They were high in the sky, in a private plane — a very expensive one, made from wood and brass — and through the window Socia could see a tree unlike any other.

  The World Tree at the center of the Primeval Realms, its branches were above the plane, its trunk thicker than many cities.

  And as Socia’s gaze sought what was below, she caught a glimpse of its roots, which stretched across the lands of the Verdant Tree, home of the Kin.

  At the base of the tree, a city had grown under its shade, there mighty skyscrapers rose, surrounded by ancient buildings, for here that which was new and old, lived in harmony.

  Or did they?

  Still, they called the city Harmony, and as the brochures said.

  “Come see Harmony, where ancient wisdom meets the future.”

  “See the palace of the Primeval, second wife of the Ambition.”

  “Experience Kin culture, mysterious and exotic.”

  Socia turned her thoughts back to work and her eyes fell on documents.

  They were here to inspect the holdings of her Lady, and that meant planning meetings, keeping a schedule, having an overview of everything.

  Was she an assistant again?

  Her Lady was having a glass of sparkling wine, with her shades on, and a scarf over her head, for soon they would land.

  And even she would have to work.

  Properly.

  For in this city there were mighty beings.

  Ancient Scions, centuries old, here to see to it that the numerous Kin clans would keep the harmony of the city.

  And the Primeval, second wife of the Ambition. A power even greater than the one who was sipping on sparkling wine in front of her.

  “My Socia, you should have some, it’s quite divine.”

  Socia put the documents aside.

  And accepted the offer.

  She had read enough.

  A sip of sparkling wine did suit her fine.

  She understood what waited her now.

  She wasn’t going to be an assistant.

  Her Lady was the owner.

  But Socia would be the.

  Executive.

  Executive of Rose Corporation, how ironic that she was the poster girl for Rose Lips, one of its many subsidiaries.

  Rose Laboratories. Rose Retail. Rose Shipping. Rose Properties.

  It was a whole bouquet of roses.

  Luckily, she had a co-executive, her support, her rock, her Stone.

  “You are the ground beneath my feet, Mister Stone,” she had said many times.

  “Without you what would I do?”

  Drown in documents, most likely.

  He was a Kin more than a century old, his employment record and his hair showed that.

  The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

  Like a stone he was steadfast, slow to speak, but when words left his lips, they mattered.

  “You would fail and then succeed, Executive Socia,” he said.

  “Of that I am sure,” he said.

  Had her Lady spoken to him?

  Socia nodded in approval of the utterance and turned her eyes to today’s agenda.

  Rose Properties.

  It seemed they owned a tenth of the real estate in all of Harmony. Not always directly, there were subsidiaries with subsidiaries, it was quite a mess.

  “Co-ownership with Kin clans make it easier,” Mister Stone had said.

  And it did, but it also made it almost impossible to make sense of all the accounts.

  And then there was the prestige real estate, rented out to noble houses, who sometimes didn’t pay in time, or at all.

  “Scion nobles can be quite uncooperative at times, but they always pay when the Lady shows a personal interest,” Mister Stone had said.

  She tapped a map, a section of the city where every building seemed to belong to Rose Properties.

  “We are going here. I want to see it on the ground,” she said.

  With a corporate car they got there quite fast, through the bustling streets of Harmony, and outside the car it all flashed by.

  Kin dressed both modern in the way of the city in the sea, while others wore clothes which could be seen on the streets of Liberty, but then there were those who looked like they belonged in a brochure.

  Mysterious. Exotic.

  Did she still look down on them?

  Hadn’t she been born at the very heart of the Ambition’s realm, in the new world he was building out there in the impossible ocean.

  Order. Growth. Progress.

  A litany.

  The car stopped, they got out, and she saw the buildings.

  If you could call it that.

  Worn out on the outside, broken windows on one floor, and when they entered it wasn’t that much better.

  Water leaks. Paint was peeling off the walls.

  The electricity didn’t work, and considering the conditions it could even be considered a blessing, the whole place was one big fire hazard.

  All the while, mortals and Kin would bow to her as she passed by, obviously aware of her exalted status.

  She bowed back at times, until her Stone gently reminded her.

  “If you bow, you only force them to bow lower, it can be a hassle for them,” he said.

  So, she stopped or just nodded.

  And as she left the house she realized.

  I’m a slumlord.

  And as she stood there stunned, there was a sound from some strange instrument, a low hum in the distance, and all around her people streamed out.

  Mortal, Kin and even two Scions who were slumming it in the area all turned their sights on what was to come.

  Socia went to leave, but a hand stopped her.

  Mister Stone’s.

  “Wait… She is coming,” he said.

  And then he fell on his knees.

  “You will bow, Executive Socia, when she arrives,” he said.

  Who?

  The sounds became stronger, and then she felt It.

  It was coming.

  She knew the tales of her forms: Maiden, Mother and Crone.

  But they were all It.

  She came first, surrounded and followed by an endless procession of Kin, all holding onto holy things.

  Clad in white, so regal, she was the spring, the birth of all things.

  All the mortals they lay prostrate, the Kin on their knees and even the Scions they bowed, and very low their heads reached.

  But Socia still stood, for she saw her.

  She was It. The Primeval was It.

  She was the Cosmos.

  And then she stood before her.

  Touched her shoulder, and Socia froze even more.

  “Beloved of my favored child,” the Cosmos said.

  And then she embraced her.

  Mister Stone had his head to the ground.

  Socia had hers pressed against It.

  “Our Socia,” It said.

  What?

  The cosmos had hugged her, spoken to her, and then just… left.

  “So, my Second Mother paid you a visit,” her Lady said.

  “Yes, that is what I have been telling you,” Socia said.

  With a cut her Lady freed a slice of meat from the steak on her plate, and then with her fork took a bite.

  “You should try this, it really is It,” she said.

  And then she smiled.

  “You’re not taking this seriously,” Socia said.

  Her Lady chewed her slice properly, swallowed it and then used some red wine of an excellent bouquet to wash it down.

  “I take everything seriously,” her Lady said.

  Then she lifted her shades and looked her straight in the eyes.

  “You are my Socia, part of my household,” her Lady said.

  “The Primeval is my father’s Second Wife thus she is my Second Mother,” her Lady said.

  Socia fiddled with her knife, while keeping her own steak in its place with her fork.

  “And you are therefore her daughter in name, her child. I know, Mister Stone already explained it,” Socia said.

  Her Lady poured her some wine, red of the finest kind.

  Put the bottle back, to be cooled by a bucket of ice.

  “And thus, you are her child as well, her Socia too,” her Lady said.

  Socia took a sip — no, she gulped it down — quite unlady like it was.

  “Soon you are going to say I am your father’s child too, his Socia,” Socia said.

  Her Lady dropped her shades.

  “You are,” her Lady said.

  “We all are his. From the smallest grain of the sand on the most distant shore, to his daughters like me, and his wives,” she said.

  A cut was made on the steak.

  “But there is hierarchy,” she said.

  A slice caught with a fork.

  “You are a step below me in rank,” she said.

  Inspected.

  “You are our Socia,” she said.

  Consumed.

  Socia did not know what to say and instead ate her steak.

  They finished their steaks and then her Lady said.

  “I will be gone for a month, you will take care of our business while I’m gone, will you not, my Socia?”

  Am I not doing that already?

  A kiss to her cheek she received and then her Lady was gone.

  Socia ordered another bottle, a small one.

  She needed a drink, not to get drunk.

  I am her father’s Socia.

  And.

  I am still a slum lord.

  The bottle came.

  She poured.

  Drank.