“So, this is our sister-in-law, no?” Thasvia looked at Lila from head to toe. “Interesting.”

“No funny questions, please,” Gemini replied hurriedly. He hadn’t quite forgotten how the Memory Sifter had questioned Lila about their nighttime activities. It was one thing to discuss them in private, but this was in no way a private setting. Besides, the others were all actually great gods, not a little researcher in some city. Gemini did not want to see a day in which some historian recorded the intimate details of the Demon Sovereign and his wife.

“Hmm? What’s wrong?” Thasvia asked. “What do you mean, funny questions?”

“No questions, period.” Shielding Lila from Thasvia and Liamar’s inquisitive eyes, Gemini handed Aria, who protested by nibbling his thumb, over to Lila, before giving the two of them a hug.

“Do you really need to go?” Lila asked.

“Hard not to. We need to get accustomed to the primordial divinity of Orb, if we are to stand a smidgen of a chance against the Abyss Sovereign,” Gemini replied. “It’ll be like acclimatisation. The more we get hit now, the better we can resist that person.”

“I suppose my punches won’t cut it, then.”

“…I don’t think they register in any scale of lethality once more. If my senses are right, they actually heal whoever you punch,” Gemini replied with a straight face.

“Really? Take this! Lila Punch!”

She withdrew her hands a moment later. “Ouch. That hurts.”

“I feel better already,” Gemini replied. “Keep hitting.”

“No, thank you. My hands hurt.” Puffing on her arms, Lila glared at Gemini and said, “You better not come back with lots of injuries, okay? I’ll beat you up if you do!”

“Considering that your punches have healing qualities, I’d consider that a benefit…ahem.” Gemini cleared his throat. “Don’t worry. If push comes to shove, the other great gods will act as my meat shield.”

“They agreed?”

“It was one of my conditions, yes. What matters most is my safety! Probably, anyway.” Gemini shrugged. “They might just go back on their words or something. Who knows?”

“You do know that we can pretty much hear everything you two say, right?” Hereward asked, rolling his eyes. “And yes, we will protect him, sister-in-law. Aria might hate us forever if we don’t.”

“Auh!”

“See?” Hereward gestured at Aria. “Sometimes, I get the feeling that she actually understands us, not just responding to her name and everything.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Gemini glanced at his daughter, who had turned her attention to a stray ray of sunlight flickering through the window. Like all babies, her attention span was as long as her finger, but it was equally funny to watch her try to grab the formless ray of light.

“Alright, we’ll be setting off now,” said Gemini. “We’ll be back for dinner. There’s no need to cook for freeloaders, so the three of us will do.”

“Hey!”

Liamar roared once, and once again, Gemini found his mind overloaded by fifty-three different ways of asking for food, ranging from polite requests to downright flattery. He wobbled for a few seconds, before turning to the Worldshaper. “Don’t you have your own chefs or something? Why are you requesting food from Lila? It’s not like we’re using luxury ingredients either.”

“Oh, come on. It’s a bonding experience!” Hereward sidled over. “Besides, everyone wanted to try out pizza after they heard about it from me.”

“So it’s you, eh?”

“Putting that aside, we should really be moving. Six months isn’t a lot, and we have to really double down on our training and acclimatisation. Every minute counts, you hear me?”

“You’re changing the subject here,” said Gemini. “But yes, we should really be going. We’ll be back before you know it, okay?”

After exchanging a few more hugs and kisses, Gemini reluctantly ushered the other great gods out. It was worth nothing that these old fogies were actually bemused by the few moments of affection he had shared with Lila, which made him wonder if these guys were actually foreign to the concept of love.

As power surged around him and the other great gods, Gemini twitched. The stares from them were beginning to get to him, for some reason, and he had half the mind to fudge up his teleportation.

“What?” Gemini asked testily. “Haven’t seen anyone exchange a bunch of kisses before?”

“Not in front of us, no,” said Thasvia.

“Not that flagrantly either,” Hereward added. “Still, the younger generations always do surprise us. Who knew that there’s a mortal who doesn’t care about doing all these in front of us?”

“She’s gotten used to it,” said Gemini. “Now, if you would please stop staring at me like that. I’m trying to save half a day’s worth of travelling, but you fellows aren’t making it easy for me.”

“Huh. I wonder what happened to the old, respectful Gemini.”

“The Demon God killed him and used his remains to make a better model,” Gemini replied. “Now, if you lot would just stand still and not stare at me, we’ll be there in a jiffy.”

“Sure, sure. Go ahead. Do your thing.”

The scorching gazes turned away, and as Gemini focused on trying to envelop the other great gods into the spatial bubble he was constructing, he couldn’t help but think about the unfortunate existence they led. Their every action was magnified by their strength; there was a reason why most people couldn’t be in their presence for any longer than one minute.

If it wasn’t for a conscious effort on Gemini’s part to shield Lila and Aria from the miniscule amounts of divinity leaking out from their true forms, both of them might be feeling unwell by now.

There was a reason why they usually manifested as radiant shadows.

“You guys…don’t you feel alienated from the people of Orb?” Gemini asked. “Unlike me, you guys cannot leak out trace amounts of divinity, preventing you lot from interacting with them normally. Don’t you feel…”

“Distanced?” Thasvia asked. “Yes, we do. But even we gods are imperfect beings. There’s nothing we can do about it, really. I apologise if we made you uncomfortable earlier, but it’s been a long time since we talked to one of Orb’s children.”

“I understand,” said Gemini.

“No sweat. Your existence, as well as Lila’s, is truly something miraculous, though,” said Hereward. “You, who dances between the mortal and the divine…I suppose the Demon God did at least do your body justice.”

“I’m still alive, though…”