After having been dropped off at their room, they took the opportunity to rest and relax for half a day, still a bit weary from the intense training. Battling someone so much more skilled than them for hours on end was rather different than handling a beast tide for a couple days, and they were much more mentally taxed than they otherwise would have been. It was nice to get a few hours' sleep and then lay around for a few hours without having to worry about anything pressing, even more training.

After that, it was a series of days of training and studying, nearly the full gamut of facilities in Zane's starship open to them, which he admitted to it being after much questioning. Beth still didn't exactly get how it was a starship with its layout, but that was beside the point. When she asked about one of the areas they weren't allowed, Zane explained it was part of the star drive and would tear them into microscopic pieces if they stepped one foot in the wrong place in that series of rooms, which really put a damper on their desire to explore the unknown parts of the ship. They stuck to the fairly ludicrous amount of space they were allowed in, spanning at least a few miles in several directions, and Beth was only unsure of the exact distances because she got bored of exploring after a certain point and stopped. The ship was full of wonders, but after a few dozen rooms where it would take more than two doctorates to understand half the stuff in them, her interest had cooled a bit.

The days turned into weeks, and Beth and Sera made sure they got all they could out of it, but then it was time for them to leave. Not because anything important came up, but because Beth owed them the vacation she had promised back before they did their last rebirths. She would have left their destination entirely up to Blood, as she had really pushed for it, but that would have meant just staying at home, wherever their home could even be considered these days. That left it to her and Sera to pick out a place to go, and Sera said she knew just the place, though Beth suspected she also knew where Sera would take them. Even Blood, upon realizing where it was they were headed, boasted no complaint, instead seeming to look forward to the 'rest' they were about to have.

"Could we invite people?" asked Blood after they were out of a particularly long teleport.

"Yes, Blood, you can message your girlfriend and see if she wants to come," Beth said.

"She's not my girlfriend," Blood growled.

"I'll bet she wants to come," Sera muttered under her breath at the same time.

"Sera," Beth grumbled quietly, elbowing the much taller girl.

"Heh, I bet it's true," Sera continued.

"You're so bad sometimes," Beth laughed, leading the way to the next teleporter.

They had to go through quite a few jumps to reach their destination, part of which could be explained by Zane. His starship was in a system or, well, an area of space he owned, a place rather far away from everything and everyone else. And a rather good thing, too, as his territory had multiple stars and singularities all hovering around close to each other, held there and prevented from wreaking havoc by his power and a series of formations, as well as some other complexities that had gone over Beth's head. Anyway, to get from where he was to where anybody else was took two very long teleports, and that just deposited them in the ass end of nowhere, so they had a long chain of teleports after that to get to their final goal. It really made Beth realize just how valuable Mortaine's timely intervention was, considering he saved them what amounted to hours of travel and somewhere over a platinum in fees.

All those teleports put them at a very familiar place, a place with a familiar bar, a bar that they had access to thanks to certain flower-shaped items they had in their possession. A bar that led to one final teleporter, one they could operate for free, and their destination at last. A place very familiar to the three of them, but especially so to Sera, who had spent just over four years working there.

They were at, of course, the Royal Rose, which they basically had lifetime passes to, though that certainly didn't mean free passes, and they emerged from the teleporter in the early evening. Walking into the lobby from there, the glistening tiles of the floor were polished to a fine sheen, glimmering in the light of a setting sun. There were a dozen small mana lamps scattered around the lobby just below the ceiling, tuned to give a warm yellow light which, combined with the golden and orange glow of the setting sun, painted the lobby in a beautiful and welcoming light. There were familiar faces behind the counter, moreso for Sera, who immediately greeted them all and started talking with them about what they had been up to, who was currently in residence, which of the Queen's family was there, and all the interesting gossip. As Sera chatted, Beth spoke to Casey, the first person she had ever talked to at the Royal Rose, surprised to still see her working the front counter.

"Oh, some of us don't service customers," she said with a grin. "Not in that way, right, and we work the other jobs that need doing, like front desk. Some workers, though it's a little skirting the line sometimes, also finish a Pledge and then work in the front-of-house stuff for a year or two until their time is cycled and they can take another Pledge."

"Interesting," Beth said, looking at the still gossiping Sera with a grin. "Maybe my fiancée would have done that too."

