Alene had been looking for Hiru for a while now, searching throughout the city, but had been unable to locate him. She had searched high and low, covering every place she could think of, except one. There was only one other place that he could be. The swamp. She slowly walked over slowly, contemplatively, unsure what she might find.

‘I don’t forgive you.’ Sym’s voice cut through the air sharply as she neared. Oh, this sounded personal, again. She paused, uncertain whether to continue or not. ‘But, I also miss you.’ Sym’s voice softened, pausing for a long moment, before continuing, voice firm. ‘Learn the dreams of the people, of every person in the city, every person you killed, and tell their story to the forest of whispers, so they can live on, in some small way. Do this, as penance, and only after, will I see you again. So,’ she paused, the wet sound of her tail wafting in the water, ‘I’ll be waiting.’

This seemed a good point to join them, she didn’t want to be caught eavesdropping. Alene walked forward, seeing Hiru sitting cross legged, his head hung down in acceptance, hands threaded in the grasses by his knees. Sym lay by the water’s edge, eyeing him as her tail drifted behind her. ‘Sym,’ she greeted. Sym looked at her, eyes wary. ‘Alene,’ she replied, slowly. Hiru nodded to her in acknowledgement, before getting up, brushing his hands of any lingering grasses, and leaving them, his face set, resolute, ready to face his task, no matter how impossible it seemed.

‘I hope I didn’t upset you. By not…siding with you,’ she floundered a little, after Hiru had left. Sym sighed. ‘I kind of knew you wouldn’t. You’ve committed to your godhood. I had kind of hoped you would choose to be a human, but I knew it wasn’t a realistic wish. I knew since you ate the godling.’ They sat, quiet for a few moments. There was a silence between them that there hadn’t been before. Alene wondered if it would always be there, this…distance, between gods and humans. In the values they held, in their worldviews. Another thing she had sacrificed in her pursuit of godhood, she supposed. Her human relationship with Sym. She had chosen to give it up, along with her humanity. Would their friendship survive?

‘I’ve decided to form a new body,’ Sym offered, breaking the silence. Alene looked up, intrigued. ‘How?’ she asked. ‘I’ve talked to Mother about how painful it is to leave the toxic waters. About how I didn’t want to be her acolyte.’ She paused, a touch awkwardly, looking at Alene askance. ‘It was…a difficult conversation. She’s so…indifferent, with me.’ She stumbled a little, getting the words out. Alene winced. It was bad enough she had forced acolyte-hood on Sym, but to now have a mother that didn’t particularly have any consideration for her… She couldn’t force Mother to care, unfortunately.

‘I’ve already decided on a material,’ she resumed. That was exciting, Sym deserved to be happy, after all that had been taken away from her, all that Alene had taken from her. ‘Do you want help?’ She asked, eager for Sym’s new form. Sym shook her head, her wet hair sticking to her face. ‘I want to do it myself,’ she said firmly, ‘I want something that is all mine.’ Alene bit her lip, worried about the pain she would be putting herself through in the process. But if Sym wanted to she wouldn’t stand in her way, Sym knew her own body and what her limits were. ‘What materials are you going to use?’ she asked, curious. ‘I’ve been collecting sea glass, to turn into gears for the joints, and seafoam, for the base. I like being a naiad and having two forms.’ Alene nodded, understanding. She did miss her bird form. Would she be able to regain it, now that she was whole, she wondered, or would she have to stay as a fish. It did feel a little like penance, to wear the little gods old form, and be reminded of the choice she had made.

She left, with Sym’s promise to show Alene her new body, once it was complete. Alene returned back home to Hiru. He was packing up, his hammock already unstrung. ‘I’m going to return to the catacombs,’ he said as she entered. Alene nodded with hesitant acceptance, ‘will you be ok? Back in the dark?’ she asked. She didn’t want him to retrograde, he had come so far. It seemed unnecessarily cruel for him to continue to punish himself for something not out of the realm of what any god would do.

Hiru paused, ‘It…it doesn’t have the same pull any more.’ He finally said, ‘but it’s where all the city inhabitants's skulls are. And I’ll have to listen to them, one at a time, in order to fulfill my atonement and complete my reparations, so I have to return.’ Ah. He was choosing humanity, choosing to retain some of his human morality. Choosing Sym.

The story has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

He seemed resolved, ready and determined for the task ahead. It seemed like so much for one person to take on, such a herculean task. But if this was how he found closure for the damage he had wrought on the city in his pain, Alene would support him. ‘You’re always welcome back,’ she said. Hiru smiled, hugging her. He seemed lighter, with a goal before him. With Sym at the end of it.

