After Shayna cracked the shell of Maven’s heart wide open with comforting words, the truth came pouring out. Maven told her big sis absolutely everything. The return of her previous life’s memories, her current status as a demigoddess, and even the true identity of her familiars - Maven confessed everything.
Shayna, for her part, took the story pretty well. Either her heart was wider than the sea, or the revelations had been so shocking and so rapid fire that her brain just stopped working entirely. Even after being told that the young miss she served was both a messenger of the gods and a literal demigoddess herself, she just continued to treat Maven as a younger sister.
Maven, for her part, enjoyed basking in the soothing presence that Shayna provided. She hadn’t moved her head even one inch off Shayna’s lap in the past hour - preferring to get spoiled rotten and enjoy some head pats.
“Are you feeling better now, young Miss? Or, should I call you ‘my goddess’ instead now?”
That one sentence was enough to send Maven rocketing off Shayna’s comforting lap, panicked at the thought of another fanatic popping up.
“No!!! Anything but that! Call me anything except that!”
Amused by the frantic demigoddess in front of her, Shayna just chuckled and stroked Maven’s head to calm her down.
“I have to admit, it doesn’t quite feel real just yet. How could my young Miss actually be older than me?”
“That’s the part you focus on??”
“Fufu, it’s fun to tease you like this. It really makes me feel like an older sister. Even when I lived with my family, I always wanted a younger sister to dote on. I'm so glad to have my cute little Maven.”
Maven puffed her cheeks and turned her head in displeasure at being treated like a younger sibling, childish actions at odds with the maturity she wanted to convey.
“Aww, don’t pout. You have to know I love you like a sister. No matter how many past lives you’ve lived or how much power you have, I was the one to take care of you since you were a helpless baby. That will never change. No matter what.”
Blushing in embarrassment, Maven could only shyly turn her eyes away from the affectionate gaze of her personal maid. Kannon, for her part, was completely unable to read the atmosphere and chose this moment to burst onto the scene.
“Yayy! This means I can talk out loud now, right? Right? Right!”
The shining white fairy flew around Shayna’s head, pirouetting round and round with one leg kicked up like a ballerina. Shayna eyed the playful goddess, laughter twinkling in her pupils.
“Fufu, who could have guessed that the stuffy old goddess my dad used to tell me about would turn out to be such an amusing little fellow? If someone had told me three years ago that the Goddess of Light would one day be dancing around my head, I’d have called them crazy. Rather than that old stick in the mud, I think I prefer a fun goddess like this.”
Kannon, ever weak to praise, giggled in response, “Ehehehe, I like you too, Shayna! I’m glad we can finally talk now. It was lonely, only having two people to communicate with.”
Not being one to stay silent as others enjoyed themselves, Henna also chose this moment to appear. For the last month straight, she had remained invisible to all. Now, however, she chose to appear as a ghostly image of her real self.
Perhaps she was trying to make a good first impression on Shayna, but she was remarkably well behaved at this time. With her malleable, misty body she could have appeared however she pleased. Maven had half expected her to appear as some kind of distorted skull, just to scare Shayna.
“Behave yourself, Kannon! You’re giving to give poor Shayna here the idea that all of us gods are nothing more than playful little airheads.” Despite not having lungs in her current form, Henna somehow managed to puff out her chest in pride. “Show some dignity, like me!”
Shayna looked towards Henna with a bit more reservation than she directed at Kannon. No matter how open minded she was, she had been told Henna was evil her entire life. The Goddess of Darkness and Death, as well as the creator the demon race - how could she not have doubts?
Regardless, Shayna was faithful to Maven above all else. Since her little sister seemed to trust this dark goddess, Shayna was also willing to at least give Henna the benefit of the doubt.
Before anybody could respond to Henna’s proud declaration, the door to Maven’s suite slammed open and Fae tumbled into the room. She had clearly been pressing her ear to the door of her beloved Goddess’ room, eavesdropping.