The moth gods gathered in the dark and pleasant wooded realm of desire. All of the six major gods attended the meeting. There was Halotyne, the Goddess of the Sea, Hypthos, the God of the Sun, Rala, the Goddess of Light, Amser, the Goddess of Fate, Tyre, the God of Nature, and Haran, the God of Darkness.

They sat in a circle and Rala called the meeting to order. “We are all well aware that the lustful god has the Catalydd. He unfortunately gained knowledge about where he was when the Catalydd healed the wounds of the king of Nui. The man, Paris, has a dove in his head which the lustful god uses to spy on others with as well as using it to warp the minds of men. And, unfortunately, the lustful god has also found another vessel; the king of Ironwall—a fairly gray man who is a good king, and yet a horrible father. I assume we are all at odds on which kingdom we wish to capture the Catalydd and rule the other kingdoms?”

“We are, Sister.” Haran answered. “We all have our favorite kingdoms. Unfortunately, none of us can support the moths in this as they are all slaves. The moths in Nui are once again enslaved due to it being reoccupied by Ironwall. But moths will be the losing side regardless. Will we all be at war soon?”

There was silence among the gods until Halotyne said for all of them, “I believe when we adjourn, we will have no pleasant talks until one of the kingdoms reigns supreme over the others.”

Rala sighed. “We can never agree on anything, can we? I shall throw my support in for the women of Artesia.”

“An unsurprising vote from you, Sister. You always did hate your husband for making eyes at anything with the female form.” Haran teased her. “To think you had a hand both in killing him and sending your own son to the underworld. I will support Bellford far to the south.”

Rala was furious. “My husband was a fool and my son was dangerous. They both needed to die. My son, unfortunately, has the power of an undying cult to support him where my husband did not. It is a good thing I blessed every woman with the power to repel him and his undying lust.”

“What about you, Halotyne? Who will you support?” Tyre queried.

Halotyne leaned back thoughtfully. “Nui. I will support Nui. There is a girl there I am quite fond of, just as I was quite fond of her mother. And you, Tyre?”

Stolen novel; please report.

“I will support Lowen. And we already know that Hypthos is supporting Gracet.” Tyre answered.

There was silence among the gods for a moment before Rala spoke. “The death toll for the mortals will be outrageous when all is said and done… This is my fault. Perhaps we should all focus on killing my son instead of choosing sides to back.”

Hypthos spoke up. “We are set in the kingdoms we love, Rala. We will not come together on this.”

Rala was tired of fighting and interfering in mortal affairs. She always felt like a villain. She wished, for once, that the sprites could come together on something for the sake of the mortals.

Rala looked down with a heavy sigh. “Do you all remember in the beginning? When things were so simple? We were not thought of as gods at all… We were just sprites; the first things born on this world. We were so few, though, and when the moths were born, they were so plentiful. We began to look like gods to them, although we are merely very powerful beings blessed with wonderful gifts. I want things to be simple again. I don’t want us to end up killing all the mortals like we once did so long ago. There were only a few mortals left by the end of the last war we intervened in to repopulate. It is not too late for us all to go back to sleep and let my son do as he pleases with the mortals. The death toll might be much less that way.”

The gods frowned intently, and, despite the realm of desire always being a warm and pleasant place to be, they were all very uncomfortable.

Amser said, “there is nothing to be done. Even if we all agree not to intervene, we all know we will do so anyway—aside from me of course. Shall we lay down some rules? Or should anything go?”

Rala said, shooting a glare at Hypthos, “I know Hypthos has already cheated and chosen a prophetess, so I say we all choose prophets and prophetesses, but otherwise we should not physically appear before any humans or moths. Let us use our mighty powers on the battlefield, but not make our support or presence known.”

All the gods agreed to this rule.

And the gods, or sprites as they originally were, dispersed and went their separate ways.

__

Halotyne had agreed to the proposal, but… She supposed she could bend the rules a little. In the guise of an old woman, she went to all the kingdoms and spoke to the moths and humans alike in many taverns and told them of Nui, Mimi, and Paris.

“There is a woman… The kindest woman who ever graced this earth, that has brought moths and humans together. Let me tell you her story. Let me tell you how much she has suffered to accomplish a grand thing.” And Halotyne related her story to anyone willing to listen.

Halotyne had few mortals she loved, but Mimi and her mother were two of them, and she was willing to fight for them. She would have made Mimi her prophetess, but the girl had lost faith in the moth gods, and only someone who had faith in them could be their prophet or prophetess. She aided her in a different way instead.