We followed Denabla and continued on our journey, although we stopped frequently the pace was much better than the previous day. She must have needed that bath worse than we thought.

  When we were sleepy we slept, when we were hungry we ate and when we were tired of hearing each other's voices we were silent. We walked for another whole week and a half before we finally reached the village. During our journey Hawk and I got lots of new skills that we practiced along the way. Just kidding we didn't get any skills because all we did was walk slowly in a slightly downward trajectory for ten days. Hawk really did pick up some proficiency in several different fields of study for his Scholar profession. That lead us to discuss the whole profession system which is actually real complicated, but boils down to a few simple rules. First rule, you can only have one combat related profession at a time, so no ninja knights of wizardry. Second rule you can have as many non-combat related professions as you can maintain proficiency for, but if not used you will lose skill in that profession and eventually lose the profession all together. Third rule don't talk about professions, no seriously you aren't supposed to talk about your professions to others because it exposes your weaknesses, and allows them to exploit you. If you only have one non-combat related profession then you would be fine to tell people, because most likely that will be how you earn your money. Currency turned out to be pretty simple, and basically amounted to different sizes of coin that all have denominations of ten leading to the next tier, and apparently my bag had more coin than I would ever need. The last thing we discussed was Denabla's intentions which we actually waited on until we could see the village in front of us.

"What is going to happen when you see the elder council?" I asked her bluntly.

"I don't know." She replied then continued her shuffle down the slope, until she saw that I wasn't going to get out of her way and wouldn't relent with the people's eyebrow.

"Alright! I will confront them about my husband and try to get to the bottom of exactly what happened and why." She was starting to breath harder, not because we had walked for several days, but because she was excited and both Hawk and I knew it.

"You can't just go in there looking for someone to kill. You have to have a plan and an expected response, that way you won't be caught off guard if they jump us." I informed Denabla in my best younger brother tone.

"Look hatchling, I have been alive longer than you have, so don't start trying to give me advice! If you don't have the stomach for the slaughter that I am ‘bout to lay down, you are welcome to stay outside!" She was picking up her pace and her tone, clearly getting a little bit of adrenaline in her otherwise dust filled veins. "I have a score to settle, those monsters deserve what is coming to them!" She might as well have been brandishing a rolling pin.

"I understand your anger, but what is the plan? I know I might look imposing, and Hawk here has an arm like a howitzer, but in close combat neither of us are going to be much help. I am about as useful as nipples on a breastplate in a fight!" I turned to Hawk for support.

"I am staying out of this, but seriously he is useless in a fight!" Hawk chuckled as I punched his massive arm.

"I don't need either of you for a fight! You are both my in! All you have to do is smile and look pretty, maybe distract them so that they don't look too close at me. I want to see their faces when they realize who I am and how bad they screwed up!" She let out a maniacal laugh.

"You know she is getting a little unhinged maybe you should let her know that she is about to crumble into dust if she sneezes!" Andrea intoned prior to falling promptly asleep on my shoulders.

"Shouldn't you be getting stronger or something? I need someone to fight for me, you know how bad my stats are!"

"Not interested, besides it would take all of the fun out of the experience if you had an awesome all powerful dragon that could just defeat all of your enemies." She sunk her claws into my exposed scales as she stood, stretched, put her butt in my face, then turned around and sat in the exact same spot.

"Are you even paying attention!" Denabla shouted at me.

"Sorry I was talking to Andrea, what do you need?"

"I need you to get your head out of the clouds, we are getting close to this village and we need to look normal. Hawk you take the lead, then you lizard man, then I will bring up the rear." She instructed us.

We came into the clearing and then realized something was up. Nobody was on watch, no one greeted, or insulted us, and as we pulled closer to the long house we realized why.

There was a large gathering in front of the longhouse of all of the villagers. We could see the elders sitting in their chairs outside of the entrance, and standing in front of them was the eldest son of the chief.

"Do you accept your role as the newest elder of the Sequoia people?" The elder intoned.

"I do!"

"Do you promise to be fair and just, and never put the needs of the few over the needs of the many?"

"I do!"

"Then by my right as eldest of the council and chief of this village I name you elder!" The crowd stood and cheered, we had obviously come up after the initial pomp and circumstance.

"Let us eat and celebrate!" He yelled and then there was a large cheer, until everyone saw us walking up.

"Hawk how nice of you to join us! Given up so soon? I am surprised that you would even bother to come back!" The son said as the crowd laughed.

"We didn't give up." Hawk replied with his usual dry personality.

"Oh! Then where is the Helmet? Did you hide it behind that bag of bones behind you?" Again more laughter, is he killing it or are these people this easy to entertain?

