How Divine is Thou?

Facinorous

We decided it was better to let Ialdir rest for a few days. By day three of being mortal, he was mostly healed. But the complaints did not stop. We decided that Ialdir, Robin, Nyx, and I would venture to The Whispering Meadows and search for Lesterati.

"I'll take care of everything here," Grant assured. "Orphic offered to help. He said he had a few buddies who were in the force before Hank came in that had been looking into rejoining. You might just come back to an empire."

"Hopefully not just men," Robin teased. "We women get the job done."

Grant just rolled his eyes. "I'm very aware. I've gotten hit enough times to know."

I was on edge. I hadn't had a single dream since Dzuame threw my soul back into my body a few nights ago. Which is weird for an immortal.

We borrowed some horses from the station. I got a lovely chestnut mare with a silky white mane. Her name was Lilac as they found her eating the flower in the middle of the desert. They didn't know where the horse or flower came from.

When we approached the barrier of the city, Tholnia was waiting.

"What are you doing?" I asked her.

"Accompanying you," she replied like it was the most obvious thing in the world. "You need all the help you can get."

"Does your family know?" I asked. The last thing I needed was Sareen pissed at me for taking her granddaughter on a deadly mission.

"It was Nonna's idea," she told me. "Maybe not for me directly. But I wanted to come and they weren't stopping me. I hate to break it to you, but Lesterati isn't going to enjoy you showing up, immortal, with an immortal woman. It would be better to have another mortal with you."

As much as I wanted to argue with her, she was right. And Robin wasn't the most award worthy actor I knew. "Are you even prepared for this?" I questioned, hoping to find some excuse to get rid of her.

"Food, water, extra clothes, a hunting knife, matches, supplies for a water purifier if necessary and makeup," she informed me. "For Lester."

I groaned. "If you're lying, you are so dead." She cheered as we left the city.

Ialdir was not excited to have to leave his pyramid home. But we all decided it was best to set out as soon as possible. The desert was not fun. It was hot, dry, and desolate. I was not happy that being immortal meant that I didn't need water or food to live. No matter how much I craved it, I didn't allow myself to drink anything in case any of my mortal companions actually needed it.

We were all happy when the sun started dropping. With it, the temperature dropped. We set up camp once the sun was fully gone. There were no stars in the sky, and the moon was dim without Khoion, the God of the Moon.

"Awfully dark," Nyx commented, staring up. "It's strange."

"It'll be a lot darker if Dzuame gets their way," I told him. "In both the physical and spiritual way. They plan to enslave all of humankind."

"So I've heard," Nyx said. "So, this Lester, what is she the Goddess of? I never focused much on lessons about the gods."

"Love," I told him. "She's definitely not my favorite Goddess. She can look at people and know exactly how they feel about anyone."

"Sounds like a curse. Being able to tell exactly what people think about you."

"Well, I've never had to have that power. The gods made it very obvious that they hated me," I responded.

"And you're alright with that?" Nyx asked. "Just knowing that they hate you? Doesn't that bug you?"

I shrugged, "It used to. But when you live as long as I do, it just becomes part of life. There isn't much I can do about it. They had their reasons."