We walked along the beach for maybe half an hour before we found a secluded cove.

‘Irmen?’ I asked when we were hidden from sight.

The waves became intensive and a figure started to rise from the water.

She was pretty short and had yellow skin, which was well accentuated by the woman’s dark blue sleeveless dress that split into four drop-shaped petals around the figure’s waist. The sections seemed to be made from dark water, as were the edges of the armholes. The woman’s green eyes reminded me of a lizard which was further reinforced by the bright orange scales on her sideburns and the wrists of her tattoo-covered arms; the gills on her neck and a red-frilled tail. The woman's shoulder-length hair was bright bluish-grey and ended in small icicles, while her ears ended with a red frill instead of the helix. However, what caught my attention the most was the glowy thing on an antenna that sprouted from her forehead. I just felt like I needed to approach it.

‘Oops,’ the woman let out an embarrassed laugh. ‘Forgot to turn that thing off.’

The strong urge to go towards her disappeared. I looked around and saw that most of my friends also just broke out of a trance. Only Lilyth seemed unaffected by the lure altogether.

‘Interesting,’ the woman said. ‘And unexpected.’

‘You aren't the only apex predator here, Irmen,’ Lilyth replied coldly.

‘Duly noted,’ the goddess said. ‘I’m really sorry about the incident.’

‘Why would you need a lure to begin with?’ my wife asked.

‘For the thrill of the hunt, of course,’ Irmen said. ‘In a way, I thank you for giving me a valuable lesson here, Lilyth. Had we met in the wild without any context the fight could go either way.’

‘Even knowing the context, had you actually intended to hurt my loved ones… I cannot guarantee the lessons I received recently would stick.’

‘And I would expect no less of you. The point you should have taken from those incidents should have indeed been “not go out of your way to piss people off”, rather than “not defend yourself”. As futile as it can usually be.’

‘In this particular instance, I think not pissing you gods off should decrease the times I will need to defend myself from you to a minimum.’

‘Well said. Then allow me to properly introduce myself. My name is Irmen. It is my pleasure to meet you all: Aki of Dan-Hem, Lilyth of Terra, Caeileera of the Sanguine, Savri of the Abyss and Ren of the Yamaoka clan. Though as I understand, all of those should have “formerly” added to them. And I believe congratulations are in order for your recent marriage.’

The goddess stepped out onto the beach and hugged all of us.

We all replied with a mixture of “nice to meet yous” and “hello theres” and in the case of our trio “thank yous”.

‘I see you managed to bag Savri, Nyxie,’ Irmen said with mild dismay after we finished the greeting ritual. ‘I was hoping I would manage to get her.’

Nyx showed the goddess of Water her tongue.

‘Wait… you were having a contest over me?’ Savri asked, horrified.

‘Don’t ask questions you may not like the answers too, sweetie,’ Irmen said.

‘I’m going to have to insist, Lady Irmen,’ Savri said in a tone that brooked no dissent.

‘Whenever one of you mortals with talent, but no obvious allegiance appears on our radar we tend to have a soft race to see who manages to pledge themselves first.

‘Is that so?’ Savri asked. ‘The idea of gods vying for my attention is flattering.’

‘Quite. But since the relationship is partially transactional, greater things may be expected of you than saay Ren or Aki.

‘Understandable.’

‘Don’t worry,’ Nyx said. ‘It’s going to be fun.’

‘Nyx, your ideas of fun involve food and sex,’ Irmen chided her.

‘And where is the problem in that?’

Good question.

‘It gets boring after a while.’

‘Hey… I never said you can’t spice it up with a book night, a long walk, karaoke or stargazing. I’m happy to do all the things.’

‘That’s another problem.’

‘You two bicker like exes,’ Lilyth observed.

‘It was a phase!’ Irmen exclaimed before clasping her mouth with her hand.

‘That you seemed to enjoy very much,’ Nyx said with a shit-eating grin.

‘La-La-La, can't hear you.’

‘You know I am always up for another “phase”.’

‘What would Taros think?’

‘That vaer mother should loosen up and have some fun?

‘Vae sounds like a reasonable person,’ Lilyth said.