"Odd that you should mention her," we finally reached the front of the crowd and broke through the people to the clearing in front of the longhouse where the elders sat. "she has been waiting to meet up with you for a long time. May I introduce to you Denabla of the Sequoia people Mother of Khutulun, and wife of Kaidu!" I said my voice rising with each word until I basically shouted the last word.

The elders took one look at the old bag of bones, before the blood drained from their faces, and they stared agape as she sauntered up, standing a little taller with a big smile on her wrinkled face. She patted my arm and whispered good job as she passed. Then everything froze, I don't mean everyone stood still and came to attention, I mean the air was still, the sound stopped and everyone stood eerily still around us.

"I told you that I would offer you that quest at a later time." The ominous and beautiful voice of Adelpha wrung out from the mouth of Denabla. She was standing facing me with a too wide grin on her face, fueled by the lack of teeth.

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"That is pretty rude, you shouldn't just inhabit people's body like that, plus it is creepy." I told her trying to seem nonchalant, but I was clearly shaken by the show of power.

"I apologize for the confusion." She said as the old ragged woman transformed into the gorgeous goddess before my eyes. "Do you prefer this form?" She asked

"Better than last time at least you have some clothes on now. What happened to Denabla? You didn't hurt her did you, she was actually starting to grow on me like an old grumpy ally cat that hisses at you when you try to pet it, but you feed it anyway." I was suffering from a bit of word vomit and then my mouth hung open under its own volition.

"Thermo regulating? You must be very flustered! Don't worry she wasn't hurt by my hand, but since you asked I will tell you what happened." Her voices synced up more this time than they had previously. The effect was dramatic as she stood there looking like a perfect specimen.

"You see Denabla was my most loyal servant, she lived a wonderful life and prayed and sacrificed to me all of the time. Our spirits walked hand in hand as she journeyed through life. I was so excited when she got pregnant. I could hardly contain my elation, so I bestowed a blessing upon her." As she talked small figures appeared in front of her at our feet seemingly made of smoke, and played out her words. The small Denabla's belly was large and her husband came in the hut holding a massive deer over his shoulders. "We both watched the child grow and kick at her mother's stomach, she was so vigorous!" Adelpha's voice took a hard turn to sadness and she openly wept. "Her husband was a great man, and kept her happy. I was jealous of him, because he was the only one that Denabla loved more than me." More tears rolled down her face as she struggled to continue. "Then he was finally recognized for his amazing ability to provide for his people, I was so happy! You see with the weight of leadership, he wouldn't be able to spend as much time with Denabla and she would spend more time with me." Adelpha took a second to gather herself. "I watched them enter the tent with greed and knew that I had finally won! I finally beat that hunter, and won the heart of the most beautiful woman in the entire World!" The figures disappeared into an indistinct structure before the scene evaporated and then Denabla's puppet fell back out of the same flap they had entered clutching her belly that bled smoke. "Then she was stabbed! Those monsters killed our baby! They took Denabla from me, and lied about it all! They shamed Kaidu and changed the story through the elder succession. They said that he had killed his wife from jealousy finding out that the baby belonged to another. They continued to lie and change the story until something worked, and then they sat and grew fat and died passing the knowledge of their lie onto the next generation. It has been thousands of years since that day, but the people you see in front of you," she indicated the elders, "remember the events like they happened yesterday. They know what happened and haven't admitted to their crimes, they haven't known justice. They know what they did to my baby and they haven't even tried to atone!" Her melodious voice was a roller coaster of emotion and changed swiftly while she spoke. It would rise and fall and ended with an inhuman shriek of anger and malice.

"They will pay for their inaction with their lives! The only question is will you be the one that lands the blow, or will I have to find someone else to bestow the blessing upon." She asked now flipping 180 to seduction. Who does she think I am? After hearing that I am clearly not in the mood!

"Are you guilty over not saving her, or at least warning her? Do you want to free yourself of a guilty conscious?" I asked her in a soft voice grabbing the hand that she was caressing my cheek with.

"I did nothing wrong!" She shouted drawing away and snatching her hand away. “Who is some poor hunter compared to me? I am a GOD!" She bellowed blowing me off my feet with the force of her words, as her mouth became unhinged and opened wide. "It was them that took her!" She screamed pointing at the elders. "It wasn't my fault." She actually shrank as she said it, slumping her shoulders and flopping down on her butt. "I would never hurt my wonderful Denabla." She said hurting and crying, cradling herself in a comforting hug.

I edged forward and laid a hand on one of her slumped shoulders. "It wasn't your fault." I told her leaning down to look at those powerful eyes and comfort her.

