Caethya rubbed Aperio's back as she felt the muscles tensing there, trying to soothe away the slight mixture of annoyance and anger that was flashing through the aura that surrounded them. The motion caught the attention, and a few looks, from the Beastkin they passed, but she gave it no mind. "What's wrong?" she asked instead.

A slight tingle ran over her skin as the All-Mother's magic flowed around the two of them, creating an almost imperceptible barrier that garnered a raised eyebrow from the Goddess of Magic who had abandoned her study of the runes in favour of following them. It was quickly followed by a long, ethereal sounding sigh. The more annoyed Aperio got, the more her nature as the Creator seemed to show.

"Nothing serious," she finally replied, her gaze briefly pausing on every member of the [Ancestral Guard] that looked at the two of them weirdly. "I had simply hoped that he would keep his straight-forward attitude and treat me like anyone else. Or at least just like a Goddess, and not the Goddess… And they keep staring. As if it's the first time they have seen someone showing affection."

"You did just fix the thing they had thought broken for a long while," Caethya pointed out with a small chuckle. "I think they are all a little shocked. They probably also did not think that you would show interest in such base desires."

"Why would I not be able to feel something for you?" Aperio asked, her ever-shifting eyes settling onto Caethya's own. There was anger hidden in their depths. "Do they think I'm some thing that does not deserve to feel? To be alive?"

"No," Caethya replied after a moment, her gaze wandering to the floor. "They aren't trying to tell you what to do. They probably just find it weird that a Goddess would deign to be with a mortal."

"But you aren't a mortal," Aperio interjected. "You are a Demigoddess, and will be an actual Goddess in time."

"They don't know that, though," the Elf replied, looking at her Goddess again. "To them I am just a stronger than average Elf." She held up her free hand to stop Aperio from talking, continuing herself instead. "I know, it shouldn't matter, but mortals don't usually see the divine in person. And they never get to see them being affectionate with, at least as far as they know, a mortal."

The All-Mother narrowed her eyes slightly, her aura losing a bit of the suffocating feeling after a moment. "That still leaves Kenmo's newfound devoutness. I didn't actually repair it — did not do anything." She sighed in exasperation. A few wisps of mana flowed out with her breath as if to underline her next words. "It simply needed a bit of my mana, which it got when I touched it."

Aperio mumbled a few more words that Caethya could not quite make out despite her excellent hearing. Being able to discern the conversations of the people around her from the usual background noise of a city was not something she was used to quite yet. It did, however, offer a topic for conversation that would hopefully shift Aperio's thoughts away from the [Keeper of Voices] a little.

"How do you deal with all the noise?" Caethya asked. The All-Mother looked at her for a moment, tilting her head slightly before she seemed to figure out what the Elf had meant.

"I ignore it," she replied after a moment of continued silence. "Or at least I try to. It got better with time, but now that you brought my attention to it, I am having a hard time not hearing every conversation in the city at once."

"Despite the barrier?"

"Yes," the All-Mother replied. "It only stops them from hearing us."

Caethya grimaced at the words. "I'm sorry," she said, removing her hand from Aperio's back. "I just thought a different topic would help you a little."

Her Goddess' wing wrapped a little tighter around her, the feathered limb easily pulling Caethya closer. "It did help," Aperio said, her hand running through the Elf's hair before resting, warm and near, on her shoulder. "I am still annoyed at his change in behaviour. But… It's my fault for expecting otherwise."

Progress! Caethya thought to herself as a smile graced her lips. "Perhaps," she said, wrapping her arm around Aperio's waist again, "you just need to remember that what you consider normal is likely not. Before, you couldn't know what was normal, and now your nature skews your view."

"Your normal is not a normal mortal's normal either," Aperio countered. She did have a point. Caethya had been working to become an adventurer since her early teens. Her skill with magic caused her to forego most normal education an Elf her age would take, leading her to not make many friends her own age.

That remained relatively unchanged as she grew older. When the few people she did become closer with went out to play, she would train. Be it her magic, sword fighting or simply trying to get her body to be on par with her magical might; it all took time away from learning what was normal. Now she was one of the highest levelled individuals walking the worlds, and before even turning thirty.

"Still more grounded than you, miss mana," Caethya said, leaning her head against Aperio's side. Despite the fact that they were walking and her Goddess was a lot more sturdily built than any mortal, it was one of the most comfortable things she had done.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

A slight sheen emanated from the All-Mother's skin in reply to Caethya's jest. Wisps of mana joined the glow after a moment, lazily dancing around them and growing in number with each step.

"I am the Goddess of Mana," Aperio declared in a mocking tone, giving Caethya's arm a gentle squeeze. It was followed by a moment of silence, then a slight sigh from the All-Mother. "Hoping that it was actually a Domain of mine was perhaps a bit much…"

Caethya wanted to ask about her Goddess' Domains, but the [Keeper of Voices] had suddenly come to a halt, and the barrier that had kept their words private vanished — an indication that their conversation was put on hold for the time being. They had arrived in front of a large, heavily ornamented set of doors. She had paid so little attention to where they were going — being content to talk to Aperio — that she had only noticed it when the All-Mother's hold on her loosened a little and the glow and wisps faded out of existence.

"Welcome to the Ancestral Archives," the [Keeper of Voices] said, opening his arms wide which caused the doors to do the same. "Please, step inside."