Chapter 6: Occhiolism

She had been a bit lonely, since Hiru had left, with both her friends occupied. But she wouldn’t disturb them, both of their tasks held great importance to them, and required them to be completed alone. She returned to her previous routine, exploring the city, only now it wasn’t in search of something, but rather for her own delight, recovering more of her memories with each journey, recovering herself, as Una. Someday she might even be called Una again. Or perhaps something completely new, something beyond where she had been when she had been Una the young head-strong god, or Alene, the lonely abandoned ghost.

She had tested the city limits, walking out the edge of the city and beyond it, to the forest and the trees, relieved to find she was no longer trapped. It had taken some mental preparation, some galvanization, but she had been determined to find out. She had spent so long in the city, and so much of it unknowingly trapped, she had to know if her new completeness would release her from its grasp.

It was a free feeling. She was excited to see Ceit again, when she returned, perhaps even to travel with her, this time, though she would miss her friends here, they had their own lives, and each other. Sym and Hiru had so much history between them, even more than they and Una had. An entire life of humanity, of human friendship, and potentially something more, if Alene’s growing ability to read social cues could be relied upon. She hoped so. And though they had been friends with Una as well, it wasn’t the same. Una hadn’t been human with them, and couldn't understand their experiences like they could each other’s. She was a god, even now, had chosen this as her path, committed to it, while Sym and now Hiru seemed determined to hold onto some vestiges of their humanity. She respected their choice, hoped them well on their journey, different though it was from her own.

She wondered at her relationship with Ceit, however. She was uncertain if there was a pedestal she was holding her to, if it was what she represented to her that made her friendship with Ceit so special to her - the end of loneliness, the beginning of a journey of self-discovery.

She was returning home, orange in hand from the kiosk, and a sprig of osmanthus she had found along the way, when she saw there was someone waiting for her. Novem godeater, consumer of gods soul and all, was lazing about on her bed, his tail flicking leisurely as he lay among the once brightly colored, now sun bleached fabric of her nest. ‘You’re back!’ she exclaimed, excited to see her friend again, the one other living god she knew besides her mother and Hiru’s. Someone more her own age. He looked up at her, amused by her excitement. ‘Did you think I would abandon you?’ He got up from his supine position, approaching her, butting her hand for pets, which she obliged. It was nice to be able to pet him without worrying about her hand falling through his fur. ‘Actually,’ he said, after a moment, extracting himself from her fingers scratching under his chin with some reluctance, ‘I have something to show you.’ She looked at him, warily. Last time had been a shock, a transformative, life altering decision. And though it had been one she refused to regret, she was still leery of his next offer for assistance.

He led her outside of her home. ‘It’ll be easier if you take your old form,’ he drawled in his lazy way. She took a deep, apprehensive breath. She hadn’t yet tried to return to her former bird shape, a bit nervous whether a fish could become a bird. She concentrated, thinking of her kestrel shape, of having light bones and long wings, and a curved, fierce beak. A pop sounded as she displaced the air, it whooshing back into the space she had just vacated, followed by a sense of vertigo as she shrank. She flapped, ungainly on the ground, unused to the new form. Ha! She was still Una, in this small way, she thought with elation.

Novem nodded approvingly. ‘Now,’ he said, closing his bright, jewel red eyes, ‘follow me.’ He appeared to stretch, a flicking motion, like he was dislodging something from his back, muscles flexing. A second form emerged, a sort of astral, transparent cat superimposed over his body, ghostly. This was what he had done before, when he had taken her to the cat cemetery. When he had shown her a time when someone would hold her, love her. She still wasn’t sure who it was, if it was, but now she had so many people that it could be. It was warming.

The opaque cat body stretched, reaching up, up, up. Alene took wing, flying ungracefully at first, following as it expanded, reaching high overhead, a massive, celestial beast, until he reached into the atmosphere. ‘Things look different, from up here,’ he said, his voice a rumble in a massive chest. Alene perched on his spectral head, resting next to an ear. He walked forward, taking them farther from her home, carrying her miles with each step.

‘Look down,’ he said, his voice deep and ancient. She looked down, cities, civilizations stretching out beneath them. ‘There are so many more than just where you were. What you need is some perspective. You are a god, Alene, more than just one city. You may have chosen them, back when you were Una, but there is so much more in the world.’ They walked for many many miles, covering continents, seeing many different peoples, more than she could have imagined, all with varied beliefs and values. There was room for her, in the wider world, she realized.