Tyr turned around and saw a stooped old man with a bearded face that looked like ape leaning on a staff and nodding at him.

"It's me Tyr. I'm Thoth."

"You don't...I thought you said you were trapped in your..."

"I am. This body you see before you is an avatar, a genetic construct I created from modified monkey DNA, ah, blood to you. My true form is still stuck, but I can see, hear, and act through an avatar like this provided I remember to keep it fed.

"Now, Odin asked you to free Ivaldi from Utard-Loki, and I intend to point you in the right direction."

"Why?"

"To placate Odin so he decides not to try and invade Jotunheim."

"Very well." said Tyr uncertainly.

"You clearly have questions, ask them while you follow me."

Thoth began to move past Tyr a a surprisingly brisk pace for the appearance of his age, with beginning to follow behind.

"The family I help before in the Greek realm, are they alright?"

"I answered that when you were in my place."

"And Odin says you will tell people what they want to hear so long as it delays Ragnarök."

"But you can sense lies." Thoth countered.

"And yet you managed to deceive me about your imprisonment."

"Nice counter to my counter. If a moment by moment will help you feel at ease so be it: After you walked into the woods to face Ares, Castor took your advice and gathered his family and some provisions and ran deep into the woods. By the time your fight ended, Ares's wounds had convinced him to not pursue the family personally, but sent the Phonoi to leave his side and go after them. The distance you put between where you were and where the farm was enough to make it so that when the Phonoi reached the farm the family's trail was beyond the their skills to follow, for the Phonoi are counted among the spirits of murder on the battlefield, not hunting.

"By nightfall, Castor and his family found a cave with a light coming from it. When they went inside, they found a woman in regal tunic. The conversations that she had with Castor lead to her accepting their company, and them sharing some of their food with her, with Ambrose offering her a cup of wine before the family went to sleep.

Stolen novel; please report.

"When morning came the Phonoi, along with the Keres and the Androktasiai who joined the search, found them. but before the murder spirits could enter the cave, the woman stopped them and forced them outside. It is at this point that the woman revealed herself to be Persephone, queen of the underworld. Castor actually fainted at this point, but Persephone merely told the spirits to leave as the family was under her protection.

"Ares, who had healed up enough from his wounds to move about, came a few days later and demanded the family because of their connection to you. When Persephone got the truth from Castor and Ambrose, she said Ares had no claim to their lives. Ares shouted and whined that neither did she as they were merely mortals she met, but Persephone said that she did have a claim because the boy Ambrose was her cupbearer, and the protection he had from that position carried to his family. Furthermore, she warned Ares that to attack the family from this point would be considered hostility towards her husband Hades. At this, Ares backed down."

"Then the family really was safe. What will become of them?"

"Ares destroyed the farm before the family could return to it, so the next four years will be difficlult for family until the money from the harvests they get from Demeter's blessing for helping her daughter can outweigh the people fear of Poseidon's disgruntlement. Ambrose will now join Persephone in most of her travels, particularly when she goes to the underworld. Ares will use trickery to kill Alasdair in battle, yet when Ambrose grows to be a man, he will catch the eye of Persephone's daughter, to which he will be shed of his mortality and he and his family will dwell in the palace of Hades, including Alasdair."

Tyr stopped walking for a moment, which caused Thoth to turn around.

"Are you seriously going to be upset that your action led to the death of a soldier you never even met? If Ares had impregnated the women, the offspring would have killed the whole family eventually. The needs of the majority are greater than the needs of a few, or even one."

"Says only those who care for neither." snapped Tyr.

"Odin would count it as a victory, despite his opinion of the Aesir who were sacrificed."

"Do you truly not feel regret for having them killed?"

Thoth let out a tired sigh and then spoke to Tyr in a kindly fashion.

"Tyr, you are a being whose origins are in flesh and blood. You feel empathy for other living things and have emotions as well as logic. I was a machine, and as such, am what was known as a sociopath. I do not feel emotions for other things: mortals, immortals, even my own avatars. I have attempted to be empathetic to no avail, and even had accidentally let my avatar bodies starve to death on more than one occasion. That being said, I don't make it a habit of throwing lives away for convivence. I weighed all options and outcomes before I made that choice. There was only a 39 out of a 100 chance that those Aesir wouldn't cause Ragnarök to happen earlier."

"And how low of a chance were you willing to risk?"

"Were I still an mundane computer, anything below 50 would be deemed a failure. However," Thoth added as Tyr felt anger begin to rise in him. "the humans that many immortals like the Aesir were before have a decent history of beating the odds even when those odds are drastically greater than that against them. So I accept a 44% success rate provided I can create a plan with a 70% success rate in the event they can't beat the odds after all."

"I suppose in your own way you do try to care for things, though I still don't agree with the sacrificing of a few to save many."

"So long as you are not counted among the sacrificed few, you never will. But come, this conversation nearing the factored termination time and the rest of our talks can be done on the leaf. Please continue to follow me to the lake."