Even though it was still only morning the activity around the festival grounds was quite high. These kinds of things were major events after all and broke up the practical monotony of daily life in this type of time period. I mean if I wasn't a goddess I would have been bored out of my mind showing up in this world. Thankfully I suppose for both myself and others I was given this gift instead of someone else.

As I followed the courier it was brought to my attention that it was quite quiet these days inside myself. Ever since Miya was killed I had grown accustom to having someone else inside my head with me. Now she spent more and more time assisting Sub-chan with the answering of prayers, something I had suggested and she agreed to.

Having all this power really was making me distant from my humanity and so her input would help keep things from going horribly awry, at least that was my hope. But because of this work she interjected in the active goings on less and was back to sleeping regularly. Hopefully I could get her back into her own body soon.

Soon the inside of the jousting arena came into view as I walked under one of the seating constructions. It was comparable to a small town football field I'd wager with the stands being able to sit around two thousand people. While that might seem like not much really for this time period it was quite a lot. The dirt jousting area had fences on either side and the large dividing elevated log in the middle.

The place I was going to sit was the VIP stand where the important or rich sat. It was as tall as the highest normal seats and was covered to keep the sun or weather off of you. It also had the added benefit of being near the temporary stables where the horses and contestants would prepare themselves. This is considered a benefit not because of the smell that might waft from it but because it allowed the fancy people to rub shoulders with the contestants, many of whom they probably knew.

There were already a lot of people in the stands even though the event still had an hour or so to start. Their reactions to seeing me walking down here were mixed between several options: some were happy to see me and waved, others were afraid to see me, and still others just didn't know who I was at all. None of these reactions bothered me and honestly it made me embarrassed being out here in public like this.

I hurried forward past the courier and waved back at him while speedwalking.

"Thanks for the escort. I'll take it from here!"

The man looked shocked and raised his right hand.

"Wait! I-"

He then realized who he was talking to and decided to stop walking. There was no reason to expect me to follow human procedure he supposed so there's no reason to endanger himself trying to enforce it.

With my escort standing in solemn defeat I was clear to jog up to the staircase of the high society stand. It was made of wood and had a nice handrail to assist in climbing, but I didn't need it and acceded two steps at a time. In a matter of moments I found myself at the top of the structure and overlooking the entire little stadium. We were probably around thirty feet in the air.

The outside view wasn't the immediate thing I looked at however as the first thing I did was look around to see who and what was up here. This nobility seating was as expected fancy for the period with small tables and padded chairs. There was also small platters of food and bottles of wine as well for those that wanted to snack or wine it up while watching.

As far as the people who were here of course there were many people I didn't recognize or care to know. Various lords and ladies of the king's court and from the provinces around the kingdom were here but I didn't really like them. There were a couple mages here too and they gave me shifty looks.

There were many faces I did know here too and even some I liked seeing. For start the king Alphonse, his wife Sashui, as well as his son Turshok who I had met before. Not people I was particularly happy to see. But then to my happy surprise there were Quarely, his wife Belieal, and one of his sons Jeris. Now those were people that were good eggs.

I started walking over to Quarely's table and his wife noticed me before anyone else did. She alerted her husband who turned to smile and wave at me. Just as he was about to open his mouth and say something he stopped himself and looked past me to my right.

Wondering what was up with him I stopped and looked over my shoulder. To my great surprise there was something walking up to me. Not that I was actually surprised of course, but in safe settings like this I rarely monitored every human movement with goddess vision so people actually could do things I wasn't aware of sometimes.

It was the heir to the throne and first son of the king: the nineteen year old Turshok. He looked quite dashing in his fancy clothing and his pink eyes seemed to still have that spark of humanity in them. As he approached me he seemed quite nervous. Perhaps he wasn't a lost cause.

His father stood up from his chair a short distance away clearly upset.

"Now hold on boy! D-Don't seek out-"

Turshok turned halfway around and smiled at his father calmly.

"Don't worry father. I'll be alright."

By this point I had stopped walking and turned to completely face the prince. He wanted my attention for whatever reason and now he had it, for weal or woe. I just stood there with my hands on my hips waiting for him to finish approaching.

He stopped several steps away from me and did a small bow. While visible nervous he was putting on a brave face.

"G-Greetings great goddess."

I nodded and looked up at him with a somewhat stern look, not really trying to be intimidating but it couldn't be helped.

"Yeah? Did you need something? You're the firstborn right? Turshok?"

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Turshok nodded and tried to stand up straight.

"Well yes goddess. It pains me that we never got properly introduced. I've only met you the one time and I was..." He paused to collect his bravery. "Well I was hoping to get to talk to you sometime." He then looked back at his family's table. "Perhaps while waiting for the joust?"

This was certainly interesting. No one else in the royal family ever actually asked to sit down and talk to me. Surely this was purely for selfish reasons like getting on my good side or something like that but still, even his father had never done that much. I found myself crossing my arms over my chest and smiling a little smirk.

"I'll have a chat with you sometime. But not now as I have others I'll be sitting with for the event."

There was both relief and disappointment in the young man's body language. Defeat was in his voice as he replied.

"Yes... Of course goddess... I'll look forward to that then. Please enjoy yourself today."

He again bowed and then turned back to his family. As he walked away the king berated him for his actions which I understood from the crown's perspective.

I dropped one arm to my side and the other hand went to my hip. Very interesting indeed. I'll make a note to have a chat with that one soon. After a moment of looking however I turn back around and walk over to Quarely and co.

Quarely smiled as I came to a stop.

"My you've certainly gotten popular in the king's court goddess. That seems like a good sign to me certainly."

I shrugged. "I guess."

