Chalik took the scene in stride, so Aria did too, pitying the man but unwilling to start a doomed battle over him.

Alogun was flipping through a book on the table, much like the one he had been reading, but larger and filled with the same strange language. She suddenly hoped the books she had just negotiated for were in a language she could understand.

Alogun found the page he wanted and smiled. Next, he walked a short distance to another side of the opening end retrieved a metal cage.

The caged man was immediately alert. “What are you doing?! Leave him alone.” He banged on the glass wall as if trying to get Alogun’s attention, but Alogun simply dropped the cage on the same table he had been working with. Inside the cage, a brown-spotted dog lay on its stomach, watching the proceedings as if he was too bored to care.

“Relax,” Alogun said. “I won’t hurt him. Actually, if this works, your debt will be paid. I need that prison for other things.”

He return his gaze to the book and began to read from it in a low voice, the words smooth as a song.

Aria glanced at Chalik for guidance, but the goddess kept her eyes on Alogun.

Alogun stopped speaking and for a moment, nothing happened. The caged man watched with wild eyes, the dog, blinked lazily, and Aria held her breath.

Then, in a blink, the dog disappeared. In its place, was a potted plant, so tall that it was occupying more space than the dog had.

The caged god screamed. “No! What have you done?! Where is he?! What did you do?!”

“Relax,” Alogun said. “He’s right there. Can’t you sense him?”

Aria shot a glare at Alogun, shocked by the god’s cruelty. What had this even achieved?

The caged god was sobbing. “No. How could you? I was going to pay you. I didn’t even read the stupid book.”

It had been a while since Aria felt so sad for someone. The god had lost all control of himself. He was on the floor, sobbing and pounding on the mirror and she found herself blinking really fast to hold back tears. She turned to Alogun, wanting to ask how much he was owed, but found him watching the scene expectantly.

The crying stopped sharply. The caged god froze as if seized by something. Alogun began to back away so Aria rapidly followed his example. The god rose to his feet, but something about him had changed. Aria swore that he was taller and thinner. His hair grew as they watched, from close-cropped curls to a straight, wavy, gray. Even his eyes changed, turning from dull brown to sharp red.

Chalik spoke. “What plant is that, Alogun?”

Alogun kept his eyes on the transforming deity. “Redtipped Maneater. Run.”

Chalik screamed to her attendants. “Run, you fools!”

She preceded them, taking her first step just before the caged god broke through in a shower of glass. Alogun snatched up his book before following along, flipping through the pages as he ran. Aria, however, teleported out of the building entirely, taking her place outside the building where she could watch the scene in safety.

I would pay a boat load of gold for a glass of wine, right now. Actually…

She found a drinking glass in Alogun’s kitchen and teleported into into one hand. Then she teleported a bottle of wine into the other, sat on the ground, and helped herself to it.

Alogun found the page he was looking for, but the escaped god was still chasing him. Each time he was within feet of Alogun, his hands transformed into mouth, like the head of a snake, and stretch out in an attempt to attack Alogun. Alogun, however, was faster than he looked. Once he was no longer distracted by his book, he kept well ahead of his pursuer. He ran in a large circle, leading the feral god back toward the glass room and reached there with seconds to spare. So speedily that Aria could barely make out the words, he read from the page he had opened, dumped the book, and continued running.

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The other god reached the glass-strew area seconds after Alogun had left, ignored the caged plant, and continued after the god of knowledge. They made another circuit. In the meantime, the plant transformed back into a dog. By all indications it was the same dog it had originally been, and just as lazy, but the chase did not end.

Alogun ran back to the scene of the crime, saw the dog, and looked hopeful. Then, he looked behind him and saw that his pursuer had not reverted to its previous state. He cursed, and continued running, looking back at intervals. Still, there was no good news.

He was beginning to pant, but his pursuer seemed perfectly fit. If anything, he seemed to be getting stronger the longer the chase went on.

“Look at your dog!” Alogun said. “It’s perfectly fine. You’re free. Take it and go home.”

