[Divine Blood] Talk about her instead

”There isn’t much to tell,” she claims as she, smiling, stretches towards you. Her knee touches yours and she keeps her jacket taut against her body.

”My mother died young and Dad was posted all over the colonies. I grew up on ships and bases. For a year we and five conscripts were the only Imperials in the Boneyard. Just our small outpost, the wild waters and endless nights of the Seeking, and the occasional Shade-Fisher caravan. Happiest time of my life.

I always wanted to join the Navy too. Dad taught me fencing and shooting, and I am a decent rider too. Not so much with the administrative...” She sighs and points at the chaos on her desk. ”We didn’t have much in the way of schooling. Dad did his best, but he isn’t the greatest scholar neither.

I must have found out at some point, but I guess I didn’t believe it. Or maybe I was gonna be a civilian – a pirate, or a smuggler – a whatever it is you do. It got bad at 16. I was a late bloomer but some changes are hard to overlook. And I had questions: About my body, and about society. About boys and girls. Questions my dad was not equipped to answer. We did a lot of arguing then. I was going to disguise myself and enlist, in the Army even. Anything to make him angry. So he sent me away.

Have you been to Anachoret? Seen the Rawhidden Nunnery?”

{if A Heretic = 1} You have not been inside, but any seminarian learns the organisation of the Church’s military order, of their fortified island, and of the initiates they imprison on the neighbouring Stacrux and condemn to a life of boredom and indoctrination.

”An apt description.” The Experimental Ensign scoffs. ”I swear they put something into our food.”

You have a different theory, but you see no reason to bore her with your musings on divine geometry.

She continues: ” {elseif The Almost Bishop of Anceleisle = 1} You were invited, once and long before you took to the Sea, by express invitation of the Serjeant Subprioress to preach on the Martyrdom of St. Tryphon. The tour of the compound included the bridge to Stacrux and a stern warning to leave those too young to take the orders to their silent contemplation.

”That’s one way to put it.” The Experimental Ensign scoffs. ”I swear they put something into our food. {else} You have visited the island, the hamlet at the base of the fortified Nunnery, and you have heard the rumours about the girls kept on neighbouring Stacrux.

”I wish.” The Experimental Ensign scoffs. ”I swear they put something into our food. {endif} We’d wake, pray, train, pray again, and then be fed for the first time. I was never tired and I was never awake. There were lectures in the afternoon, but I forget, more training, more prayer, an evening meal, and one last prayer before bed. I don’t think I even chatted with the other girls.

They’d kick us out at 18. Maybe it’s because they fear that the **** will stop working, but it’s the only decent thing they ever did. Dad was posted in the City and there was talk, though the Nurses and Administrators Act had not yet been introduced. I had hope, and he must’ve heard some rumbling from up the chain. We didn’t fight any more, and he let me stay. I had my first time with his mistress if you can believe that.

I enlisted as soon as the act passed. End of story.” She pauses and smiles. ”I do fuck men though. Sometimes, and I thought...”

The sound of approaching footsteps makes her jump. She flees back to her desk, ordering her clothes on the way. ”Sir!”

The Landlocked Commodore ignores her salute and offers you his hand. ”Long meeting,” he says.