"It was though." She calmed suddenly and spoke in her normal voice, now holding my gaze from a few inches away. Her power evident in the infinite sea of swirling blue that she called eyes.

"I knew they intended on killing Kaidu. I knew they would banish Denabla, I knew they would hurt her by taking her true love from her, and I did nothing. I could have called upon an army; I could have put out an active quest for anyone that brought me their heads. I could have simply warned Kaidu when he was out on a hunt and alone away from prying eyes, but I did nothing. I was going to let them kill him so that I could have her all to myself and that is why I am sad." She told me as I backed away trying to gain some distance. For some reason a calm, cool and collected God was much scarier than an unhinged wrathful God, who knew?

"I want you to fix my mistake and kill them all, take the knowledge of that day and destroy it forever. Hide my shame, and tell the story to the new elders, the right story the story of love and devotion, of skill and sharing. Kaidu was a great man, and I have every right to be jealous of him, because he was kind and generous and a passionate lover. He treated Denabla better than I ever could and I can do this!" She indicated the frozen landscape. "He had more power in him than I did, and I am a god." She finished by dropping her head

I reached out with one claw under her chin and lifted her chin. "You are only guilty of loving too much, it isn't a crime. You know that you aren't supposed to interfere directly. What if you always stepped in the way when one of your subjects was threatened you wouldn't be able to do anything else. The weight of the responsibility that you bare is crushing, but you must forgive yourself." I told her as she sniffled and refused to meet my eyes. "I haven't heard enough about them to kill them for you, if the only crime that they have committed is inaction I can't in good conscious kill them. I need more motivation than that to take a life." I lowered my claw, but her head didn't slump again, instead a wide smile grew over her face, like a serial killer smile.

"Is that all that you need? A little motivation? Why didn't you say so?" She clapped her hands and we were immediately hovering over a desolate landscape with what looked like the tattered remains of a village. "This used to be a rival village, a few years ago there was a particularly cold winter that lead to a shortage of meat." She indicated the remains of several bodies as we hovered closer to the ground, they had clearly been scattered by wild animals. "You see the problem was that this village and the Sequoia village share hunting grounds." We lurched up and the two villages were highlighted below us in yellow and blue, the hunting grounds in orange spread out all around. "For generations they peacefully hunted the grounds together, ensuring that they didn't take too much and helping one another when times were tough. The elders knew that there wasn't enough food for both villages, but instead of a peaceful solution they came up with something a little more creative." She said with a sinister smile. We sank again and my stomach lurched with the decent. Just then a massive boar broke through the trees and ran into the old village before it was struck down by at least a dozen spears. Time seemingly sped up to that night and the boar was on a spit as all of the villagers celebrated the first real meal they had for a long time. "You see the elders captured a massive hog alive and fed it poison, slowly building its immunity and then dosing it with a massive dose before releasing it into the forest just outside of the rival village. It ran spooked right into the heart of the village where it was cut down. Then when every man woman and child had eaten of the boar's flesh they all got deadly sick." The scene transformed into people lying about barely moving. I could hear their moans as they lay around dying. "The elderly and the children died first, then the people that were left and not dead starved to death because they couldn't hunt." At this point all movement and sound from below had seized, and we stood in front of the longhouse surrounded by statues. "They aren't good people Xanthos, they are greedy and selfish. They ate well that whole winter while others starved and died. Your conscious should be clear." Her voice was back to normal all power and foreboding.

"I understand why you don't like them, but to kill them all in cold blood in front of their people? It just doesn't send the right message, plus I think we both know that I would have trouble killing a feisty gnat."

She just chuckled, I guess imagining me getting whipped by a tiny winged demon. "You are creative, you can figure it out the only reason Hawk lives is because he's so large. He is imposing and the village puts a lot of stock in physical strength. They are proud of their large men. You think they would hesitate to kill you or sell you into slavery? They wouldn't bat an eye." She finished her last statement by whispering into my ear after blurring behind me.

"I would like to think I am a little better than that, but I will kill them. I think that the world will be a better place or at least this little village, but I am not doing it because I want to change the history, or to avenge a wrongful death. I am doing this to prevent the future deaths, and change the culture and mindset of these people. I know the damage that a small group in power that belittles others can do. It is important that leadership is held accountable by the people that they lead. Even you should have to answer for the decisions you make. I expect some reward for this though; I am not in this for charity." I finished suddenly not feeling bad for her at all.

"You shall be rewarded." She said with a wicked smile and then she was an old hunched woman again, and everyone started moving as if nothing had happened.

I should have taken one of the positions as a God. Andrea's voice rang out in my head.