The Star bite's deck groaned as it rose through thinning clouds. Moonlight splintered across the railings, catching the last hints of sea mist clinging to the hull. Snake Man stood still as stone near the bow, arms folded behind his back, jaw clenched—not from tension, but from reverence. The air around Marla shimmered faintly with lingering curse-light. Even the clouds got out of her way, steering around her. Marla crossed the deck. Her serpent hair hissed softly, scenting the wind. Her bare taloned feet clicked against wood. Black blade-armor gleamed with phantom runes.
Then she stopped. Her gaze snapped to Snake Man. "You," she said, low and thunderous. The deck froze. Faeluxe whispered, "Here we go," and drew a fan-dagger just in case. But Marla tilted her head. The serpents in her hair began to coil upward like curious sentries. "A child of the Fanged Path," she murmured, approaching. Snake Man didn't speak.
His forked tongue flicked reflexively, detecting something ancient—kinship buried beneath millennia. Marla raised a gauntleted hand. The serpent crown parted, five strands slithering forward—five glittering violet-scaled vipers, each pulsing with their own breath of stone qi. Their eyes shimmered with animus older than empires. "Stripped of your brood," Marla intoned. "But I see the hollow in your soul. The absence they left. Let this wound be filled."
One by one, the serpents curled around her wrist… then she plucked them from her own head, each with a gentle wince of pain and power. She held them out. "Receive the blessing of your Matriarch." Snake Man knelt without hesitation. The deck gasped. Hammer head nearly choked on a mutton stick. Felicity narrowed her eyes and muttered, "He didn't kneel to Ash when we broke him."
I spoke up to her concern, "Yes, but his Matriarch belongs to me now. Snake Mans upgrades are of no matter to us." We watched as the vipers slithered from Marla's hands and up Snake Man's arms like they'd found a new home. Each serpent nested along his limbs, his shoulders, and finally his neck. One curled behind his ear and purred—yes, purred—its animus seeping into him with radiant fang-path resonance.
He trembled with something close to ecstasy. "They answer to you," Marla said. "They remember the path you forgot." Snake Man rose slowly.
His eyes were alight. "I… I thought I lost everything when they took my brood," he said hoarsely. "But this… This is more than I ever dreamed. These serpents… they sing." "You are not broken," Marla said. "Only unclaimed. And now you are restored."
The Deck gasped and gaped, "She gave him five! Five viper-spirits!"
Snake Man flexed his fingers. The vipers responded instantly—coiling into formation, whispering old techniques into his mind. Each one had a name. Each one had a legacy. "I am yours to command, Lord Ash," Snake Man said, without sarcasm, without coercion—with pride.
"Being your servant has already repaid every debt I thought I owed." I lifted an eyebrow, glancing at Felicity, who folded her arms.
"Just don't start calling me Matriarch," I muttered. Marla smiled, showing a hint of fang. "He may call me that. But I know where his leash is tied." I sighed, "That's somehow both flattering and disturbing." Felicity just hissed and tightened her grip on my arm. Faeluxe smirked and whispered to her, "Jealous?"
"Keep talking, pixie," Felicity whispered back, "I'll let Marla bless you next—with a bite."