Legend of Ransera

The young goddess flushed again, albeit more gently this time. An eager suitor was certainly preferable to an unwilling one, if his suit was welcome, and if it was surprising, it was not unwelcome.

"I am not adverse to sacrifice and compromise," she agreed; she too was a diplomat and, in almost all cases, she sought mutually beneficial agreements.

Her face lit up quietly as he expressed his interest.

"Yes, of course. That would be a pleasure to procure. I will find it most interesting as well. Consider it done."

She shifted to accommodate his presence beside her, welcoming without demanding more than he was comfortable giving. While she didn't know him intimately yet, she knew he was as reserved as Raithen was not, and that was also good.

"With your record so far, I wonder if the reason might not make me blush anew." There were countless reasons why either Raithen or Phocion would make a good match for her, depending on countless criteria and preferences. "I find that while our marriage was not something I had cogitated upon, now that you have broached the possibility, the reasons why it could prove advantageous for us, for our families, and for our people seem endless. But please, do tell me why it is you and not Raithen."

She smiled.

"And please, do not take offense that I hadn't thought upon the possibility before. When first we met, you were my first major diplomatic challenge as much as you were a delightful person. When first I visited Solunarium, I came seeking a better understanding of this apotheosis. Now, it seems natural."

A favourable match, she thought. For one as understated as Phocion Princeps, architectural patterns of speech notwithstanding, that was quite the compliment.

"I had rather thought you or your sister would sue to be the consort of the next Luxian Monarch," she opined. "Your serene mother proving such an advantageous match for the Crownwyrm."

When he offered the emblem of Varvara for her inspection, she gently took his gloved hand and traced her fingertips over the silvery, aether-marked skin. It shone brighter for the touch, perhaps in response to that spark of the divine within her. She thought, perhaps, she felt Varvara's attention fall upon them, but if so, it was so light a thing she couldn't be sure. While technically both Moritasi, even as Kala slowly—or perhaps quickly in the eternal life of a god—grew in power, she hadn't the aeons of experience as something divine.

"I don't know how they do this," she admitted candidly to her new beau. "Codify their essential nature into a mark that empowers their chosen few." She looked up into his eyes, ready to remove her hands if she found she was making him uncomfortable with the small intimacy. For some, she imagined such a divine bond would be quite private; in Solunarium, it was a mark of pride, of course. Though Phocion Princeps didn't seem the sort to take center stage unless necessity required it of him.

"I have made use of the Avialæ bonding with mine. I was born tightly bound to Kaus." She paused, offered a wry smile, wondering whether that would become a sticky subject. "But the only people I have bonded who aren't Avialæ haven't been able to influence me the way I can them. I don't know if that is a function of divinity or the status I was given in Atoria. They called me Firstborn, though..." she laughed lightly, "I am hardly so ancient. I can make and break these bonds for myself and for others without the normal, hm, whiplash effect. I should speak to your Dark Lady about it, I think. Bonds being her area of expertise. And I should speak to her about you and me. I would not begrudge you your goddess nor other lovers as monogamy is a matter of personal choice in my culture, and I would never seek to put your loyalty to your goddess against your loyalty to your wife, so I hope she and I can come to a happy accord. And I would not keep you out of those negotiations. I will want your voice heard."

Her eyes were wide, mien serious in this. Mortal he may be, and Tethered to Varvara; she would not have his will shackled.

"Ah, that does make sense," she said of the marriage mores of the Phædryn branch of the Divine Twins' tree.

She was just slipping her hand into his to gauge how that felt when he quoted the Radiant Chronicle. While she hadn't memorized it, she had read it as part of her self-imposed curriculum. A religion would eventually rise up around her whether she wanted that or not; she would learn from her kindred's successes and mistakes, though, in order to be a better shepherd.

Kala smiled and eventually released his hand, pleased that the little intimacy hadn't been awkward at all. It seemed that when Phocion chose to do something seemingly out of character, he did so wholly.

