The crunching of the fallen leaves could be heard as I walked into the vast forest. Though with my size there were probably bushes crunching underfoot as well. Due to my extraordinary perception I could sense the mage flying behind me without having to turn my head and look. Miya was sitting in my hand quietly and I did take a glance down at her to see how she was doing. She seemed to still be recovering from the lighting thing she had just witnessed.

Chilly fall wind rushed past from deep in the mountains as we reached a small clearing in the forest. We probably traveled about five miles away from the village which should be far enough that I wouldn't be heard. My thundering footsteps came to a halt.

"This looks like a good enough place to stop."

Carefully holding my hand flat I turned around and lowered myself to the ground. Should I pull up a rock from the ground for the mage to sit on or something? Or maybe I could let them stand on my knees? Deciding the second option was better I arranged myself in a cross-legged posture and lowered my hand down for Miya to climb out of and onto my left knee. Then I patted my other knee as an invitation for the mage to land there.

Ferherlyn floated down to above my leg and looked at my knee and then over to Miya sitting on my other one.

"The goddess wont bite I promise!" Miya said smiling and waving.

He seemed to hesitate again but then lowered himself onto my knee, his tiny feet barely registering with my skin under my dress. It didn't escape notice that he had also pulled some kind of small talisman out of his robe and was holding onto it tightly. Some kind of escape method most likely.

With a sigh I leaned back a little bit and supported myself with my hands on the ground behind me. Then I looked down at the older man on my right knee.

"So Mr mage. What did you want did you want to talk about?"

Ferherlyn was still standing up and looking around a bit nervously, unlike Miya who was happily relaxing on my other knee.

"Erm... Well yes great goddess. It was about the lord Quarely."

"You don't have to be nervous. I'm not going to hurt you."

He looked up to my face high above him again and I could tell it was difficult for him to maintain eye contact with me.

"I apologize Goddess Jenna." He said with a bow. "Its just... This is something I both didn't expect and am unsure how to react to. Normally a goddess-"

"Would be scary and angry or whatever." I interrupted. "Yeah I've heard that over and over since getting here. I'm not like that. You can speak your mind and not worry about being smushed or such."

"Well then. Perhaps I should start with why I came seeking you out. Though I have one question first if I may ask."

"You may."

Ferherlyn cleared his throat. "I heard that you were a goddess of light and knowledge. From that display earlier it would certainly seem to be the case. May I ask what you meant when you mentioned that humans were able to harness the power of this electricity in the past?"

Shit. The less information these bureaucratic scheming types know about my real history and other world the better. That didn't even cross my mind when I was saying that but now I have to think of some kind of excuse.

It was Miya who chimed in now. "The goddess can see into the future and has been to other worlds!" She said with great pride in her voice. "If the goddess says humans can learn to control lightning its certain to be true!"

She's gone and said it! Dammit!

"I see..." Ferherlyn said with a thoughtful look over to Miya.

"Don't ask about it." I said with a glare ahead of his next question.

"Of course. Well then if you permit I shall bring up why I came to find you Goddess of Knowledge."

I simply nodded to give him the go ahead.

He slipped his hands back into his robe and continued.

"The lord of this province Lord Quarely was recently made aware of your deeds in the protection of the town of Vemdelen. He has thus sent me as his envoy to ask to have an audience with you great goddess Jenna. He graciously invites you to the capital of the province to speak with him and his council."

The lord and his council huh? Sounds like they're going to try to butter me up and get them on their side. Going to a big city though? Don't like the idea.

"Where is the capital?" I asked closing my eyes. "Just a direction and distance in miles. Estimate."

"Oh? Well I suppose from here its about four days journey by foot. Around forty miles I would guess. It would be north east from here."

Inside my goddess zone I took a look at the map and tried to zoom over to that general area. There weren't really any worshipers coming up on my radar. Well there were a couple but that would mean I couldn't actually walk there without being stopped by one of those walls. If he knew this limitation of mine he could use it against me. Plus I don't like the idea of just walking up to a big city and causing mass panic. At the moment two villages and part of a town are too many worshipers for me to deal with so adding many thousands more doesn't sound like a good idea. What excuse to use that could satisfy him though?