The gap between them was getting smaller, inch by tiny inch, Each successive snap from the escaped god was closer and closer to Alogun’s neck. From the fear on Alogun’s face, capture would not lead to trivial consequences.

They came back around to where the dog was, Alogun now barely an inch from death. Done with her amusement, Aria picked up the cage, forcing it to hover in the air between Alogun and his pursuer. The other god stopped and stared at the cage. Aria wiggled it back and forth. The god snapped at it. Next, she broke a hole in the nearest exterior wall, still from where she sat, and threw the cage through it.

The god screamed and raced after it.

Aria caught it long before he had the chance and set it on the ground. The god reached the cage moment later, tenderly pet the now-terrified dog, and pulled the entire cage to his chest.

“Leave,” Aria said, even though she was too far away to hear.

The god rose with his case, cast an angry look at the hole in Alogun’s wall, then began walking away from the building. Aria breathed a sigh of relief - not that Alogun was safe; she didn’t care about him - but that the matter would probably end without more danger to anyone innocent.

The downed the rest of her glass before rising and walking back into building. Alogun had taking a seat in the nearest chair, recovering his breath.

He glared at Aria when she arrived. “You could have done that sooner.”

“I could have demanded payment as well.”

Chalik joined them, looking better than Alogun, but still disheveled.

“I keep the oddest friends,” she said. “Didn’t you claim that cage could hold Tivelo himself?”

“I said it could hold Tivelo in the right circumstances.”

“Whatever you say. But leave me in your will. You’ll kill yourself one of these days.”

She took a seat as well, and snapped at one of her attendants, who immediately produced a paper fan and began waving it behind the goddess.

“Well,” Chalik said. “Did you make your discovery?”

“Yes,” Alogun said.

“Well? What is it?”

“I’ll tell you for four million Diva.”

Chalik rolled her eyes. Still, she reached into a jeweled purse sewn onto her skirt.

“There’s no need to pay,” Aria said. Both eyes turned to her. “He discovered that when a love-bound god’s object of affection changes, the god changes as well. That means that the object determines the god’s nature.”

Alogun raised an eyebrow. “Id that all?”

“No,” Aria said. “It also explains why Achi has no powers. It’s not because he doesn’t know his love. It’s because he doesn’t have one yet. That is the only thing that could explain it.” Alogun looked surprised, so she was on the right track. “The person he is bound to has not been determined.”

Alogun nodded. “And?”

Aria fell silent. That was all she had discovered.

“That means that there is no predestined love for him,” Chalik said. “I suspect that his love is whoever he falls in love with, just like a mortal. If she is a good fit for him and he loves her and she loves him, I suspect that will be enough.”

Alogun looked angry. Chalik laughed. “Oh, Alogun, we’re not all completely stupid. Reviving Achi must be simpler than we thought then. The woman. I bet he was in love with her, but she didn’t love him. That would cause some problems. Then, you must be worried about nothing. We took care of her. No one is reviving her without our knowledge.”

A question was burning Aria’s insides, so she spoke it aloud. “Evera said that you poisoned the mortals. Is that what kept her from loving him?”

Both deities exchanged glances. “Evera told you this?” Chalik asked.

“She told everyone. Well, was it?”

The cast glances at each other. Then, Alogun spoke. “I did promise to answer your questions, didn’t I? Fine, yes. Our modifications to the mortal population was to remove their divine spark. It keeps those infected from naturally becoming deities. As a side effect, the lack of a spark prevents them from effectively forming lasting emotional connections with deities. To the girl, Achi would have seemed intuitively strange, like a different species, because that species-similarity would be absent.

“Truthfully, I expected her inability to become a goddess to make the largest impact, but I’m glad with the way things turned out. Why do you look angry?”

Aria schooled her expression. “Your days must be full experimenting on mortals and gods,” she said.

Alogun chuckled. “I always use volunteers or people who volunteer by stealing from me. Now, I’m sure you have books to read.” He rose. “Goodbye.”