"I didn't wind up interacting directly with Micaiah much," says Stella, after returning home from a certain visit. "Does he deviate from template significantly? He didn't have wings, so I imagine it was by less than Angela deviates from my template."
"I love you too," she replies, pressing a kiss to his temple.
It's a few days before Bella finds the door to Milliways again. Since she can always stick her head out and fetch anyone she wants to introduce to anyone else in there, she thinks nothing of walking through by herself.
He has a small fluffy white fox with enormous ears perched on his shoulder. Occasionally he reaches up and pets her tiny nose.
"Hi!" says Stella. "You're probably Kas, am I right? And Petaal."
Stella's wearing her crown. It has the star sapphires, although since they are magic star sapphires they radiate in seven directions instead of six. "Guess," she says, tapping it.
"...well, you're probably an empress of something," he says slowly, "but it's not like that narrows it down..."
"I'm Stella," she laughs. "Stars, Empress of the Stars, hence the crown design. Golden's is gold, Shell Bell's is all ocean-themed, your Amariah's entry mentioned something about permanent ice."
"...Nice to meet you, I guess," he says, fiddling with the card in his hands. (Six of hearts.)
He doesn't seem delighted about this, for some reason. Maybe he just misses her.
"I asked, didn't I?" She sits down opposite him. "What's wrong?"
"I'm scared of you," he says softly.
"I'm not gonna hurt you," she says, sitting back and blinking. "- Is it the coins? Are you scared of Shell Bell now too?"
"But you're the only one who's done the thing I'm afraid of."
"...The asteroid thing?" hazards Stella. "Alice isn't afraid of me. He was mad for a while but not afraid. Micaiah wasn't either. Why are you?"
"Alice is the one who's fucking you, I'm pretty sure that buys him a pass," says Kas. "The worst thing Micaiah's ever done to anybody is steal their wallet and run away laughing."
"Is Amariah tolerating you doing nasty things to people?" asks Stella. "Because that seems unlikely on the face of it. Although I still haven't met her directly."
"I killed a guy for her," Petaal pipes up, with a defiant flutter of her wings. "And I'd do it again."
"And Amariah killed a guy for Shell Bell, Golden killed somebody who hurt her particularly badly, the fact that I've never personally found it necessary doesn't mean I can't see the occasional necessity for people with fewer resources than I have," says Stella. "If Amariah wanted you to kill a guy I'm pretty happy to accept the explanation that this was the best idea."
"Well, I'm still scared of you," says Kas, looking away. "Maybe I shouldn't be, I don't know, I didn't decide to be, I just am."
"Do you want me to leave you alone?" asks Stella doubtfully.