A year they had been in the lands so cold, but now they had left them behind, gods in the shape of raptors and a god who flew, one who once was a man.

  An oaf of a man and a friend.

  Now around them were fertile fields, rolling hills and river-fed plains, and deep below, the land hummed with stone.

  Stone. She could feel it in her bones.

  The Bountiful Lands they called it, and Socia could see why.

  The stone was strong here, it seeped up from below, it was the soil, the dirt and the earth itself. And upon it grew, that which was tilled by men and which grew on its own, for so had nature decreed.

  Among the fields and wild meadows, there were towns and villages innumerable, and roads and rail to connect them to the machine that was…

  the Dominion.

  Her Lady steered them on, hands firm on the wheel, as their car raced along the highway, as the morning sun rose, red and grand.

  Socia found the car quite exquisite, a work of art, a fusion of brass and silver. Its engine hummed, and finally she asked what she had wanted to, for a long time.

  “Why? What is the purpose of this journey?” she said.

  Her Lady, with her shades on, kept her eyes on the road.

  “To see the Dominion of my father, that is the task given to me,” she said.

  Socia looked outside, away from her, not satisfied.

  “I am not a fool, my Lady, I am your Socia am I not? Why will you not answer, true?” she said.

  Her Lady’s mask remained on, and she drove on.

  “An answer can be no better than the question asked, isn’t it so?” her Lady said.

  Billboards had flashed by during their journey on this road, and all the others they had travelled through.

  Order. Growth. Progress.

  Everywhere she saw the signs, they said the same thing a million ways, but the last word now caught her eye and mind, as she also saw other signs.

  “Smoke Red so you can feel the taste of the sun.”

  A man with a smoke in his hand, an island in the elemental sea, a girl with longing eyes staring at him, herself quite daringly clad.

  “Be a star with Rose Lips.”

  Her Lady’s face, with lips so red, and eyes so dark and deep. She was quite immaculate, even if the billboard did not do her justice.

  “Really?” Socia said.

  Her Lady gave a glance and a little smile.

  “A favor I gave myself.”

  She kept smiling as they drove further on.

  “And I did look fine?”

  “Perhaps even immaculate?”

  The sun rose even more, the engine hummed, and below the road she could still feel the stone.

  “Now ask a question once again, but the right one this time.”

  She could feel the stone as it hummed below, the flow of people and goods, like a tide over all of it, and in the air and in the wind, she could sense the radio waves, but she couldn’t yet connect it all together.

  Something was missing.

  Her Lady’s shoulder, she touched, the gentle way.

  “What is the purpose of my journey?”

  Her Lady’s face became a mask, quite immaculate.

  “To see that which I cannot.”

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  The light of the sun now met them head on.

  “To see this world, all of it.”

  And before them in the distance a mighty city.

  “To understand it, so that one day you will see what lies…”

  A sign they passed with a text and man most perfect, it was not God, but a painting of him, state approved, but there was no face. There never was.

  “There is nothing beyond his Ambition,” it said.

  And then the final word Socia heard.

  “Beyond.”

  A month they had enjoyed in the greatest city of these lands, since great as it was it could not compete with the city of the Ambition, in the impossible sea.

  But grand it was, with skyscrapers and high rises filled with commerce and in the streets, one could find sins of the varied kind and vice of every sort, but also diversions and delights that could entertain.

  Liberty.

  That is what it was called, the greatest city in the Bountiful Lands, and as the signs said everywhere.

  Only under the Ambition is there Liberty.

  In this city so spectacular did they now spend their time, among movie stars and glamour models, of the Scion kind, and a few gods too. For what mortal could compare with their beauty and charm. A Kin, a supporting character could be, but a mortal an extra or a comedic relief, only could aspire to be.

  The camera light, it flashed and on command Socia changed her poise, her lips so luscious red by lipstick from her Lady’s brand.

  Rose Lips.

  “All in this world belongs to him who sired me, but he allows me most graciously these hobbies of mine, so my star brighter will shine, and so they all may love and adore me, as it is my right.”

  “So has he decreed.”

  This, her Lady had her told.

  Another flash, another pose, Socia even bit her lip, to make her allure even greater, more. In the eyes of the camera men, she could see what was stirred, so she pulled a little back, and turned her face aside, and hid a part of her face with her coat as to not overwhelm them.

