will be against other Goddesses. Justice, Sex, and if Nature shows up, they won't care about rules when their life is on the line. They'll happily kill you, and most of the other Goddesses won't do much about it. Are you prepared for that? This ritual should be safe for you, but there is a chance this could go wrong and end in a massacre.'

'I'm prepared. I trust her.'

'Then you can trust me to help you.'

"Fine, the temple can help," I say. "Sorry, I would appreciate your help. This is a bit stressful."

"The runes are difficult to write," the High Priestess says. "I would prefer you do it. This is the true ancient language, not the simpler version we normally work with. I have the tools we normally use here. I'll work with you as you write the ritual out. Together, I think we can have it put in the dirt today, and we can bleed the women you're bringing, and I'll see how much blood we need from our stocks. We have plenty, so tomorrow everything should be ready to go."

"Thank you."

"I'm happy to help. I work for your wife after all. How could I be a stranger?" the High Priestess says. "Here we go. The dirt looks soft. It'll be easy to write in. Just move the first inch or two of dirt to the side, and that will create the path for the blood to hold. Let's practice off to the side. It takes a little bit to get used to keeping the tool level."

"Ok," I say. Space is really a good wife. So much I didn't understand about this. I got so close, I just need help putting all the pieces together. That's a lot better than the previous ritual, where I didn't do anything but draw on some women and fuck them.

I did well with writing the runes into the brothel owners. I can draw in the dirt. I did plenty of that when I was a kid.

The tool looks like a small plow. "What do we do with the dirt it moves?" I ask.

"We just send it elsewhere. I'll handle that part," the High Priestess says. "Put one hand on the handle, which will set the height, and then wrap your arm and rest it against the top. The soil is soft, so we don't need to swing it around like a hoe. If we do run into harder ground, we can get a hoe out and have fun swinging that around. There you go, just like that. Your belly is actually helpful this time around. Alright, take slow steps back. Kou, if you could watch us so we don't have to worry about tripping."

"Of course," Kou says. "We can get Victoria out here. She'll be a lot better at catching you than me."

"She'll complain a lot," I say.

"Of course she will, My Queen," Kou says. "She'll get over it. Stacy told me that she's been a bit lazy and could use a good walk. I'll call her over as well. Can't let your wives sit inside too much."

"Then we should move quickly," I say.

"Don't worry, My Queen," Kou says. "Victoria just likes to complain. She doesn't actually care as much as she complains. She'll be happy. I'm sure she expected to be pregnant already. She's coming out to help now."

"I thought you were going to fix her language?"

"Queen Alzi, you need to focus on what you're doing," the High priestess says.

"I will help her learn, My Queen," Kou says. "I just need to get Stacy prepared for it."

Well, I had hope for her. Stacy can't do anything to convince Victoria to change. She's just along for the ride, hoping we don't decide to make her life hell.

"I think I'm ready," I say.

"Ok, just take it slow at the start. Curves are a lot harder than straight lines," the High Priestess says.

Oh, didn't think about that. Writing, you better come through for me.

...

"Shit, why is a pregnant woman playing in the dirt as fucking everybody else watches her!"

"Welcome, Victoria," I sigh. Writing out the ritual was surprisingly peaceful. I wonder why the ground is so soft here. This really is like using a massive pen to draw this out. Not that I've done all that much writing. I think I've used strange implements to write more than I've used the 'right' tools at this point.

"Shit, how did you know it was me?" Victoria chuckles. "What the fuck am I doing here?"

"Your job is to make sure I don't fall over, I believe," I say.

"Shit, can't the priestess fucking handle this shit? Why are you putting the damn ritual out?" Victoria asks. "You're fucking pregnant."

"I can draw the runes better," I say. I've made good progress, only having to redo a few of the runes. Little under halfway done. The hardest part is making sure my path doesn't force me to walk over my previous work. "Besides, they have done things. They put up the tarp to protect the runes and are watching over the three slaves."

"Oh fuck, did not need to see that," Victoria says. "How much fucking blood is this going to take?"

"A few bodies worth at least," I say. "Can you help me? Just follow me and make sure to catch me if I trip. My footing is pretty good, but rocks can pop out randomly."

"Fuck, I'll stare at your ass," Victoria says. "Still fucking crazy you're the one doing all this shit."

"Well, I am."

*** Malralloz ***

Alzi is rather quick at getting everything together. I thought she would take a bit more time getting the dust. Or at least have all the women set up before she gets the dust. She really did walk right into everything she needed.

The one issue is how the Goddesses seem to know about everything. Future wouldn't risk it. The fewer people who know what we're doing, the better for her. Alzi may have slipped up. The Goddesses just get too much access to her mind when they drag her up. She wants this to work too much to tell.

Of course, there is Kitsune. That tricky bitch. Someone said she was running around recently. I could see her messing with things she shouldn't.

Whatever, Space seems to be helping. I just have to be careful that they don't take my sister from me. I'm taking all the risk with Alzi. I should get the reward with Alzi.

Am I really going to get pregnant again? It's been so long. Will she like this old hag? Haha, what am I doing? Just sharpen my sword. She loves Sarania and Space. I'm not uglier than my own kid or a Goddess. Maybe if there were a goddess of beauty, I could live with that. I can't get cold feet after Alzi put all this work into this ritual. Justice and Sex have to die.

I just hope that Future doesn't see a way to kill me if only one of her sisters is born.