I stood in shock at the doorstep of my apartment, unable to reconcile what I was seeing within the familiar and mundane hallway of my home. Lengthy, silvery hair sparkled in the light of the ceiling fixture above him. Though his appearance and attire were the same flowing white robes with textured mystic patterns and silvery trim as before, overall it was somehow less. The god was still tall, though now normally so – he was roughly the same height as Kris, who's moderately tall for her gender. I still had to look up at him, but my neck didn't bother me when I did. His face emanated the same ethereal beauty and glow that would make a K-Pop idol jealous, but his skin no longer shined with light from within. His eyes were a bright gold color, though no longer glowing. But despite these changes, this 'lessening', it was quite clearly the god, Iter, standing in my apartment, arms spread as in benediction.

"Uh, hello?" a timid voice spoke next to me. Kris was staring at Iter, with the same amount of shock, but absolutely no recognition. "Are you a friend of Mai's?" She turned to me for confirmation.

"Aaah!" I started, "Iter, what are you doing here?!" I ushered Kris inside, then stepped across the threshold and closed the door to the street. I ignored Kris's questions for the moment to concentrate on the more pressing issue. But Iter was faster.

"This is your friend, Kris Dougherty." he stated, while glancing Kris up and down, then redirecting his smiling gaze to me. "A boon companion for a Hero. We shall await with hope the produce of this bond." At least he was speaking out loud this time. But the words he was saying were the problem.

Surprisingly, Kris smiled and nodded back. "Good to meet you. Mai didn't tell me that you would be here." She looked toward me expectantly, "or anything about you." Her eyes were wide and tinged with confusion, and something like… amazement?

"Ah, right. Uhm, Kris, this is Iter," I gestured, "Iter, this is Kris." I paused. "But I guess you already knew that."

Kris looked at me in confusion. "Does he speak English? And what language is that?"

"What?" I wasn't sure I heard her correctly. My mind tried to juggle too many things, and simply froze.

"Can I talk to him in English, or will you need to translate everything?" She looked back at Iter with a calm smile, but her eyes shifted back to me for confirmation.

"We can understand her, but without Our Communion, she will have no means to understand Our Celestial tongue." Iter continued to smile beatifically at us both, with the serene demeanor of a god.

"Uh, he can understand you." Wait, does this mean she couldn't follow what Iter said? What about what I said? I had an idea and brought my journal up to check, but Kris kept speaking, unawares.

"Hello, Iter," She made an abortive attempt to shake hands, thought better about it, did a funny kind of half-bow from the neck. "Good to meet you." Iter smiled beatifically back. Kris looked over at me with a too wide grin and desperation screaming from her eyes.

I closed the journal without learning anything, and laughed awkwardly. "Ah, heh, this is going to take a bit to explain. Can we sit down?" I started moving from the hallway to the front room to take a seat on the brown fabric sofa.

Kris followed, ducking past Iter, as he watched us both serenely. He then turned and followed us inside.

"Mee-ya-ow," Came a plaintive cry from the front room. Taiga was staring up at the three of us, wondering why no one was paying attention to her. A miniature black and orange tortoiseshell, I named her for my favorite palmtop tiger tsundere. She went self-importantly past the god and Kris to bump her head into my shin in feline demand.

"You asked why We are here, but is the answer not obvious? You are Our Hero. Where else should We be?" Iter looked down at the cat, seemingly in vexation. Taiga jumped up on the arm of the sofa, arrogantly demanding head scratching, ignoring Iter altogether. She was usually shy when there were new people in the house, but she was being rather competitive tonight. Was she that hungry for attention since my absence?

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"I thought that wasn't necessary anymore," I hissed in a whisper to Iter that felt too loud to my ears. I automatically scratched Taiga's fluffy flecked cheek and orange chin in response to an outstretched paw pressed against my shoulder. "But forget about that for now." I turned to look at Kris, who seated herself in a reclaimed leather and wood lounge chair, while Iter glided smoothly over to the sofa and seated himself next to me. Right next to me. I mean, there was another whole cushion and all, but he was so close our shoulders and thighs were touching. I looked over to see Kris, staring in open-eyed bewilderment at the two of us, mouth firmly shut. It's so not what you're thinking, I thought. I stumbled trying to get my thoughts together, but Kris was first to recover.

"So, uh, what language is that, Mai – and when did you learn it?" Her face was fixed in an intense stare.