"I'm not going to the lord's city." I said opening my eyes and looking at him.

He jumped in surprise, probably due to the intensity of my gaze. "May I ask why not Goddess Jenna?"

"If I just walk up to the city its going to cause mass panic for one. Also its very far away from these villages and I'd rather not travel that far right now."

"The Lord Quarely was very insistent on you coming to the city Great Goddess."

This got me to frown again and I huffed. "Oh? Am I to start taking some random man's orders now? I said I'm not going to the city and that's final. Now if he really does want to meet me still I'd be willing to meet him at that nearby town of Vemdelen. If you have the ability to fly I'm sure you have ways of getting him there just as quickly. Am I wrong?"

He bowed again. "Of course goddess."

Miya spoke up again, nervousness in her voice. "Goddess. If you don't want to go to the city couldn't I go there? I'm your high priestesses I could speak to him if he's below your notice."

She has a point. But for some reason I worry horrible things will happen to her if I allow her to go in my place.

"Well Miya. This lord guy really has his heart set on meeting me in person and if I sent a human in my place it would be rude. There's also the concern of your safety. There are bound to be people who will try to capture you and use you against me somehow. Not to mention hurt you."

"Yes goddess..." She replied looking down in disappointment.

Ferherlyn had been watching Miya and then looked back up at my face again.

"I can understand your concern for your high priestess Great Goddess. I can assure you she would be under the utmost protection in-"

"I said NO."

"Oh course." He said once again bowing to me. "If you permit I shall leave and arrange the meeting in Vemdelen immediately. I should expect we should meet you in the town by late this evening. Though the meeting would best be served in the morning hereafter I believe."

"Sounds good enough to me. Oh and before you go I had one question for you."

"Ask away Great Goddess."

I leaned back a bit more and looked down at him with a hopefully neutral expression.

"Do you feel Quarely's life would be in danger meeting me?"

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He looked away and then back up at my face. He was clearly thinking about what his answer would be due to the pause. So before he could answer I spoke again.

"Tell me the absolute truth in your heart. I shall not judge you for it. I want your honest answer."

Ferherlyn lowered his head.

"I do Goddess Jenna. Even as I stand here I feel the grip of fear on my heart. Surely you are behaving with kindness now which is in great contrast to what we know of goddesses. But with your great power any unpredictability creates great danger. This is how I view it."

I nodded. "Trust is earned not taken or bought. I'll earn the people's trust just as I've earned it from these villagers. Frankly I don't trust any of you mages or wizards. All I can think about is the scummy scheming and two-faced fraud that permeates bureaucracy." I shrug. "Who knows though? I could be wrong."

"Of course Goddess Jenna. The world of nobility can be filled with duplicity. If there is nothing else I shall take my leave and prepare the meeting."

"You're free to go Mr Ferherlyn. Stay safe out there."

He bowed one final time. "Farewell great goddess."

After that he turned around on my knee and chanted some kind of incantation and took to the air once again. Miya and I watched him fly up into the sky and off into the distance. Both of us sat there in silence for a good minute even after he had disappeared from view. It was myself who broke the quiet as I looked down to Miya on my knee.

"That went well enough I guess."

Miya looked up at my face and then down again immediately after. "Yes goddess."

It was obvious she was upset about something.

"What's wrong Miya? You can tell goddess."

"Well its just I feel useless." Miya replied with a sigh. "Even after getting such amazing power from you I still can't be useful to you with other humans in discussion. You and that mage spoke about things I have no idea how to speak about."

With a small sigh I reached down and carefully used my index finger to pet her back. She seemed to relax and I withdrew my hand again.

"You're not useless Miya. I know you can't act as a diplomat for me yet and that's why I bring you to these talks. Its so you can learn how to speak to those with power and also learn my will when talking with these sorts of people."

Miya looked up with happiness, her attitude completely different.

"You mean I can learn to speak with grace and power too goddess? Does that mean you'll take me to meet with the lord of the land?"