"I haven't used it to command, except a few times in our youth to protect Kaus from harm. The abuse of our bond is, as you can imagine, anathema. But the emotional and, at a certain depth, mental connection is generally an asset. 'Tis the bondmate who holds the power to influence, however. We were created to combat the Hellmaw, and the bond was meant to be a check against us should we fall under its influence."

At his request, she loosened the bonds she kept upon herself and light seemed to emanate from under her skin. Even the aether that made up her body and soul seemed to grow more intense, more complex, erring toward the unknowable by mortal minds—including her own. There might, perchance, be some hint of the platinum dragonflight about her; she had communed briefly with that far star around which their homeworld turned.

I still don't know the full extent of myself. Though I haven't the Rune of Traversion, I have transcended space to answer prayer, a feat I cannot perform at will.

Kala only smiled at mention of his family. From what she understood, all Re'hyæans had a sort of telepathic bond that followed bloodlines, though she didn't understand it as fully as she did her own race's. It seemed to her that the Avialæ bond between Cithæra and her feathered son had grown out of that, though it might very well have been a calculated thing. Regardless, she had a chain on Raithen; he didn't seem to mind.

If Phocion asked more specific questions, though, she would surely answer.

But for the moment, he saw her naked after a fashion. Her nimbus could be weaponized; it could overwhelm the unprepared, and it could blind arcane senses. Within her burned the heart of a star, but she carried herself like the flame of a candle. When he slid to his knee, though, she reined it in—not entirely, though. Now she seemed faintly limned in the cool, watery light of distant stars rather than the blaze of the star their world orbited.

Her numinous Presence also remained, albeit not so powerfully as to overwhelm. The soul recognized something spiritual, even if the mind didn't have the tools to articulate it.

She smiled again.

"Thank you," she said. "The Divine Twins did invite me first to Solunarium, but you were most responsible for my safety and all while I stayed. I feel as though I am going through adolescence yet again, still entirely mortal, while entirely divine, and sometimes a strange mixture of the two. But here, at least, I can relax some of the self-control required to contain myself. It is rather like when you don't realize how tense you are until you relax. I appreciate you, Phocion. Please, call me Kala when etiquette allows."

Kala nodded acknowledgement to the servi, then raised her eyebrows in honest concern at the prince at her knee.

"Please don't get me in any sort of trouble with your Mistress."

"Twins forbid you dirty your trousers," she agreed, with a subtle lilt of humor.

Kala liked the way her name sounded in his voice, the subtle differences to the vowels, and all. She found herself wondering, although not too explicitly, whether his deep waters hid deeper passions, or if their shared passions would be more intellectual. There were entirely too many details to contend with, so she settled for enjoying the moment.

She wondered too whether someday she might ply his shoulders with pressure and delicate threads of Fire to ease his tension or whether he would leave such things to a servus.

"An added benefit to being the favorite of one, possibly two goddesses might be an even longer lifespan," she noted. Certainly, she had already given thought to how she might make Kaus as functionally immortal as she was. Her ascension had altered their relationship; changing anything in either person would change a relationship. But he remained fundamental to her and she was unwilling to sacrifice him to Time and Death. Varvara might argue that with her, but then Varvara had twinned her soul to Aværys', it seemed.

She wondered if Phocion would become as dear to her, someone she would not live on eternally without.

"That could prove awkward," she noted. Were he Raithen, she might have been more suggestive about exactly how awkward that could be, but he wasn't Raithen, and prurient periods were not the only times her presence in Phocion's body might be offputting. Still, she smiled.

As she sipped her drink, she looked toward the wall as well, and elsewhere. She didn't demand constant eye contact, and there might be something to be learned from this physical context as much as from his oft stoic visage.

"While I am always aware of my bondmates, only with Kaus is it so strong that I can feel it from a continent away, though it is tenuous. And while some of my mind and heart are open to them, we all do have the privacy of our minds when we need it. You needn't fear Kaus speaking to you through me."

The idea did make her laugh quietly, though. That would have been more amusing when they were children, though.