Flustered, I glanced over at the god, but he was simply looking back at me and beaming unhelpfully.

"Well, it hasn't been that long, I guess," I answered truthfully. "To be honest, it was something I just sort of picked up while talking with Iter." Yeah, he's a god from some Divine Realm, and he stuck a translator in my head. What does Celestial even sound like, anyway? Inspiration struck. "I'm curious, what language does it sound like to you? His accent is not really anything I'd heard before, either." Was I sweating? I was sweating, wasn't I.

"You're right, it is hard to place. It does seem European, maybe a Romance language? There's a definite rhythm or musicality to it when you both speak. Like a French poem." Her stare finally relaxed as she pondered.

Wait, what?

"It's not French or Italian, though, I'd usually recognize some of the loan words from the Romance languages. Is it Germanic?" Kris was leaning forward as she spoke, her eyes alight at the mystery.

I felt like I was seeing a whole new side of my friend that I'd never seen before. French poems? I shook my head, both to clear my thoughts and in answer to her question. Her response had twigged my memory. Taiga, impatient at being ignored, walked across my legs, looked accusingly at Iter, then turned back around and settled across my lap, her black tail in my face. I stroked her back and tried to shift her tail away, to no avail.

"Close. He's Swiss." I felt safe with that choice, as they spoke all of the above, plus Swiss-German. Thank goodness for those localization projects with our European partners! I said an inward apology to all Swiss speakers. "I think he's from a more far-out region, with an older dialect, so it's hard to tell." The lies just kept falling out of my mouth.

"Wow, you picked that up just talking with Iter?" I winced at the new respect forming in Kris's eyes. Please stop looking at your horrible, lying friend like that.

"Well, I wouldn't say I was fluent. I'm not sure anyone else would understand me. Heh, heh." Seriously, please stop.

"With Our Divine Translation, you are completely fluent in all languages, Mai."

"Whaa!?" I goggled at Iter at this news. Taiga gripped her claws into my thighs in displeasure. It hurt like hell through the thin material of the scrub pants, and I swiftly tried to disengage them from my skin.

"What happened?" Kris asked worriedly, looking back and forth between us.

"Yeah. Yes. Shit, Taiga stop digging in. Um, Iter was just…telling me my accent sounded more German than Swiss. I guess I need more practice." I gave a weak-sounding laugh. "But yeah, we met after work, and have been meeting up now and then so I can learn." It sounded thin to my ears, but with Iter sitting in silent approval, maybe it would pass? I pet Taiga gently to calm both her and my nerves.

Kris had a strained smile on her face, which softened. I could tell she was coming to the wrong conclusion, but there wasn't anything I could do about it without coming completely clean and sounding delusional. I hated lying to my friend, especially so soon after she came to my aid. But I hated making her worry even more. If Iter's presence made her feel better, that was good enough. For now.

"I'm glad you have someone to take care of you, at least. Apart from Taiga, of course." Kris smiled down and gave a few cheek scritches to the cat perched on my lap. Taiga slow-blinked, and turned her face away. I felt but could not hear her purring in satisfaction. Kris glanced quickly at Iter questioningly before continuing. "Does he know about…" she looked me up and down, and I could tell she meant both my physical and professional conditions.

"Ah, yes, I talked with him earlier. Sorry I didn't mention it."

"You've had a lot on your mind. Well," Kris said, putting her hands on her thighs and levering herself up. I followed suit, dumping Taiga unceremoniously to the ground as I did so. Affronted, she leaped onto the now vacant couch as Iter stood as well. "Since you seem to be in good hands, I'd better hit the road. It's a long trip back to the city."

"I can't thank you enough, Kris." I reached out to lightly pat her shoulder in appreciation, and she pulled me into a gentle hug. Kris wasn't usually the hugging type. I stiffened up in surprise. Kris noticed, and pulled back apologetically.

"Sorry, hope that didn't hurt too much." She awkwardly put a hand behind her neck, looking down at the floor. "Get some rest, take care of yourself." She looked up at Iter. "A pleasure meeting you, Iter. Please, stay with my friend as long as you can. She's had it rough, and she's bad at asking for help."

"Of course. She is Our Hero. We will not willingly leave her side." he responded regally.

"He says he will," I translated. "Be safe on the roads. And, uh, thank you, Kris – for everything. I'll give you a call soon."