"Oh, you're engaged now?" Casey asked with interest in her voice and a conspiratorial grin. "And you think she would have stayed here? She's part of the Black Dragon Clan, after all."

"We say we're engaged, and that's all that matters," Beth replied as she finished registering them for a suite. "And yeah, I think Sera does whatever she wants, whenever she wants. I think if she had really liked working here, which she did, she would have done it more."

"Sadly, there's not a lot of time somebody like her has free to waste somewhere like here," Casey said with a sigh.

"Cheer up," Beth said, hugging the shorter girl across the counter. "She and I are both the same kind of crazy; we have plenty of years ahead of us. Not that I'm promising we'll come work here for years at a time."

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

"Of course not!" Casey laughed, hugging Beth back before giving her a quick kiss on the cheek and straightening back up. "Is there anything else you girls need right now?"

"I think Blood and I are good. We might have one more joining us later, if you could add her to the list," Beth said.

"Sure. Who is it?" Casey asked.

"Here," Beth flicked Casey Val's details.

"Excuse me, are you telling me that the leader of the Young Scions is going to be joining you here?" Casey hissed at her, leaning over the counter so they were almost nose to nose.

"I'm not telling you one way or the other," Beth said, equally quietly, gently bopping the shorter girl's nose.

"O-of course," Casey stammered, straightening up and clearing her throat. "Discretion is, absolutely, a chief guarantee of the Royal Rose, no need to fear."

"I'm sure it is," Beth said, amusement clear in her voice.

"I'll add her to your room's permissions," Casey said with a large smirk.

"Thank you very much," Beth said, giving her a wink before shepherding Blood to their suite. She left Sera to her own devices as the dragon girl was in home territory and knew her way around. They were going to be here for a while, and it wouldn't hurt for her lover to catch up with old friends, co-workers, and lovers.

"When's your girlfriend showing up?" Beth asked Blood once they were in the suite.

"She's not-" Blood started.

"Right, right, sure. When's Val showing up?" Beth asked.

"Tomorrow," Blood said grumpily, storing away her armor and clothes before flopping on the couch. Beth joined her after a moment, bringing up something she wanted to watch on the wallscreen before the lupine woman could commandeer it and put some awful reality TV programming or some such on. Where Beth and Sera couldn't stand that programming, Blood more than tolerated arena fights and other shows that the two of them much preferred. The two of them stayed that way for hours, just content to rest and recharge their mental batteries a little.

Sera joined them partway through the night, slipping into the suite already mostly undressed, having returned to the method of dress she was so used to from her days at that very establishment. What little she was wearing disappeared as the door shut behind her and she walked over to the couch, laying down on top of Beth facedown, nuzzling against Beth's neck and letting her tail loosely drape across them both. Beth found it a bit funny, as Sera's huge height meant that, to put their heads on about the same level, her legs stretched to the end of the quite long couch with her feet and claws hanging into the empty air beyond. That was also considering that Beth was propped up just a little bit; if she had been fully flat on the couch, Sera would have her shins sticking into the bit of open space in front of the wallscreen.

Beth wrapped her arms around Sera as they lay there and began scratching her scales, very gently using the tips of her fingers to rub the shimmering black sections along Sera's spine. The extraordinarily tall girl made a soft, low moaning sound as Beth scratched, nuzzling more strongly against Beth's neck. Beth then pulled out one of her several ultimate tricks, grabbing the thick base of Sera's tail and kneading it with her thumb and index finger and getting an even more appreciative sound out of the dragon. Sera wrapped her left arm up around Beth's head and grabbed the back of the couch while she stretched her right arm up beyond the back of the couch and let it hang loosely. Beth felt the taller, much bustier girl wriggle against her, the soft and firm parts of her body squishing against Beth in all the right places and ways.

Beth and Sera sort of lost themselves to their cuddling, though they didn't take it any further than that while they were in the room, though it wasn't like Blood would have really minded. Sera eventually fell asleep, lulled into it by the extremely comfortable and pleasant touches that Beth was lavishing all over her body. The night passed like that, with Beth drifting in and out, both hearing and feeling Sera snoring on top of her while occasionally catching the sound of Blood snoring on the opposite leg of the U-shaped couch. The rest was clearly needed, and she was overall glad she had caved to Blood's demands and brought them here, deciding they might just stay here for a while before heading out to their next stop. What that would be was a question, but she did remember Baelvyr's urgings from a bit before that they get their first year of referee duty finished sooner rather than later, so she had some idea that might be their next stop.

