God of Discovery [high fantasy, slow build, mlm]

Sky Mountain - part 1

All the excitement in the early morning translated into a late start of the day for the entire village. The baby, Hastess, had taken to crying at anything and everything and the procession of villagers coming in and out of the house did not help.

D'Argen was exhausted just looking at them from where he sat on the ground, leaning against the stone wall of the well.

"You are Missir D'Argen, right?" A young man asked as he came up to him.

D'Argen had to squint against the sun behind the man's back when he looked up at him.

"Lord, actually," D'Argen corrected, using the title that ranked him above his three companions in the mortals' eyes.

"Apologies. Lord D'Argen. And thank you. For helping Marsha. Since Isme and Rimas left the other day, we were all worried. Thank you for being here."

"I did nothing," D'Argen replied even as he flexed his fingers. His hand still hurt. "Marsha did all the work. And Amastas and Shabir."

"Thank you," the young man said again, putting more feeling behind the words, and then bowed his head low before turning away to leave.

A few more villagers came up to him to thank him and make him feel awkward. As usual, Lilian was his saviour. They came up to him with a sour expression, even though it cleared when a few of the villagers expressed their gratitude towards them as well.

"You should change your top," Lilian said as soon as they were close.

D'Argen refused to look down at himself. The blood from his dreams was seeping into the ground at the corner of his eye and he feared what his robes looked like.

"The house is a little busy now," D'Argen replied instead.

"Abbot got all our stuff. Moved them to Marsha's house."

"Oh? So, there was an entire house available for us to sleep in to avoid the nightly drama?"

Lilian snorted out a laugh but did not say anything else on the topic. Instead, they nudged D'Argen with the tip of a boot where he sat on the ground and said, "You look undignified. Nothing like a god who just blessed a baby into the world."

It was D'Argen's turn to snort out a laugh. He did get up, though, dusted off his robes a bit with lazy hands, and then finally focused on Lilian to ask, "are you okay?"

Lilian did not reply for a long time. Finally, they shrugged but their expression was dark. Lilian was once known as the God of Spring and was worshipped by many mortals for it. As the God of Spring, they were expected to know all about bringing new life into the world. None of the Never Born could procreate though. Lilian, even less so. No matter how much they wanted to and had expressed it in the past.

When Lilian's title was first questioned, it was due to a lack of a womb and breasts like a woman should have – the creator of life. That was only the first step toward their fall. But it was such a quick one. Lilian's fall as the God of Spring was the fastest one D'Argen had ever witnessed. The woman who first accused them of being unworthy of that title was still alive when Acela took Lilian's title and rank and handed them over to another god.

Hiras, who was still sometimes called the God of Storms, was like Lilian and all other Never Born; she could not procreate. She did, however, have the figure that many mortals believed to be acceptable for the creation of life. The fact that Hiras' storms were much more showy and dramatic than Lilian's soft spring breeze was a definite plus as well.

Lilian did not hold a grudge against the new God of Spring, but they had never been the same after that, even if that title was first bestowed upon them by the mortals and meant nothing at all to the Never Born.