Aperio carefully removed her arms and wings from Caethya when she felt the presence of her daughter enter her temple. The Demigoddess, who had almost been asleep, shifted slightly back from the All-Mother.
"Something wrong?" she asked.
"Ferio is here," Aperio replied, not quite sure how Caethya could miss her daughter's presence. "She had not told me that she would come."
"Does she know you want to leave for Geshwen soon?"
The All-Mother offered a shrug in reply. She had not told Ferio that she intended on solving that particular problem so soon, but neither was she really that surprised that her daughter had figured it out anyhow. She definitely knew about the Council thing. An event like that would be known to anyone who had a stake in anything going on in Ebenlowe, which included her daughter.
"I would assume so," Aperio replied as she sat herself up, a thought straightening her slightly dishevelled hair and dress. "Why else would she come?"
"Because she wants to spend some time with her mother, perhaps?" Caethya asked. "You might not be close, but she obviously still cares."
"She also does not approve of our relationship," Aperio said. "I was not — am not — a particularly good mother. Nor am I ready to be one. I don't even know her that well." Or at all, really.
"While it saddens me that she does not approve of us, that is also not really her concern." Caethya moved herself a little closer to Aperio. "What does matter is you two getting along. Unless you want to have this animosity between your daughter and yourself for the rest of eternity?"
The All-Mother remained quiet at the words. Family was not something she knew how to deal with. Not something I know… Her shoulders slumped slightly, her wings hanging over the edges of her bed. But why now? Does she not want me to deal with Geshwen?
She shook her head in an effort to clear her mind. "I just don't know what I am supposed to do. And don't just tell me to talk; that doesn't work when I don't know what to talk about."
Caethya shrugged. "Just see what she wants and — I can't believe I am saying this — maybe taking her with you to Geshwen is the right thing to do."
"She might be a Goddess," Aperio said, "but I am not sure that is the best idea."
Taking Ferio to first confront the emperor of the Eternal Empire of Zeltar and then inevitably fight whatever army they would throw at her for whatever reason... She rubbed her temples. Why can't they just not be idiots? At this point, all the mortals in charge of anything bigger than a village should know of her, and that whatever was said was not an exaggeration. If someone claimed her to be a world-ending calamity, that would be true. She could end the world. Not that I want to.
"Well," Caethya began, placing a brief kiss on Aperio's cheek before leaving the bed, "go and talk to Ferio. I'll wait."
Aperio gave her love a nod, letting a touch of her magic dance around Caethya as she disappeared from her bedroom and emerged outside of her temple in front of her daughter.
"Hello," Aperio said and folded her hands behind her back, hiding them under her wings. "I did not expect you."
"I had not planned to come," her daughter replied. "But if we keep doing this dance of staying out of each other's way, we won't get anywhere."
"Then what have you come to do?"
Ferio shrugged. "Talk; about anything, really. Maybe join you when you go to Geshwen to see how you do things now?"
"Less violently than you probably remember," Aperio replied, stepping past her daughter. As Ferio made no move to follow, the All-Mother extended one of her wings and carefully wrapped it around the Goddess to nudge her along. "I planned to go to Geshwen soon. After I took a moment longer to clear my head."
The Goddess of Life and Light caught on quickly and fell into step just behind her mother. "I assume the arrangement you have with the Council of Ebenlowe is responsible for your anger?"
"Arrangement? There is no arrangement," Aperio replied. "But the meeting is the cause for my anger, yes." She sighed lightly and rubbed the bridge of her nose. "I just can't understand why the mortals still feel like they can trick me. That they assume that everything I do is just for… show. A trick to placate them." Or something else?
Aperio could not think of any other reason for such misdirection, however. If she desired, she could end all of existence. What force could possibly move her, other than her own motivations? Do they think I need mortals to believe in me? That was the most logical conclusion she could think of, as it was true for every other deity.
"Mortals are not the best at comprehending the vast abyss between themselves and the divine. Much less the one that separates the divine from yourself."
"But that doesn't matter?" Aperio rebutted, taking a turn towards the stone archway she assumed to be a gateway of some sort. "I literally removed all their Gods from existence, changed the System to give them Classes, and they all just act like this is normal. Like it has always been this way." Her fingers clenched around the fabric of her dress. "It makes no sense!"
If she were alone — or maybe with Caethya — Aperio would be wringing her hands and, likely, collapsing face-first into the flowers that surrounded her. Being with her daughter, however, removed such options. There was decorum to be maintained. Even telling her as much as she already had might have been a step too far.
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"They lack respect," Ferio replied, taking a few larger strides in order to walk next to her mother. "All they know of you consists of the lies and half-truths their Gods told them while you were gone, and the new rumors that are spreading, shifting with each telling." She hesitated for a moment, reaching out with her hand before pulling it back again. "The sudden and unexplained removal of deities that have been absent for millennia has only enraged them, nothing more."
"Trying to sink Ebenlowe is a bit more than just 'enraged'. It also doesn't account for the worlds where the 'removed' deities were the only ones present. You said yourself that only Verenier was cut off."
Ferio stopped, causing Aperio to halt as well. "That's true, yes, but you also have to understand that the act of a deity walking around the mortal world is not common. Interactions with our followers on worlds other than Verenier are also much more sporadic and, in most cases, only facilitated through our churches. Did you think we were just answering the prayers of trillions at every moment?"
