Aria gaped at the room as she strolled in. The bookshelves were gone, leaving only one large empty warehouse. As she spun around, her eyes found Chalik, lounging on one of the remaining chair. She crooked a finger at Aria, and Aria, with a sigh, obeyed the summons.

She stopped several feet away from Chalik and took in the goddess' pose, knees over one arm of the armchair, and attendants on both sides feeding her something chocolate-covered.

Over her, Aria could see Alogun at the nearest wall, writing frantically with a piece of chalk and paying them no attention.

"He's been doing that for days," Chalik said. "Every time he seems about to stop, he speeds up again."

Aria watched Alogun for a time. His motions were mesmerizing, though the writing was unintelligible.

"Is there any news about the earthquakes?" Aria asked.

Chalik gestured behind her. "Ask them. I barely understood the updates. I suspect they didn’t want me to.”

Aria followed Chalik’s gesture to the variety of attendants scattered about the room. One met her eyes. Rather than go over, she beckoned him to her. He obeyed and bowed slightly when he reached her.

“How may I assist you, Your Eminence?”

“Have you discovered anything about the earthquakes?”

The man glanced at Chalik as if requesting permission and Chalik nodded.

“The ground is breaking at an inconsistent but accelerating rate,” he said. “We have not been able to reliably predict the amount of time we have left. The number fluctuates with every calculation.”

“What is the range of your current estimates?” Aria asked.

“We have calculated our remaining time as anything from five minutes to two hours,” The man replied.

Aria sighed. She walked around Chalik’s couch until she was right beside the attendant, then she held out her stack of books. “I need to return these,” she said.

Alogun was still furiously writing. He would find the solutions. For now, her task was to continue with her plan.

“I also need more books on love-bound deities,” she said. “Give me anything I can carry that isn’t too advanced.”

The man inclined his head in acknowledgment and then retreated.

Waiting in that same position was awkward, with Chalik only a few steps away, so she approached Alogun. She stayed several feet away from him, but he might not have noticed her even if their faces had been touching.

He filled the wall in straight, even lines, right to left and top to bottom, starting a new column when he reached the bottom of the current one. The words were still unintelligible, but the drawings were even more so. They were a mess of lines, arrows, and unrecognizable shapes.

She strolled along the length of the wall, searching for something recognizable. Four columns away, she saw her name written almost halfway down a column. A few spaces later, she saw Tivelo’s and then Achi’s. They appeared in more places, thrilling her with every appearance but they did not make the writing any more intelligible.

“Something is odd about you.”

Aria jumped and spun around.

Alogun stood there, peering at her with a creased brow.

“Did you just appear here?” Aria asked.

“No. I walked.” He fell silent, still watching her with a penetrating glare.

Arai struggled not to show her anxiety. Behind Alogun, an attendant returned with her books, giving her something to do. She accepted them with a grateful smile, nodded her goodbye to Alogun, and disappeared. She had been back in her home for several minutes before her chest stopped pounding.

Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

In hindsight, it was obvious that she would not be able to hide her identity forever. Achi had provided her with an extremely expensive hiding place and she had chosen to stray from it.

She tied the straps on the bag in her hands. It was full of more yams and salted meat than she probably needed, but using all her brainpower for more important calculations. Once the bag was properly secured, she teleported to its destination on the lower realm, a dark cave a thousand miles below the earth. It smelled terrible, but it was spacious and as safe as she had found.

She took a few moments to inspect the place once more, and then she teleported home. She appeared in the middle of their sitting room. Wooden chairs with cotton padding, wooden walls, and windows with wooden shutters greeted her. After the parade of palaces and deities, she could barely believe that this world existed. The floor was made of red clay and one leopardskin rug. Beyond that and the utilitarian furniture, the house was empty.

Aria checked the backyard to confirm it and then stretched her senses over the entire village. Similar houses filled it, occupied by oblivious people, but her parents were not among them.

With a curse, she hurried out onto the streets and found the first person she knew. He looked confused to see her and spent more than a few seconds smiling stupidly at her beauty, but he answered well enough.

“They left weeks ago,” he said. “They went on a pilgrimage to Rogu. Are you family?”

He smiled what must have been his first smile. It was unfortunate for him that it showcased four missing teeth.

Aria thanked and turned away, relief flooding through her. Her parents were safe. They would never go on a pilgrimage to Rogu; they hated the city. Rogu was their safe word. It told Aria that they had left willingly and would not be returning until they received word from her.

Once again, Achi was ahead of her.

With her family safe, only her own future required management. She had no desire to follow Tivelo’s plan for her, but she needed to plan for the possibility.

Evera’s palace had not changed; every damage from the battle remained. Despite that, Ritu had not left. Aria found him in the damaged meeting room, hauling out rubble by himself. He stopped as Aria walked in, tensing at her footsteps.

“It’s just me,” she said.

When he turned around, she came to know exactly what a man resembled when he no longer cared. His head sat uncombed, like tufts of grass on parched land. There were stains on his shirt and all the way down his trousers and he had not shaved or bathed in days.

“How have you been?” Aria asked, realizing a moment later that the question was redundant.

To her surprise, however, Ritu smiled. “I’ve been well,” he said. “And you?” His brow creased in a worried frown. “I heard that Garo is awake.”

The news momentarily froze Aria, but she recovered quickly, glancing around the room to hide her discomfort.

“You seem cheerful,” she said.

Ritu shrugged and put down the chunk of stone he was still holding. “It comes and goes. How can I help you?”

Aria felt some discomfort about imposing herself on him, but her aim was pure.

“I was wondering,” she said, “did Evera have anything like a love potion?”

Ritu remained silent for a brief moment. He shifted his weight from one moment to another while he thought and Aria waited as well, uncertain about his uncertainty.

“She has something of the sort,” he said, “depending on who needs it.”

He moved before she could respond, strength in his steps. “Follow me.”

They found a staircase, but he went down instead of up. A lantern had burned out in the stairwell so that one portion of it was unlit. How long had Evera been dead? Long enough for her home to be in ruins. How long had Achi been dead? Long enough for the world to fall apart.

“Is it for a man or a woman?” Ritu asked. He turned from the corridor into a rectangular room.

“Does it matter?” Aria asked.

Shelves filled the room, like a wine cellar, but each opening held only a tiny bottle. One side of the room held green and white bottles - two to a shelf, while the other held red and blue bottles.

“I don’t know what the difference is,” Ritu said, “but she kept different ones for men and women.”

“It’s for a woman,” Aria said.

Ritu nodded. He didn’t seem as interested in her reasons as he should have. For whatever reason, he was calm and accepting.

He took and red and blue bottle from a slot, leaving an empty hole surrounded by filled ones. Then, he turned to face her.

There were no windows in the room, since it was underground. That, combined with the silence of the deserted palace, made her uneasy.

Ritu held up both bottles, the red one in his right hand, and the blue in his left.

“There are two doses,” he said. “She needs to take the red one first, while thinking about the person she wants to love. She must take it herself. The blue one is to be taken when the red one wears off.”

He held both bottles out to Aria and she accepted them, grateful for his unquestioning assitance.

“Does it work on deities?” She asked.

He looked confused, but shook his head. “No. Most deities have fixed personalities. If something can change them, it will need to be more powerful.”

Aria nodded, feeling the bottles in her hands. “Thank you.”

Ritu nodded as well. “Be careful. By the way, don’t open them until you’re ready to use them. They degrade.”