Then I looked over the other two and gave them nods of greeting. His wife smiled and waved shyly and his son stood up to bow to me. Jeris was a pretty cool dude as far as nobility went and I thought he'd end up pretty decent as an adult.

"Greetings Goddess Jenna!" Jeris said standing up straight again. "This is my first time to the capital and I feel much safer with you here."

A little giggle escaped me at his silly and cute behavior.

"Yeah I bet its pretty scary being so far away from home in such a big busy place.." I then winked at him. "Don't worry though I got you!"

He blushed and sat down again. Even though I was on good terms with his father he himself didn't know me that much.

"T-Thank you goddess."

I then looked over their little group again and figured out what was missing. It was old man mage.

"Hey where's Ferherlyn?"

Quarely smiled at me and pulled the empty seat next to him up further.

"Oh he's back in Vinedenne still. Someone had to keep watch of things while I came here to the capital. Such an exciting event was something I couldn't miss. I thought you'd have selected a champion sooner dear goddess but I know you have your own way of doing things."

I crossed my arms over my chest and let out a sigh.

"It wasn't even my idea" I replied with a frown. "Honestly I think I could've gone without one." I then shrugged. "But hey I mean it is the quote un-quote proper thing for someone of my status I suppose so why not?"

It was the wife Belieal that spoke up next. Her voice was always soft and she rarely spoke. Just a personality trait perhaps.

"You truly are a goddess like nothing we could have imagined." She said smiling warmly. "I think its wonderful how little you care about your status in the world despite being so powerful. Truly we humans could learn from your humility."

This praise made me blush and I lifted my left hand to shyly rub at my chin. I honestly didn't put as much thought into this stuff as people gave me credit for. Really I was more ignorant or dismissive of the stupid games of the rich than anything. I guess that made me humble since status wasn't a big deal to me, at least besides for the respect a goddess deserved. I did have to enforce my divine status, though I only did that when I really needed to.

"Thanks Lady Belieal." I replied with a smile. "I mean I try to be humble. My father taught me that lesson."

Seeing me standing there still Quarely patted his hand on the seat near him. He then spoke in a friendly and joking manner.

"Come and sit down goddess. Don't just stand there! The other nobles will have my head for making a goddess stand idle while my family chatted her up!"

His wife looked shocked and then embarrassed.

"Oh goodness! I apologize goddess!"

"Don't mind if I do!" I replied.

Another giggle escaped me as a smile cracked on my face. I daintily swooped around the table and planted myself in the padded chair without another word. Then once I was sitting the others seemed to relax again.

Once I was sitting down Quarely reached for a cup and bottle of wine that were sitting on the table.

"Would you like something to drink? Here let me get you a cup."

I settled back into the chair in quite bad posture and held up my left hand.

"No thanks. I know I have to keep reminding you guys but I don't need to drink anything. It's unusual so I see why you forget all the time. Besides I don't really like the taste of wine."

He put the items back down and sat back up in his chair, the look on his face somewhat disappointed.

"Oh of course. Sorry goddess."

Beliael then smiled and tried to perk up a bit.

"So goddess. You've mentioned your father before but you've not told us much about him." She then looked a bit hesitant. "If you don't mind I'd love to hear more about him."

The two boys nodded and I sighed, plopping my hands on my stomach.

"I guess I haven't told you guys specifically much about him. Where to begin though?"

Honestly I didn't remember everything about him myself. The concept of "god" wasn't exactly a new thing for any species. All I knew about my father in heaven was what I had from my memories. There were many religions of my old world but only a select few that shared the most likely true and ultimate god. The creator of all the universe and unknown creations beyond.

This world's existence would certainly be quite the belief shattering revelation to even the most stout believers back there. For me however it wasn't all that unbelievable. A creative being would continue creating after all, and he was also perfection incarnate. The incarnation of love and goodness that encompassed all that was, is, or ever would be.

The myriad of theories surrounding such a being were numerous and sometimes incomprehensible. The reason I called myself his daughter in particular was because there was quite a lot of documentation about how a select number of people from that world would be adopted into his family and given the power to rule alongside him. That's what I figured this whole goddess thing was about and I still had that feeling deep inside my soul that he was watching over me.

How to explain all this to these people though? Just the concept of goddesses was something that filled them with terror and flabbergasted awe. To even begin to explain the universe itself would be an undertaking much less a being who created multiple of them.

My thoughts had kept me silent for several seconds, even though the time in my mind had passed much faster. The silence was noticed and the boy Jeris leaned in closer on his seat.

"Goddess?" he asked concerned.

I jostled back to the world at hand and sat up straight in my chair.

"S-Sorry guys."

Quarely smiled gently. "If you'd prefer not to talk about him its fine. My wife didn't mean to cause you any trouble."

"No its fine." I replied quickly. My blank expression showed I was still a bit lost in thought. "Its just- Its just a lot to go over. I'd like to tell you about him."

This brought a smile to all their faces and they seemed quite excited to hear about the topic.

"Excellent!" Quarely said clapping. "Thank you for allowing this honor dear goddess! There's still an hour or so before the tourney begins and I hope that's enough time."

I nodded and readjusted myself to a more comfortable position.

"Oh it really isn't. But we'll go over what we can. This is really one of those rabbit holes that goes as deep as you want it to. Even a goddess like me can flirt with madness if I ponder these things too long."

Thus with this somewhat ominous warning I began to explain some of the more basic concepts to my human friends. This was a rare time for me to enjoy speaking on things that were above me and the ones I were with both. It brought us together in a way that almost made us equals, even if these humans never realized it. Soon however the tourney would begin and this moment would be a fleeting memory, for then I would be a goddess once again.