As Kaori sat up she began looking around the unfamiliar surroundings with bleary eyes. At first she didn’t recognize where she was and though that she must still be dreaming. A second later she heard light chatter to the side and looked over to see an angel and several of the demons near the globe and they were arguing about something. Suddenly, all of the events of the previous day came flooding back and she realized that she needed to find out why they were arguing rather than laying in her bed. As she got up the angel spotted her and bowed while the leader of the demons present just smirked and threw a casual wave. That set the angel off and she started insisting that they should show more respect to a goddess even if she was new to her position.
For a moment, Kaori considered telling the demon about proper workplace etiquette. Then she remembered that if these were her own demons from her life, they certainly already knew that and still acted in this manner. After a momentary pause for consideration, she decided it probably wouldn’t change the way that they acted towards her and at worst might become a point of contention. With that in mind came back to the matter at hand. “What’s the problem? I heard you arguing a moment ago.”
The angel, who’s name Kaori realized she hadn’t even asked, visibly changed mental gears. Before she could respond, the smallest demon spoke. “Your orders yesterday weren’t very clear. We’re all searching the same areas and some of us aren’t very good at this sort of thing. I don’t want to do this anymore. My wings are tired from flying all night.”
Kaori realized her mistake and was appalled that she would mismanage her personnel so badly. She thought it over and realized that half of the problem was that she had no clear image of what she wanted to do. She came to a startling realization about what the other half of the problem was. She hadn’t been thinking of them as people or even employees. Right up to that moment, she had been thinking of them as some kind of monsters or fairytales.
Even having called herself a Christian since early childhood, she had never considered the possibility that all the beings mentioned in the bible actually existed. As a little girl, her father had insisted that she should attend church and act properly. All of the stories in the bible were just fanciful myths to her growing up. Kaori realized with shock that she had never believed in her religion and only went to church to conform to her father’s wishes.
Breaking from her sudden epiphany, she had an insight on how she should proceed. “First, would all of you go out and bring the others back here. I suppose it might be easier to do your work if you had clearer instructions. I also need to know what to call all of you if we’re going to be working together from now on. I guess that the introductions only need to go one way but I would like to know more about each of you and I need to introduce all of you to your new coworker. That can all wait till you all return with everyone else. I’ll be waiting here.”
Immediately, the group dispersed and took off from the small platforms at each door. Kaori wasn’t sure but she thought she spotted a smile on the smallest demon’s face as it was leaving. A moment later, she was studying the geographic data that the group had provided thus far. She still had no ideas about what she should be doing but then a familiar voice came from behind. “Whoa! This place is neat! The people of the forest in the world I lived in before I was turned into a god had homes in trees but nothing like this. And what’s that thing you’re looking at? Is that the area around here? I’ve never seen a map that was a ball before. Why did you make it like that?”
Kaori turned to regard Yaju for a moment before she replied. “Do you know much about this world? You spoke of the place you lived before becoming a god. Did you never see a globe of your own world?”
Yaju seemed to regard her with a look of puzzlement but with his features being partially that of a wolf it was very hard for her to tell. “A globe is a type of map of the whole world. The reason that you make it that way is because it’s too hard to make a flat map of the whole world since it’s not flat.”
Yaju seemed even more puzzled by the declaration of the world being a ball. “You jest? I always heard that the world was one of many thousands of connected caves. I always assumed that if you walked far enough that you would find the cave wall and if you dug far enough past that there would be another world. If the world is a ball, then what happens if you dig too deep? Oh and what does the world sit on if it’s a ball? Can you dig through that?”
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Kaori was about to launch into a round of explanation when she heard the sound of wings beating and yelling that sounded vaguely like cussing in the distance. The others were almost back and she hadn’t thought about what she wanted to say at all. “we’ll continue this conversation after introductions and assignments. I’m not sure what I should be doing to improve the culture of the people though. Any ideas?”
Yaju looked aghast, a truly comical expression on his vaguely canine face. “I haven’t been able to figure anything like that out in all the time I’ve been here! How would I presume to tell a supreme goddess what to do? I… Wait, you asked for my help not excuses. Give me a moment to look at the problem from a new perspective.”
As he squatted down with a look of deep concentration Kaori almost burst out laughing at his serious look and couldn’t stop a light chuckle from escaping. Yaju looked up with a puzzled look on his face and she scrambled for an excuse so she wouldn’t appear rude. Suddenly one came to her. “I was just amused that the very thing you said to prepare was the very advice I was looking for. I just need a new perspective to look at the problem from.”
As she spoke, she had to force herself to look straight at him instead of averting her eyes. What was a small lie when trying to boost a subordinate’s confidence. Besides, it seemed that getting a new perspective on the problem might very well be a way to figure out something to do about the problem.
Her moment of clarity was interrupted by the continuous griping of one of the demons returning. “I still don’t see why we had to come back! So what if we get the same information. We still don’t have anything else to do right?” “Oh shut up! She’s the boss and if she says to hurry up and wait then we do that. It’s not like it could be as pointless as a lot of the tasks that Lothiel came up with. At least she’s not actively trying to come up with tasks to annoy and frustrate us, she just needs time to get used to her position. Besides, if we’re lucky, she might eventually turn us into gods to fill out a pantheon or make us elder demons to rule over the new underworld!”
Hearing their chatter before they landed gave her new ideas to think about but at the same time she had just about prepared the assignments she wanted to hand out. However, proper introductions came first. She waited until the last of the angels and demons arrived before she got started.
“I would like to first apologize to all of you for yesterday. I had this sprung on me and had no time to adjust to any of it. It was rude of me to simply dismiss all of you without even properly getting introductions. You all know me but I don’t know you and you haven’t met Yaju yet. I will start there. Let me introduce you all to Yaju, god of the hunt. As you all know he was assigned as my junior. Now I would like to have your names, please, and any relevant information about yourselves. That might include your previous jobs and things you are talented at or positions that you hope to attain.”
As Yaju took a small bow the rest looked at each other for a moment before the distorted mirror imaged one from the previous day stepped forward to start things off. “I feel I should tell you a bit about both angels and demon. We work with or against humans in the same way but hold opposing philosophies about it. When a demon or angel are assigned to a mortal we do everything we can to fulfill our task to them. If the mortal finds out our true name we are bound to them and are then able to use our full power on their behalf. To angels, that’s something to be longed for and cherished if it actually happens because they like serving others or more like they have no ideas of their own if you ask me.” *As she said this, the demon stuck her tongue out at the impassive trio of figures to the side. *
“We demons have the same flaw as we see it. Demons don’t like to be bound to a mortal because they are beneath us. Serving a mortal for their entire life is a short stint of punishment for demons and some will even tell mortals the true names of other demons they don’t like to make them work for mortals. Greater demons will sometimes contact mortals and tell them the true names of their underlings as a form of punishment. While religious texts may list the true names of many angels, those angels are bound to every mortal that calls on them and thus their effective power is split between all of them. The power granted by angels is often higher than that granted by demons but because the power going to a single mortal is generally higher by binding a demon, most mortals seek the power of demons. In addition to seeming more powerful, demon true names are still far harder to find out, which makes most mortals seek them harder. Rarely, a mortal will seek the true name of one of their guardian angels and those people find that the power they are granted by the angel far surpasses what demon worshippers have.”