…Baalka of Disease, small and calculating, she has Kavaa’s intelligence and Helenna’s warmth. Mortals call her insane but that is not true. Baalka is merely the most aware of us all, if her own plagues would wipe out life on this world, they would bring an end to her as well. I wonder how it is, to be a force for destruction, with no ability to create and only destroy that which fuels your existence.
Malam. Goddess of Hatred, lovely and beautiful, with an attraction and a tongue that blinds minds and lets emotions run wild. A Goddess that should have been killed years ago, but Hatred is an abstract as permanent as Pride. We are not idealists, Malam can be reasoned with. As the saying goes ‘better the devil you know than the devil you don’t.’ Some call her an ideological Goddess, that is not true. Maisara’s classification system is better at this, Malam is merely an Abstract. I am certain that she no true positions of policy and was merely chosen by Arascus because there is no better moralistic propagandist. Helenna’s idealistic Love pales in comparison to Malam’s pragmatic Hatred…
- Excerpt from the secrets texts in the White Pantheon’s closed library. Written by Goddess Allasaria, of Light: ‘My thoughts on the Daughter-Goddesses.’
‘Use all the prestige you want.’ Arascus had said. ‘Whatever method.’ Arascus had said. ‘I trust you’re smart enough not to need help.’ Arascus had said. ‘Cut the ropes and burn the bridges.’ Arascus had said. ‘Anything you can get away with, do it, anything you can’t, make it so you can get away with it.’ Arascus had said.
And Helenna had listened. Helenna had listened oh so very well. Kirinyaa needed to be primed for Divine takeover? How many nations had fallen in the past to the words of Divines? How many kingdoms had Helenna ravished back then? Not through the brutality of the blade but the precision of the pen. Kirinyaa would fall at this point, that much was certain. The question was a matter of how and when. Frankly, it was much better for them if let themselves gently be lowered down by Helenna because if they waited for Kassandora, she would come in with an army at her back.
Her heart beat stronger since she set it on Arascus’ goal than it did once under the thousand years of Allasaria. Kassandora had been wrong, he wasn’t amazing because he accepted her. Everyone opened their hearts to the Goddess of Love. Fer had been wrong, he wasn’t amazing because he was smart. Every Divine worth knowing the name of had at least a modicum of intelligence to them. Iniri was wrong too, because every Divine could bring smiles to people’s faces. Arascus was amazing because he gave her a goal. Not Allasaria’s pointless little tasks. Not conniving little jobs. Not stupid tiny plans to be a cog. Arascus had come and had hefted her back up to the level of Divinity, and Divinity worthy of her title. People only saw the rose, he appreciated the thorns.
Helenna didn’t need to hide her smile. It was a real smile, she rarely hid her emotions, but it wasn’t for the reason everyone in the parliament was thinking. Helenna was happy, she was saving lives here after all, doing what a Divine should do. What Arascus had told her before the victory celebrations had solidified in her mind, ancient rose petals had shed and buds started to sprout in her heart. This was the place where she would be treated as the Goddess of Love she deserved to be. The buds started to flower, and the thorns grew large.
Not today’s cold, material over-rationalised love. No. Not that one whatsoever. She was not here to talk reason into men. Reason was Saranael’s demesne. Men weren’t pressed into the Fortia’s Great War armies because of the pragmatic reasons against letting Arascus rule. They were pressed in because Divines disagreed with each other, because Allasaria was proud, because Fortia and Maisara were stubborn, because of such tiny and petty differences. Helenna’s smile grew large, that was a tragic tale that simply bared its naked form ready for Love to leave marks all over. What sacrificial tragedy! And what was Love without sacrifice?
“Thus.” Helenna made her voice loud as she looked out over the parliament. Dignitaries and politicians, men who proclaimed Love but would not recognise it if it threw itself at them. All in suits, with cameras on the upper benches. “We have heard the arguments for and against.” She took a deep breath and spread her arms out. “But I would like to make one myself, I thank the gracious people of Kirinyaa for letting me talk.” She stepped away from the podium.
“Indeed, the naturalization of a hundred thousand Clerics will have consequences.” She smiled. Arascus had wanted lawyers, but Helenna knew the lawyers here. It was a different school of law to the one back then, a school that was rational and intellectual and constantly questioning itself. It would be easier to turn Kassandora’s men into lawyers than it was to turn lawyers into Kassandora’s men. One? Maybe she could find, but Kassandora would need a whole team, and this set the foundation for things later too. She wasn’t planting a flower here, she was planting the whole damn garden. The only issue was that a Kirinyaan lawyer needed a Kirinyaan passport, but that was simply a material issue, one that could be fixed. One Helenna was fixing right now.
“But can Kirinyaa not take them? We are not talking about an endless flow here, we are talking about a one time burst of population. One hundred thousand in a country of more than a hundred million?” She lifted merely shrugged as she took a step. Good thing she wore the dress today, dresses always made sure the eyes focused on her. “You have just defeated the White Pantheon, I think you sell yourselves short.” She smiled at the scattered collection of laughs. Helenna waited for the gavel to sound, there was none. Excellent, that meant the honourable justice was on her side too.
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Time for her second. “Likewise, I do not see the issue with space. Are the very Clerics we are discussing right now not working to push the Jungle back?” She knew that they would know too. She had made sure KTV had established a permanent unit in Kassandora’s ranks, every evening there was a report on their apocalyptic ashening of the nation’s tainted Western half. She smiled. “And economically…” They all knew the economic arguments, no point of discussing that either. “I am the Goddess of Love, do I look like I know about economics?” Her hair turned a vivid red as she smiled at the laughter she was receiving.