With another sigh I leaned back on my arms behind me again. This caused my knee to move unexpectedly and Miya had to brace herself.

"Well I can't. I'm sorry Miya. I'll have enough to worry about that I'm walking into a trap of some kind myself. For this big of a deal I don't want you to be in an any danger."

"What do you mean goddess?" she responded in disbelief. "What could anyone do to you?"

"Oh I'm not worried about dying or anything. I'd never allow myself to die because I have all you guys to protect." I leaned forward and looked down at her. "But they might have something planned to inconvenience me or try to trap me even if it's likely to fail. If you were there they could try and capture you and hurt you to control me you know?"

"I understand goddess."

Looking up at the sky I thought about what this meeting would be like. A goddess needs to be presentable. My hair was the last thing for me to really do anything with. I've let it just hang down up until this point.

Pushing myself into sitting upright I leaned forward a bit and lifted my hands up to my hair. It was difficult without seeing the side of my head but I began an attempt to make a braid nonetheless. It seemed I was really bad at it.

"Are you trying to braid your hair goddess?" Miya asked curiously.

I let out a sigh and dropped my hands to the ground. "Yeah. I'm not good at it though, and its not like you can do much."

"What if you used magic goddess? If it works on your clothes surely it will on your hair."

She had a point of course. I just wished I had a reflective surface nearby so I could see my head. That would mean standing up and leaving Miya to find a lake or something. Unless... I could see what Miya sees!

Well actually...

"Hey Miya. Keep looking up at my head for a moment will you?"

Quickly closing my eyes I looked at my goddess zone map and looked down at Miya sitting there on my knee. With some concentration I zoomed in on her closer and closer until I was right in front of her head. Can I really look through her eyes? After some effort I could imagine myself inside her head and behind her eyes and before I knew it my vision changed!

"I did it! I really can see through your eyes!"

Miya squeaked in surprise, looking down at her hands and then back up at my face. "You can see through my eyes goddess?"

My vision changed as she looked around like as if I was looking through her eyes myself. Well it seemed I actually was! It was a very surreal and bizarre experience looking up at myself. To be honest I was kinda scared at how big I was! It was awe inspiring to see how huge my body was now that I could look up at it like this. This is how humans saw me all the time and I can only imagine how much more terrifying it is when I'm standing up at full height!

"I sure can Miya! I look pretty scary huh? I knew I was big but this is kinda crazy."

Miya laughed as she looked my torso up and down. "I don't think you're scary goddess! You're so kind and gentle. The only people who could be scared of you are the ones that haven't got to know you yet, though once they have they wouldn't be scared anymore."

"You're kind Miya. Now please keep looking at my head I'm gunna try and use magic to style my hair."

"Yes goddess!"

With my vision now of my head from Miya's eyes I can clearly see my hair and the sides of head. It was from pretty far below but it would work just fine. With my new perspective I lifted up my hands to the left side of my head and held a bunch of hair between my palms. If I can just imagine a braid...

Aha! I could feel the mana flowing through my hands and into my hair. While picturing the braid in my mind I pulled my hands apart and the hair floated in the air, swirling around and tying itself up in a neat braid. My hands dropped away and the newly tied braid fell to the side of my head.

"Amazing goddess!" Miya said clapping.

From her eyes I could see my face blush a bit as I had a beaming smile across my face.

"Thanks! This is so cool!"

With one success under my belt I quickly did the same thing on the other side of my head before dropping my hands to support myself on the ground again. I then turned my head from side to side and watched the braids dangle around.

"So how do I look?"

"You look wonderful goddess!" Miya replied.

How do I end this vision thing? Maybe just thinking about ending it. Yeah that works. The vision through Miya's eyes ended and I found myself back in the goddess zone. What a trippy experience. My eyes opened and I felt my new braids. A hair accessory would be good too. But what? Just a brooch?

"I'm not looking through your eyes anymore Miya. Hey what kind of brooch do you think I should have?"

Miya stood up and put her hand to her chin. "Something that represents your power and knowledge. Maybe the sun?"