Irmen looked at us horrified, as she just remembered we were there.

‘Is there anything I can do to make you forget this conversation ever happened?’

‘Nope!’ we all said in unison.

Irmen grumbled something about making us all walk into the lake, but then she sighed.

‘I’ll think about it, Nyx. Been feeling lonely lately with Taros on Dwynveia.’

Nyxie beamed at her.

‘Who’s Taros?’ Caei asked. ‘This is the second time you've mentioned them.

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‘Taros’s mine son. Even though vae assumes that I don’t know about him being like your slime friend. I believe vae is currently with your friend Deirdee.’

‘Wait… isn't Deirdee still a Serrated Blade in this timeline?’ Caeileera asked.

‘Uhh… it’s complicated.’ Nyx said.

‘Lady Madness switched them too, didn't she? Caei asked with mild resentment in her voice. ‘Meaning this Taros isn't actually your Taros.’

‘Vae will always be my Taros,’ Irmen said. ‘But don’t worry. This was handled in a way that neither of mes or vaems was hurt.’

‘Why would Lady Madness go this far?’

Irmen pointed at Lilyth.

‘Deirdee got tied into the mess that idiot left behind so she would not live long if she stayed there on her own. Thus Madness decided to help her.

‘Can we stop calling Lilyth that?’ I protested. ‘No need to keep twisting the knife.’

‘Finally standing up for your lover,’ Irmen smiled. ‘Good. You need to understand my child that even by our standards of “seen it all” what Lilyth did was beyond stupid.

‘It’s okay, Aki’ she sighed. ‘I deserve it.’

‘No, you fucking don’t.’ Caei said with emphasis. ‘Sure, you did some very stupid things, but none of us… including Nyx and Irmen was there to stop you until you reached the point of not being able to continue on your own and Aki stepped up. I was more than happy to let you keep hurting yourself.’

‘Yes,’ I agreed. ‘We are all to blame for the mess. Like the hospital is all on me since it was my idea to go there, to begin with. And nobody should blame you for what happened in the Tower since I don’t either Nyx or Ereshkigal ever bothered to give you a list of things to not do.’

We moved to Lilyth's side with Caei and stared at Nyx and Irmen with defiance.

‘You told me to trust in other mortals. And I do. I trust Lilyth will do her best to get us through whatever danger we will end up in next or die trying. So I will not allow anyone to talk bad about her mistakes anymore. Not if they did nothing to prevent them.’

Instead of fury, I saw a different emotion emerge on the goddesses' faces. Shame.

‘That was very well said, Aki,’ Irmen said. ‘And I apologise to you, Lilyth. All the name-calling in the multiverse won’t change the past, nor will lessen the gravity of your actions. The gravity you know understand, I can see. Never forget it.’

Lilyth gave Irmen a solemn nod.

‘You will make a great leader one day, Aki. Willingness to stand up for one of your own no matter what is an important quality to possess.’

‘Were you just testing me?’ I asked, feeling resentment building inside of me.

‘No. We are not perfect Aki, as much as it is hard for me to admit it. Once again, I apologise and I am honoured you accepted my patronage offer. A god can hope for no better student than one willing to stand up to them.’

‘I think it is an honour for both of us.’

‘Excuse me, Irmen,’ Caei said. ‘Will we be able to meet up with Deirdee?’

‘Eventually. She and Taros were headed towards Tyr-Mel, but made no commitments either way, as to their overall direction now You see… my son is a travelling musician, and Deirdee joined vaem as a dancer.’

‘Ohhh…’ Caei said. ‘That’s kinda fun actually.’

‘That it is. But this kind of life does not lend itself to “stay in one place” or “go chasing after people”.

‘I see. I’m just happy she is safe and has a friend.’

‘Which speaks volumes about you, my child,’ Irmen smiled.

‘I have to ask though,’ Lilyth said. ‘Even though, I will likely regret it. How did I ruin Deirdee's life? Other than getting Blood pissed at her.’

‘You put her in the crosshairs of The King Who Commands The Ocean, my dear.’

‘Ol’ rockface managed to get to her before his marine imperiousness could,’ Nyx added. ‘But it was a close call.’