  It didn’t work, only made them want her more.

  But they were professional and used to this.

  To catch on film the most divine.

  Whether dames or gents.

  “Enough. Now a picture with me and my Socia for the cover,” her Lady said.

  With her hand she showed it was time to go, and so the camera men took their leave, to rest eyes and hearts from what had been seen.

  Divine shapes, by mortal eyes beheld.

  Another photographer did arrive and entered the room with confidence, a mortal man he was not. Dashing and assured, with grace impeccable, surely, he was a Scion, but why would one such as he, be a mere photographer?

  Her Lady directed her toward a chair, and Socia went to sit. Her Lady stood behind her, hands resting on her shoulders.

  She felt that grip and knew behind here stood a star, and as the camera once again sparked and made a flash — the man a picture took.

  If she is a star, then what am I?

  “You’re It, girl,” the man said.

  And took another shot, then moved about.

  Another flash of light.

  He showed with his hands where to move, and where to look, and then again, a picture he took.

  With a firm but quite fine hand he ordered them around, and even her Lady obeyed, and at times they took poses quite risqué.

  But he never strayed too far, for he had a taste for the shot, and sought not that which was base, but a moment of perfect beauty and grace incomparable.

  He said some words at Socia with a tone, quite intense.

  “Starlet, look this way.”

  A little startled her gaze strayed his way.

  There to catch his eyes… so intense.

  So, she blushed and bit her lip, for the second time.

  A shot he took.

  A flash of light.

  Perfect.

  It was the perfect shot, one full of grace and beauty, but even more it had…

  It.

  Her.

  Socia.

  With lips so red, so luscious, what girl would not want to use her Lady’s brand.

  Rose Lips.

  What man did not dream, that those lips would their find their way, and deliver a kiss from.

  Socia.

  No one could dream of being the Lady, for she was of God.

  But she was their Socia.

  What girl didn’t now dream of being a Companion of the Lady, and she was such a mystery, they ate it up, had their fill, of what the magazines did tell.

  For her Lady had made them say:

  That she was made from dreams quite rare, and earth without compare.

  And then with water most pure, and a wind full of grace, her Lady shaped.

  Made.

  Socia.

  And like the Lady herself was given to all, to love and cherish.

  Now she had given them.

  Her Socia.

  Socia sat at the café, the hotshot there too, the perfect man who took the perfect shot and who had caused the stir that now was her life for over a month.

  “Girl, you’ve got it. Didn’t I tell you so,” he said.

  He flashed his smile, and made Socia a little off-balance, he had that effect.

  Many events, all the time, that was her life now.

  Her Lady, with her most of the time, but not all the time.

  Alone with the flashing lights, devouring eyes, mouths that moved, hearts that craved… her.

  One alone stood apart.

  The perfect man, the one who got under her skin, the hotshot.

  He was there behind the flashing lights, to then show her what to say, how to move, and to chase away.

  “Girl, you need to know when to hold your ground,” the hotshot said.

  So, she learned to let them worship her, like a rock in a stormy sea.

  “Find your groove. You have it in you. Welcome the new wave, and then ride it, be it,” he said.

  A wave she was, one that swept them all away, for no crowd could stand in her way, for they moved to her beat.

  “Show some face, then disappear. Make them wait, and then reappear,” he said.

  It became a joy, to make them scurry after her, to leave them disappointed, and then with a flash of her teeth, brighten their world.

  She wasn’t a star like her Lady.

  She didn’t need to.

  She had it.

  And now the man across her, who made her heart flutter, whose eyes were so intense, not deep and dark, but vivid and fierce.

  Said to her.

  “You’re everything she said you are.”

  “And more.”

  “You’ve got it… really got it.”

  She took a sip of her tea to hide, to make sure he didn’t notice, the way he made her feel.

  “I’ll teach you…”

  She put her cup down and smiled.

  “…Boundless Heart,” he said.

  What?

  “As your Lady asked. You passed, girl,” he said.

  “You’re mine now.”

  And then he smiled.

  And her heart skipped a beat.

  This time she didn’t mind being given away.

  But this could get.

  Messy.