Hmm. A good idea but kinda generic. What else might represent knowledge but also light? The sun, the stars, oh that's a good one. My mind tried its best to conjure up something from my memories. The image of something bright and swirling entered the back of my mind. I tried to focus on it, really trying to drag into the front of my mind and force myself to remember.

The Milky Way.

The swirling memory of a galaxy entered my mind's eye. Billions of brightly sparkling stars of all manner of colors swirling through space with the planet Earth somewhere in there circling one of the stars too tiny to even make out. A terrifying display of the scale and power of creation, a tiny part of the infinite universe and such unspeakable beauty.

The memories of home came and filled me with sadness. Does the Milky Way even exist in this dimension? I'll never see Earth again of that I am strangely certain. Perhaps this is simply a new universe I was sent to do something important in. All I know is that I'll do my best.

This is the brooch I'll wear. What else could inspire awe of the infinite than a brilliantly shining galaxy filled with unknown infinite information. Light and knowledge. With my outstretched left hand I imagine an object and feel it materializing in my hand. Its a big and colorful brooch in the shape of the Milky Way, its arms a bit stylized and sharp looking. I hear Miya gasp and I open my eyes.

"What is it goddess?" She asked in excitement.

There it was. A beautiful brooch of a galaxy in my hand. It was as big as my hand at least. I turned it around to show to Miya.

"Its so beautiful goddess!"

I nodded looking down at the brooch. "Its a galaxy called the Milky Way. I'll have to explain it in more detail sometime, but its a group of stars so enormous you might not even be able to imagine it. The universe is big Miya and even a galaxy is tiny compared to it. Stars hundreds of times bigger than the world gathered in such numbers as to be more numerous than the drops of water in a lake. Yet together they pale in comparison to infinity."

Miya's eyes had glazed over and she blinked herself back to reality.

"I don't fully understand what you're talking about goddess... But it sounds like it represents you wonderfully! A big group of shining stars is just like looking into your eyes!"

I smiled down at her. "Thanks."

My hand moved over to where she was standing on my knee.

"Can I borrow your eyes again? But from the ground behind me this time."

"Sure goddess!"

Miya climbed onto my hand and I moved her to the ground next to me.

"Just run behind me so I can get a good look at the back of my head."

She obeyed and once she called out she was in position I went back into my goddess zone and zoomed in on her again. Hopefully this works easily a second time. Thankfully with some focus I was able to look once again through her eyes. This time I was looking up at my back like a great tower.

"That's perfect! Just look right there at the back of my head."

With the brooch in my hand I reached back around my head and used magic to try and move around my hair. It was sort of like a half bun where a portion of my hair was pulled back to form a bump for the brooch to wrap up like a fork and noodles. It was important to me that the vast majority of my hair draped down over my back and this allowed that.

Once the brooch was tightly secured I moved my hands away and turned my head this way and that. The brooch went above my top of my head slightly but didn't go so far as to stick out the sides. Honestly it looked pretty cute.

"How does this look?" I asked.

Miya clapped. "It looks beautiful goddess! It really makes you look more regal as well!"

Letting out a sigh I returned my perspective back to my own eyes and opened them. Carefully I felt the brooch in my hand with my hand. It was pretty regal looking. Success!

"I think I'm gunna lay down Miya."

After she had moved out of the way I lowered myself to the ground on my back with a deep sigh. Using magic I formed a big lump of earth to make a pillow for myself as I lowered my arms next to my body.

'This meeting is gunna be a big deal you know."

Miya walked over to my right hand and put her hands on the side of it.

"I know goddess. I believe in you though! You'll show this lord who's the boss!"

We both giggled.

"Why don't you stay here and talk with me a bit?" I asked. "I won't have to head to the town until this evening and we'll be able to do some stuff in the village after a chat."

"Sure goddess!" Miya responded.

She walked over to my head and sat down on a log nearby my ear. This conversation was more for me than her, something to calm my nerves. I'd hate to look nervous in front of the others as it would weaken their view of the powerful goddess, but with Miya I know I can be myself openly. Its a good thing for even a goddess to have someone to feel comfortable around.