‘So the King is real…’ Savri whispered.

‘And I see you are full of surprises, Savri Adzhenair,’ Irmen said. ‘The only reason you would even suspect his existence was if you had access to Primaeval Arcana.’

‘Just one spell,’ Savri said. ‘That shield thing I used on Ren. Got really lucky and a rune for it dropped for me in a Delve.’

‘Score!’ Nyx hooted. ‘Kingie will be so pissed I grabbed you before he could.’

‘Who is that King?’ I asked. ‘Another Water deity like you, Irmen?’

‘After a fashion,’ she smiled. ‘He rules over the primordial ocean of magic - the source of ALL magic.’

‘And this guy was after Deirdee?’ Caei asked.

‘No,’ Nyx shook her head. ‘He wanted Lilyth. Deirdee was just a means to an end for him.’

Lilyth sunk to her knees hearing that.

‘I really have a penchant for ruining people’s lives, don’t I?’ she asked. ‘Is there anyone I have met here whose life I didn't ruin by the sheer virtue of meeting them?’

‘You didn't ruin ours, my love,’ I said. We wouldn't be here if it wasn't for you. And I wouldn't agree to be with you if I thought you ruined my life.

‘Yup,’ Caei added. ‘Aki would have been goblin chow, Ren would have been assassinated, I would be still stuck with Laachersain and Löwe, and Deirdee would still be a disposable tool for The Blood. I think the only person whose life wasn’t markedly improved by meeting you was Savri?’

‘It was,’ Sav corrected her. ‘Maybe the circumstances didn’t look like it, but I am happy to be here.’

‘Sure our lives became… interesting,’ I said. ‘But the good outweighs the bad.’

Lilyth got up and said:

‘Then I will make sure it stays this way.’

‘I think we may have misphrased how we broke that news.’ Nyx said. ‘We don’t fault you for most of the choices you have made. In the case of Deirdee, it was the choice between killing her OR saving her. Your sins were hubris and acting like there would be no consequences for anything you did. But enough about that.’

‘Wait… the message from Ereshkigal wasn’t just meant for Ren, was it?’ Lilyth asked. ‘It was for me too.

Nyx turned to Irmen.

‘Pay up. I told you it wouldn't take her long to figure it out.’

Irmen grumbled something, took out a leather bag that was somehow hidden under her dress and threw it to Nyx.

‘You betting over me aside… what would you gods even have TO bet?’Lilyth asked.

The goddesses looked at as and with dead voices said:

‘Mortal souls.’

Then, likely seeing our horrified expressions, they broke out laughing.

‘You guys are so easy to mess with,’ Irmen said between gales of laughter. ‘

‘Don’t worry…’ Nyx said. ‘It’s just runestones with spells.’

She took one out and threw it to me. It was a runestone of [Water Bolt].

‘You can learn it once you get a perk point,’ Nyx said. ‘You need some Water Arcana spells, I imagine.’

‘You are muscling in on my territory, Nyx,’ Irmen growled.

‘Shouldn’t have bet against my protégé and then lost, hon.’

Irmen grumbled something.

‘I can give it back if you want Irmen,’ I quickly said.

‘No… It’s fine. We never specified what we could or couldn't use these for when betting. That and if the roles were reversed, I would likely want to rub that in Nyxie’s face too.’

Nyx smiled wickedly and it was clear she wanted to say something, but Irmen stopped her with a raised finger.

‘Yes, yes, I can rub anything I want against your face.’

‘Awww…’ Nyx pouted. ‘You are no fun.’

‘Hey… not saying I’m not up for it. Just that fun is best left for funtime.’

‘Yay!’ Nyx exclaimed.

Ren laughed at that.

‘Sorry,’ she quickly said. ‘It’s just that I often had to have “work now - fun later” conversations with Leera.’

‘Nothing to be sorry about, Rennie,’ Nyx said.

I noticed Caei turned red.

‘Don’t worry, sweetie,’ I told her and took her hand. ‘We accept you for who you are.’

‘And who said it was just Leera?’ Ren asked with an innocent smile.

That made us all laugh.