They had all woken, gotten breakfast, used the restroom, and were again on the couch, all sprawled out and relaxed, when there was knocking at the door. Beth was the closest, and least lazy, of the three of them, so she was the one that made her way over to answer the front door. Upon pulling it open she was greeted with the sight of Val, the tall girl wearing a very wide-brimmed hat, cool shades that probably cost quite a pretty penny and hid a big chunk of her face, and a very stylish long dress with long sleeves. Beth assumed it was supposed to be her incognito getup to avoid the rumors that might spring up from her visiting the Royal Rose; it was just too bad that the girl was so distinctive and recognizable. One would have to be blind, likely literally, to not be able to tell at a glance, and from quite a distance, who she was. Beth stared up at her sunglasses-covered face from the doorway, thinking that wearing them inside also wasn't doing the girl any favors.

"Hello," Beth said with a small smile. "Nice getup."

"Can I come in, please? Now," Val hissed at her, Beth swinging back into the room to make way for the leader of the Young Scions.

"Is it a requirement to be naked?" Val asked, glancing around the room as Beth shut the door behind her.

"I mean, it's not a requirement or anything, but it's okay to do," Beth said with a shrug, having not put anything on when she answered the door.

"Well, it's a lot nicer than having to deal with Andryn in his underwear with his sweaty socks all over the place," Val said with a sigh, removing the hat and glasses and the dress before joining Blood on the couch.

"How are you guys doing, anyway?" Beth asked after resuming her place in the center of the couch.

"We're just hitting our fourth rebirths now and that's given us some free time as we were staggered just a bit for a few reasons," Val explained, not protesting as Blood pulled her close and nestled against her. "It really has been a giant pain herding the rest of them around, but we're getting there."

"How long are you doing this crap, anyway?" Beth asked.

"We're supposed to do it until we hit Enlightened. Us all making Enlightened, doing it together, and making a big show of how fast and easy it can be is supposed to inspire the unwashed masses to throw themselves in the fucking grinder far more often," she scoffed, reclining in Blood's embrace and pulling out her pipe. "Blood Stars, I can't even fucking smoke there with everybody watching. I have to sneak a smoke in the back like some kind of child delinquent or something. I really need a break, even if it is just for a couple days."

"You know, you don't have to just eat and run," Sera said in a suggestive tone.

"I see what you did there," Val said, gesturing at Sera with her pipe. "And I'd love to stay longer, but I have to limit my time away from them. Even with elders watching over the group, they'll find a way to create a PR nightmare within a week. I can only be away from them for a couple days at a time or the galactic news will be speaking about how the whole galaxy is doomed and how the youths these days are nothing more than lazy, feckless, stupid fuckers. I hate it, I hate them, and I can't wait for this shit to end."

Beth did find it pretty amusing how different Val was in private than she was in her public persona, which she had to wear constantly. If she let her guard down even in 'private' when with her group and those that followed them around and somebody saw her drinking or smoking or heard her cussing up a storm, it would be an enormous negative hit to her image. Then again, Beth didn't really think any of that was all that bad, especially since she wasn't smoking some outrageous substance that turned her brain to mush but just something a little harsher than tobacco. Still, if Val didn't want what she was really like in private coming out until after she was done leading the Young Scions to their glorious victory, Beth certainly wasn't going to say anything about it.

"You know, you could just quit," Sera said. "If you hate it so much, you don't have to do it. You wouldn't even need to make some big deal about it; just tell them to fuck off and jet."

"I really wish I could," Val muttered, puffing on her pipe. "I have responsibilities to my family and my clan that I can't just put down. You're from the Black Dragon Clan; I'm sure you understand such things."

"Nope," Sera instantly answered in a light, cheery tone. "Don't know what you mean."

"What?!" Val squawked, sputtering as she just avoided choking on her pipe.

"Sera's the black sheep of the Black Dragon Clan," Beth said with a big laugh. "She doesn't really care what her family thinks or what they expect of her. If you're looking for sympathy from somebody else from a rich, powerful family, then Sera isn't going to give it to you. Sorry, but you're barking up the wrong tree."

"I hate everything," Val grumbled before getting distracted by Blood, which also seemed to calm her down a bit.

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