“No. I have only one point to make. One more important than petty economics and bureaucracy. One larger than that, one about our humanity.” Helenna said loudly. It was time to show the irrational, the emotional, the absurd Love that had pulled men from their homes to face Fer and Anassa and Irinika and Baalka on the battlefield. The one that did not care for grand reasons, the one that rested within the impregnable walls of men’s hearts. “I see this discussion as pointless. The Clerics already are Kirinyaan, we are merely updating a bureaucratic matter.” She looked at the shocked faces, a few men from Mwai’s party obviously didn’t like the statement, but she had been forceful. Freeing Kassandora had been her idea after all.
“I said what I said. I consider the Clerics Kirinyaan already in every language but legalism.” Helenna continued. “Because we are not talking here about giving them a reward, even though they do deserve one. They are not mercenaries, I doubt you could find mercenaries that would willingly fight the White Pantheon for any amount of money. These are men who faced down magicians and Divines. Men who stood at Melukal, men who stood besides Kirinyaans, who were the first on the frontlines and who were the last to retreat.” Helenna saw one of the cameras focus on her. She didn’t even plan that, but that was a sign her words her hitting the spot she was aiming for.
“These men who have been dealing with the Jungle for three hundred years already. Generations upon generations who came to Kirinyaa to lay down their lives and assist their people. Kirinyaa’s soil is already drenched with their blood.” Helenna took a deep breath. “If I am wrong, I ask anyone to step forwards and challenge me, but we know that Clerics have been dying in Kirinyaa for centuries.” There was no Love that pained the heart so much like the one caused by death. “When Kassandora came, they rallied around her, but did they rally for her? Did they rally for me? For Iniri? No. Kassandora is a general, we were in a war against the Pantheon, we are still in a war against the Jungle. So they rallied, but who did they fight for? Not for Kassandora, I can tell you that.” She took a deep breath.
“They expected no reward, they want no acceptance. They do what needs to be done. Now, they do not beg and grovel or demand this. Has a Cleric opened his mouth on this issue? Even though this issue affects them most of all?” Helenna had made sure the Clerics would not be here to tell sob stories. There was no reason to turn them into pathetic beggars like that.
“Not one!” Some politician shouted from the side and the justice beat his gavel.
“Order, order in the parliament.” He merely said the words though, not shouted them. Helenna turned and gave the justice a thankful nod.
“Not one, as was rightfully stated just now! Not once have they grovelled for a reward.” She looked around. “They wanted nothing, they received nothing. They gave their gave their dreams, their lives, their blood to this country. So what does that make you? Is this the nation of beggars? The freeloaders of other’s hard work? Is this what the nation that stood has been reduced to?” A speech was a rollercoaster, the more emotions it had, the more memorable. There needed to be lows, because those lows made the highs. She let the shameful silence hang, and then lifted her fist to speak. “The Clerics are Kirinyaan by blood spilled. That is reason enough.” The parliament stood up, men from the top cheered, and Helenna bathed in the applause.
She turned to the speaker, inclined her head, and left the speaking hall of the parliament. A tiny break to chew gum would come first, then she would deal with the interviews. KTV and EIE were both promised that they could question her on it. She really didn’t know what there would be answer, that speech basically said everything she needed to say. She stepped out into one of the back corridors. It was tall, red carpets, cream walls, paintings of Kirinyaan figures hung on her wall but Helenna could list them off with her eyes closed already. She dug out a packet of gum from a pocket, the strongest mint there was and walked to the men idling around, not doing anything in particular. Her assistants, soldiers on loan from Kassandora, who were dressed in suits. Each man with a suitcase filled with papers. She never had soldiers as caretakers before but now, she would never be able to back to maids. There was no objections of ethics from them, if something needed to be done, it would be done. If something was to be stolen, they only needed an opening. She imagined if she told them to kill a man, they would do it with the same flat expression they always wore.
Kassandora was grand in tactics and strategy, but there was no way she would have thought of this. But Helenna saw the path forwards. If they were going to war with Epa, then all that would be needed was for Kassandora to open a foreign branch in her army. The recruits would be limitless then, and this set the precedent. “Where next?” One of the soldiers asked.
“Thirty minutes on interviews.” Helenna answered, her breath was cold from the gum. The voting would be tomorrow, she would not attend. There was business to do, and the results were obvious from the reaction she got already. “Have you got the tests for next month?”
“I have them.”
“Good.”
And now it was assured that the men Kassandora would pick to represent her passed. It was that simple. Mortals would have spent a year planning it, another year executing it. She was a Divine though. Two weeks of negotiations had been enough. She pulled out her phone and flicked to the man himself: Arascus <3 appeared at the top and she rang.
And the best part about Arascus was that he answered or dropped the call immediately. Either he was busy right now and would call back, or the call would be picked up within a few beeps. It was the former option this time. “What is it?” His voice rumbled through the phone.
“You lost.” The man needed a few seconds to respond.
“It’s done?”
“Done.” Helenna replied.
“So just the lawyers test then?”
“Done.” Helenna replied. “It’s done-done. Voting tomorrow. It will pass.” She smiled to herself imagining him in shock. Who else could do that? Could sweet little Kassie? Could Fer? Kavaa? Iniri? Anassa? She had not seen any of them surprise it.
“So until tomorrow then.” Arascus replied.
“It will pass.” Helenna said. “And you owe me dinner.”