Chapter 31 - The Goddesses' Lunch

She didn't give them back their thrones she offered them something rarer a day where they no longer needed to wear them.

The sky slowly awoke, periwinkle colored. The Blue Tower was still asleep, but Saphira was already awake. Before her, six perfumed parchments waited, aligned on a round table. She touched them with her finger, then murmured to Élya, who carefully sealed them.

—"No orders, no titles, just a hand extended."

To Hera: "Are you coming? I'm making star doughnuts." To Chang'e: "Promise, no bitter tea today." To Amaterasu: "There will be golden fruits." To The Queen Mother of the West: "I want to meet you." And to the Scarlet Countess: "Come taste the light even if you stay in the shadows."

Between two breezes, the tower transformed a floating island anchored to the clouds, suspended by gentle blue lightning white tablecloths undulated in the wind cushions, soft as the laughter one no longer dares to have, covered the ground and on the table, carafes of dawn juice, moon tea, golden brioches, warm mochi, and sun fruits waited then, the air changed. They arrived: Hera, in a soft golden dress, braid loose, a smile previously unknown to her. Amaterasu, luminous, a pink glow on her cheeks. Chang'e, graceful, parasol closed, bare feet in the dew. The Queen Mother of the West, majestic, silent, whose mere presence restored balance and finally, the Scarlet Countess, without her mask, without her cloak, just her, true, present.

Saphira welcomed them with a simple smile.

—"Today, we don't rule we laugh."

The topics flowed like warm water into an ancient cup the secret of the eternal mochi, the time Hera got lost in a children's party and won the costume contest. Amaterasu, fifteen years ago, in love with a mortal librarian. Chang'e, confessing that she sometimes dreams of learning to cook something other than tea. The Queen Mother of the West, who simply murmured: "I had never been invited, not without fear." And Saphira, between two bites of cosmic brioche.

 —"Here, you are just my guests, so have fun."

It all started with an accidentally burst cushion, then an overturned pitcher, then a magic wave. Amaterasu yelped. Chang'e retorted. Hera threw herself into the basin without hesitation. The Queen Mother of the West dodged a wave… before creating a much bigger one. Saphira, covered in blue rain, burst out laughing, grabbed a bucket, and poured it directly onto The Scarlet Countess a silence, then, a laugh, a real one, fragile, raw, unexpected.

—"You are cruel but adorable," the Countess whispered, catching her breath.

Then came the cushions, the feathers, the joyful shouts, and bursts of life that one would never have believed could come from so many legends the Countess jumped on Chang'e, Hera pushed her, laughing Amaterasu fell to her knees from laughter the Queen Mother of the West smiled, and that was already a miracle a dreamless sleep.

When the sun began to set, the light became soft like a promise. Morpheus descended from a cloud, dressed in a tunic of mist and stars.

—"Come," he murmured, "I offer you a dreamless sleep, just an instant of peace."

One by one, the goddesses let themselves go into his arms, into the cushions, into each other's armsfeathers stuck to their hair, water droplets on their eyelashes. Saphira, the last, lay down she placed Élya at her feet and closed her eyes and in that silence, so rare, so sweet, the world became simple.

End of Chapter 31 — The Goddesses' Lunch