Riverview

Justice leaned back in the recliner at the care home, her toes wiggling in her knitted slippers, a hot cup of tea sweetened with honey on the table beside her. She liked it at Riverview, a high-end home with, as the name described, an excellent view of a winding river. The form she wore for mortals, the one of Delores the old woman, had allowed her to enjoy the comforts brought by the catered meals, the recreational activities, and, her favourite, the bed pans.

In all the forms she'd lived, in all the millennia, very few things had given her as much pleasure as a bed pan! Being able to lay in bed and have an assistant come and roll you over, cleaning your waste, it was the ultimate enjoyment. She knew that mortals dreaded growing to the point of depending on their use, but since Justice had abandoned her desire to be fawned over by the humans, unlike her idiot sisters who could hardly help themselves, having a mortal have to carry her waste away from her was a small reminder of how things used to be. Nostalgia for simpler times.

But Justice was beyond that now. She was onto new things, more exciting things. In fact, she couldn't remember the last time she had been having so much fun! This young man, Tim, was extraordinary. She had been right to pick him. The capacity for impact that he carried with him was enormous. It was no wonder Destiny and Luck had been bleeding him dry. With every trade, she could see concentric circles of possibility moving away from him, washing over the schemes of her siblings, impacting the world around him.

And of course, as it often was with young men, a lot of the impact had to do with affairs of the heart. Not exclusively, but a large swath. He was a horn-dog, and Justice had thrown him a bone! How long would it be before she started receiving visits from her other siblings? Lust and Desire had never taken an interest in Tim before, would they care that he was making his way into their territory? They weren't bitches like Luck and Destiny, but they could get testy. She'd have to be on her guard.

Taking a sip of the tea, Justice sighed and smiled. The moments where she allowed herself to rest, to enjoy the peaceful atmosphere of Riverview were her favourite part of the modern experience. Yes, the flea market was a fun distraction, and there always plenty of work to do in the world, but the the feeling of rest she felt in her recliner was unlike any she felt in the world. The staff at Riverview acted fairly, the residents had a good sense of justice. The buzzing she felt every other moment lessened. The pull toward inequity, toward mortals and immortals alike acting in ways that unbalanced the system, tugged a little lighter, and Justice could have a moment to enjoy simple things.

Like tea! Who would have thought that soaking leaves in boiling water, then adding some bee spit, would be so enjoyable? Justice, in all her wisdom and experience, would have lost that bet.

With a wiggle of a finger, she sent out a flick of magic toward Tim, double checking that her protection was still in place, that her deal with him still held. It would take a significant player to be able to alter what she had built with him, but it was not impossible. The flick returned, all was well. Good. More time for tea. And bed pans! Maybe she could squeeze in a nap, just to enjoy the service.