Maven, exuding a dark atmosphere at the revelation she would be facing a cheering crowd all by herself, could only desperately look at Fae with teary eyes. Gripping Fae's robes in her tiny hands, she looked up at Fae with the most pitiable puppy-dog eyes she could muster.
"You're such a schemer." Henna said with an exasperated voice.
"Be quiet, you. Some of us can't turn invisible and hide whenever we want. How great it would be if you could take my place?" Maven retorted in a curt voice.
Completely stunned by Maven's upturned gaze, Fae panicked. Rapidly waving her arms around, Fae responded in hysteria. "N-No need to be sad, Goddess! I-I know… I'll make sure you don't feel lonely and stay by your side the whole way. In fact, I'll make sure we stay together for ever and ever."
Deciding to ignore that last sentence entirely, Maven sighed in relief.
At least someone I know will be with me at the the festival. Fae may be weird, passionate, and more than a little obsessive... but she's at least on my side.
"Isn't it great? Your guard dog will be with you the whole time. Make sure you scratch her belly and give her some praise."
Henna spoke in a mocking voice, taking great delight in Maven's pathetic, irresolute state. Kannon, on the other hand, just spent her time climbing Maven like a jungle gym, hiding from Fae and just generally ignoring the outside world.
"What do you want from me?? I've almost never been alone in both of my lives! Surely, you can't expect a sheltered, former cult figurehead to grow an independent streak so suddenly... More importantly, what did you mean by guard dog?" Maven asked quizzically, her face shifting from indignance to confusion successively.
"Did I not tell you before? She's been staking out her territory and barking at any other priests or priestesses who even thought to approach you - scaring them away. She'd also growl at anyone who cooked up a scheme regarding you, even the benign ones. You didn't think it was strange, the fact that you've only talked to Fae and Shayna during the last three weeks? That Pope wanted other people to participate in your education. General lessons on the Church's history, some ideological education, how you should act and behave... You were supposed to get lessons in all of that from dedicated instructors, but Fae shut that down. Hard."
"Really? I guess I did kind of wonder why I never saw any other members of the Church…"
"Fufu, you should have seen her brow beating the other would-be instructors… She even went up against the Pope himself once he tired of the lack of progress, saying she'd handle all those lessons herself. I guess the look on her face must have convinced him... but look at Fae now. That sloppy expression on her face right now certainly wouldn't make you think she was even remotely competent."
"I was supposed to learn something besides magic over the last three weeks?! That stupid Fae... if she didn't spend half her time gushing over me, I might have actually learned something."
Maven, disappointed to learn that Fae had been negligent in her duty, only glared at the grown woman staring at her with fervent eyes and a deep blush.
Disgust deepened in Maven's gaze, but this only caused Fae's blush to deepen further. It seemed any kind of attention was good attention, to this crooked priestess. Determined to make this disappointing priestess do her dang job, Maven called out to Fae.
"Fae, were you, perhaps, supposed to be doing more than teach me magic? Is there, maybe, some kind of event I need to be ready for?"
Eyes turning to the side guiltily, Fae replied with a stutter, "N-no... definitely not! I-I would never let you down..... You're perfect the way you are!"
Maven just stared back at her silently with distrust in her eyes, clearly not believing a word coming out of her mouth. She just silently prompted Fae to spit out the information she had forgotten to share with her 'goddess.'
"U-um... My goddess, promise me you won't be mad. I maaaaay have forgotten to share a few tiny pieces of information. I-It's nothing important. I swear!"
Fae rapidly devolved into a pitiful child, pleading with their parent for forgiveness after having done something wrong. The scene was especially comical, considering a grown woman was kneeling on the floor and crying to a three-year old child.
Over the span of the next couple of hours, Maven pumped Fae for as much information as she possibly could. This was how she finally managed to acquire information about the grand festival.