"Yes?" Aperio replied, turning around and tilting her head slightly. "Everything I have been told — have remembered — made it seem like you spoke to the people that believe in you. Let them know you are real." Actually give them something for their efforts.
"Well, we are not," her daughter replied. "We answer a lot of prayers, yes, but not every single one we get." She paused for a moment and simply looked at Aperio. "Is that why you don't reply to ones directed at you? Because it's either all or nothing?"
"I do not answer because I do not wish to be worshipped," the All-Mother said, turning around again and proceeding down the path that snaked around her temple. "The only prayers I do answer are from Maria, Laelia, and Caethya." And the latter doesn't even need to pray anymore.
If Caethya continued to gain strength like she was now, it was possible that future interactions with her might not require such an extreme degree of care. That was likely just wishful thinking, but Aperio still wanted it to be true. Living in a world where everything was made out of wet parchment was not something she had expected, or wanted.
"But all of that does not matter, now does it?" Aperio asked as her daughter began to fall into step behind her again. "What I want won't stop the mortals or anyone else from trying to sway me. I will go to Geshwen, present them with a choice, and then proceed to kill every one of those who will inevitably go against me. Perhaps they will learn reason in their next life."
"That sounds a lot more final than I expected from you."
"They are breaking the same rules I killed their Gods for. They will either change their ways to abide by this one simple rule I have for them, or they will die and can try again when their Souls are born anew."
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Ferio stared at her mother's back as she walked further along the gravel pathway. What happened? The person she was talking to now resembled the Aperio of the past a lot more than she had thought possible. But, Mother would have simply cleansed the entire continent back then. All in all, it was likely good that she finally understood that helping mortals to their next life was not always a bad thing. Especially when they always get fixated on something stupid. For one reason or another, mortals never quite seemed to grasp what the divine told them.
"Do you want me to do that?" she inquired, not quite sure if the anger her mother felt was because the mortals did not follow her rules or because she would have to kill them. "I have no issue with delivering an ultimatum on your behalf."
"No," Aperio replied with a shake of her head. "I have to do this myself. But… you could accompany me if you wish."
"Even if you are not sure what any of this will accomplish?"
"Yes," her mother replied, coming to a stop. "I do not wish for us to hate each other, but I am no longer the person you knew and, likely, not the person you want me to be either." She offered a shrug. "I am at a loss for what to do, so I might as well go with your suggestion."
Ferio quickened her pace to catch up to Aperio, who had begun to walk again — a task that was deceptively hard when one considered her large strides. She wanted to know if Caethea would accompany them, but though she thought it was something she should know, she was unsure how to phrase the question. Or even if she should ask it in the first place. It should have been an easy thing, but somehow it was not.
"We should leave," Aperio said, turning to face Ferio. "I have waited for too long already."
"Caethya?" was all Ferio managed to ask, the idea of the Elven woman accompanying them not quite sitting right in her mind.
"She will stay," her mother replied. "According to her, this is a good opportunity for us to bond and she does not want to impose. She is well aware that you do not approve of our relationship."
The last few words were spoken with a bit more venom; Aperio was obviously not fond of the idea that her own daughter did not like the person she had chosen to spend a part of her life with. Ferio simply doubted the relationship with Caethya was something for the ages; her mother was just too different for that to ever work.
"I never planned on interfering in your personal life," she eventually replied. "But she is correct, I find your relationship… questionable."
"And I do not care," Aperio replied. "Are you ready to leave?"
What happened? Ferio wondered as she nodded her assent. Her mother had never been this… fickle before. Every time she met her, the All-Mother seemed to have a different personality. Are the memories messing with her?
She shook her head at the thought; the most likely explanation was stress. If she had learned anything about the new Aperio, it was that she behaved a lot more like a mortal. A lot more irrational…
"I am," Ferio finally replied. As soon as the words had left her mouth she found herself standing on a thin sheet made from Aperio's mana, high above the city she knew to be the capital of the Eternal Empire of Zeltar.
"How did you know to come here?" she asked.
Aperio crossed her arms in front of her chest, pointing at the large palace in the center of the city with one of her wings. "I simply looked for the most pretentious place that held the most slaves."
Her voice was cold, devoid of the anger Ferio could feel running through the world at this very moment. Before either of them could say anything more, the Goddess of Life and Light felt the mana flowing beneath the city stop for the briefest of moments. It started to rapidly flow in patterns that seemed random, then stopped again. With an upwards wave of her mother's hands, the entire city was engulfed in a casing of silver and blue... causing nothing that Ferio could perceive.
"What did you do?" she asked, stepping a little closer to Aperio.
"Freed the slaves," the All-Mother replied as she held out her hand.
Ferio took a step backwards again as a shiver ran down her spine. A moment later, reality seemed to rearrange itself and Aperio's swordstaff appeared in her hand. The weapon's blade seemed to slice through space merely by existing in the mortal realm, and it also appeared to cut through magic itself when it strayed too close - Ferio's aura had a small pocket of nothing around the swordstaff. That's new.
Aperio muttered something under her breath, something that Ferio could only guess was along the lines of "I am done with this," before the bit of mana upon which the two of them stood disappeared and they fell towards the city.
Taking the sudden lack of footing in stride, the Goddess of Life and Light could only shake her head at her mother's actions. Nothing she was doing made all that much sense to her, but as long as Aperio finally did something, all would be fine. She wouldn't argue, whatever the direction of her mother's actions might be.