----------------------------------------

Aperio squinted at the door, its metal decorations reminding her a little too much of the ones that the Empire liked to use. A light touch of Caethya's magic pulled her from her thoughts; stopped her from going down yet another dark passageway of her memory. She moved her wing ever-so-slightly in reply, brushing it over her disciple’s back. While talking was nice, words were not needed.

"What, exactly, is this for?" the All-Mother asked, her eyes taking in the rows of shelves that seemed to reach endlessly upwards. There was a fog covering them further up, but her senses told her that they continued on — farther than should be possible. The building they were in was large, yes, but it was not high enough to house this.

"Knowledge," was the reply from the man behind the desk. "We collect and keep every piece of knowledge the guards, hunters, and now the Witness bring.”

Aperio had seen and sensed his location a little ways away from the group, but had thought him a simple librarian. If the guards were anything to go by, none aside from the [Keeper of Voices] seemed all that eager to talk to them.

"Witness?" Caethya asked, taking a step forward from beneath Aperio's wing.

"A member of the order who witnessed the death of our God and the planting of the seed that would become the [Ancestral Guard]," the [Keeper of Voices] said, his eyes fixed on Aperio. "The latest Witness is someone you have already met—"

"Neria?" Aperio interrupted.

"Yes," Kenmo replied. "She has not only met you in the now, but also witnessed your gift to Chellien's Trinity during her initiation."

The All-Mother hesitated for a moment before speaking again. "Is she here?"

While their last encounter had been a little awkward, she still thought that meeting her could be helpful. She is Moria's daughter after all… Maybe she knows something.

"Not at the moment," the librarian replied. "She and her mentor have been dispatched to take care of a few Demons in the Shiel'ma mountains."

"Allow me to introduce my colleague," Kenmo said, glaring at the librarian with barely concealed anger. "This is Selehan, the [Keeper of Tomes]. He is more interested in books than manners or propriety."

The man in question scoffed at the words. "I am interested in knowledge, my dear Kenmo; it doesn't have to be books." His eyes shifted to Aperio, his ears twitching ever-so-slightly, and his tail increased pace slightly from the regal swooping it had been doing before.

"And now we have a veritable font of it walk into these halls, specifically to seek help from me?" he continued, clasping his hands in front of his chest. "How could I not be excited? I have read so many things about the Creator; asked Moria so many questions before she disappeared."

"Don't expect too much," Mayeia said with a sly smile on her face. Aperio tensed for a moment before the Goddess of Magic continued, alleviating her fear and causing her to let go of the magic she had started to form. "Most of what she talks about is beyond what I know, and the other things she remains silent on."

A laugh came in reply from Selehan, causing Aperio to quirk an eyebrow and Caethya to smile slightly. "I would not expect the All-Mother to answer any of my questions," he said. "I hope to learn something by merely observing."

"Aren't you the one that is supposed to give us the information we came for?" Caethya asked, tilting her head slightly.

The Beastkin looked briefly startled before beaming at her disciple's words and producing a giant leather-bound tome from somewhere below his desk. "Why yes I am!" Selehan exclaimed, eliciting a long-suffering sigh from the [Keeper of Voices]. "Everything I know about Moria is in here." He tapped the book. "I have also compiled a list of potential places where she could be and who could have brought her there.

"Usually the divines do not touch our order," he continued, looking at Aperio. "But with your return I would not rule divine intervention out. Though, the likeliest option is still that she left on her own accord."

Because of me, Aperio thought to herself, directing her eyes to the floor. The warming touch of Caethya's mana helped, but did not manage to wash away her guilt this time. Neither did the hand of her disciple rubbing her back and the words of her prayer entering her mind.

The only upside of the situation was that it showed that Caethya cared. She knew why Aperio reacted the way she did and tried her best to help her.

With an almost imperceptible shake of her head, the All-Mother dismissed the thoughts — as best as she could, at least.

"May I see the book?" she asked and, after she received a nod from Selehan, waved her free hand. The book teleported into her grasp.

"There are also some other archivists that have gathered information for you," the [Keeper of Tomes] said, taking out another, smaller, book from beneath his desk. "Some of them have some rather… colourful ideas on what happened, but I believe any idea is worth investigating at this point."

He sighed, scratching the base of one of his ears before he continued. "While the order can work just fine with two Keepers or even none at all, the disappearance of the [Keeper of Relicts] is… unsettling."

"[Keeper of Relicts]?" Caethya asked. "What do these titles even mean?"

Kenmo stood a little straighter at the question, smoothing out his robe with his free hand. "As the [Keeper of Tomes], Selehan holds the combined knowledge of every member of the [Ancestral Guard]. This library is akin to a Domain, albeit a lot weaker than that of a God or even Demigod.

"Moria," he continued, "is the [Keeper of Relicts]. The one that holds the tools of our order within herself and teaches members how to use them."

Kenmo hesitated for a moment before he cleared his throat and spoke again. "I speak with the voices of those who came before; interpret their will in the here and now. I listen to the plights of the members that fall, be it in battle or old age, and carry them onwards to the beyond."

After a couple moments of silence in which Aperio only stared at the two Beastkin, trying to determine how what they claimed their titles did would work, the [Keeper of Tomes] spoke.

"Our titles find a new host when we perish," he said. "There is no new [Keeper of Relicts], so we know Moria is still alive. We just need to find her."