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Celestino let Phichit explore. There were some places he wasn’t allowed to go on his own, but Celestino had explained that those were places that were dangerous, places that were intended as punishment for those who had offended the gods thoroughly, and Phichit could end up hurt. If he wanted to go visit, Celestino would take him, but going alone was a bad idea. It had only taken going to visit one place and nearly getting crushed by a rock as it rolled down a hill to convince Phichit that this was not Celestino trying to coddle him the way his mother did.
There was so much to see and do down here, even with some places off-limits, that Phichit really didn’t mind. He spent a lot of time exploring Elysium, where he could interact with people who the gods had decided to reward. He’d even made some friends over there. Guang Hong had earned his reward by turning against his own people to protect a temple of Hiroko from being destroyed. Leo was a priest and prostitute at that temple, the one who had convinced Guang Hong to turn. They had been slain together, and Hiroko had appealed to Celestino for them to be together in Elysium for their sacrifice on her behalf.
After six weeks in the Underworld, though, Phichit was homesick. He didn’t miss the isolation, but he missed the sunshine. He missed flowers. He missed the small creatures that had been his friends up there. He missed the warmth. It was a good consolation to know that eventually, he’d be going back – at which point he’d find himself missing the freedom down here, and Leo and Guang Hong, and Celestino. Really, he was just being silly, curling up in his room and crying instead of going out and taking advantage of his freedom while he still had it.
He’d just finished cleaning himself up and making the trip out to Elysium when the ground started shaking, causing him to stumble. He picked himself up, but before he could get moving again, the ground shook again, harder. This time, he just stayed down. He’d heard of earthquakes, although he’d never had the opportunity to be anywhere near one, but in Elysium? There wasn’t supposed to be so much as a cold breeze, let alone something like this.
His mother had never taught him what to do in an earthquake. Staying here didn’t seem safe, but getting up and trying to go anywhere wasn’t going to work. What was he supposed to do?
A thundering sound over the rumbles of the earth caught his attention, and he looked up. Celestino’s chariot was flying toward him. Celestino wasn’t in it, but the horses didn’t seem to be spooked or panicking, as they slowed down when they reached the border of Elysium. Phichit forced his way to his feet, waving, and the horses came for him. Phichit was able to climb up in the chariot, at which point, the horses turned around and headed for the castle.
The ride was bumpy, worse than any of the other times Phichit had been in a chariot, but much better than sitting on the ground exposed to whatever the hell was happening. It smoothed out the second the chariot’s wheels were through the gate to Celestino’s home castle, the center of his realm. Celestino came running as the chariot slowed to a stop. “Phichit! Are you all right?” He held out a hand to help Phichit out. “I’m sorry. This shouldn’t be happening right now. I don’t know of anything happening up above that would cause it.”
Phichit climbed out of the chariot carefully. Once his feet were back on solid, unshaking ground, the terror hit him, and he nearly fell. Celestino caught him, supporting him and helping him stand. “What is happening?”
“As people die, my realm expands. Usually, it’s gradual, gentle, and barely noticeable unless you’re me. Sometimes, though, something happens to overwhelm the natural growth rate. War, volcanos, floods…”
Phichit’s heart plummeted into his stomach. “Famines?”
“Yeah, that can cause it, too,” Celestino said. “The thing is, usually I know what’s happening. I get a few hours’ warning. This time, I have no idea.”
“I do.” It sickened him, but he couldn’t come up with anything else. Celestino raised an eyebrow, waiting for Phichit to elaborate. “Remember Mom’s threat? If Yakov let you take me back down here, nothing would grow, and the world would suffer?”
Celestino wrapped his arms around Phichit, holding him tight. “This isn’t your fault. I hadn’t thought of that, but you’re right. This is probably your mother’s doing.”
Phichit closed his eyes, leaning harder against Celestino. “Should I go back?” he managed to force himself to ask. “Stop her temper tantrum, calm her down, let the humans prepare?”
“I hate to say it, but… you can’t,” Celestino said heavily. “Six months for six seeds, a decision freely made. Even I can’t put that aside. I can release you from Yakov making this an annual thing, make it so that when you go back up, you never have to return, but I can’t free you from the original six months. I’m sorry.”
“This isn’t your fault. You tried to stop me. This is Mom being a spoiled brat.” Phichit pulled back from the hug as he felt a nose poking at his leg, and dropped a hand to skritch one of Cerberus’s heads. “Why isn’t it shaking here?”
“No one but me ever comes here, except at my invitation, and those never stay long,” Celestino explained. “It has no need to expand or reform itself to accommodate new arrivals. You’re an exception, but one person, it could accommodate already.”
“So I have to stay here until this passes. At least there is somewhere safe, I guess.” It could be a whole lot worse,
Celestino offered a half-hearted smile. “If it makes you feel any better, I’m stuck here, too. Right now, my power is useless anywhere but here. I could be killed.” That actually did make Phichit feel better. At least he wouldn’t be stuck alone. Celestino was very good about spending whatever free time he had with Phichit, and he was good company. “When this is over, I usually go on a tour of the whole realm to see what changes happened. Do you want to come?”
“I would love to, but is it safe?” That and not getting to check on his friends were the only downsides to the plan of getting to go see everything there was to see down here.
“It is if you stay close to me in the more dangerous places.” Celestino looked down at Cerberus smiling as Phichit rotated through skritching the heads. “I found something for you. Come see it?”
“Sure.” Phichit took the hand Celestino held out, letting him lead the way. Cerberus followed, only whining a little at the loss of his pets.
“I know you’ve been missing your life above, so I started thinking about what I could do to help with that,” Celestino said. “I can’t bring the sunshine down here, and without sunshine, flowers won’t grow… but animals can be down here just fine. Cerberus has no trouble. Hold out your hands.”
Phichit did as instructed, and broke into a huge smile when Celestino lifted a small creature out of a box to put in them. “A hamster! Thank you!”
“You can take it with you when you go back to the surface. If you choose to stay up there, it will eventually die, but if you come back and bring it with you, it’ll… recharge its life, in a sense.”
Phichit bit his lip to avoid giggling. “Is that your way of bribing me to come back next year? Because you don’t have to. I’ll ask Yakov and Sara to make sure the priests and oracles spread the word, warn the humans that this is going to be a thing now and they need to prepare. Otabek can come up with some way to teach the humans to prepare, I’m sure. They’ll adapt.”
“It wasn’t meant as a bribe,” Celestino said. “It’s just that if you’re up there, you don’t need a tie to your life up there.”
“No, but I’ll need one to my life down here. I’m going to miss you when I’m up there.” Phichit ran a finger over the hamster’s back. “And you know Mom’s not gonna do anything to help me not be homesick for the Underworld. She’ll tell me to get over it and forget going back.”
“Speaking of… your hamster is invisible, except to people of the Underworld, by the way,” Celestino said. “That way your mom can’t get hold of it and hurt it. If you want something to take with you to remind you of down here, I’ll try to think of something.”
“I have the hamster,” Phichit said. “Mud will remind me of the Underworld.” And of its king, the one thoughtful enough to seek out a hamster for an intruding visitor to make life happier for him.