Chapter Text
The Omphalos, shortly after the second set of trials.
In this hidden hideaway of marble and gold, of greenery and water, gods and mortals lingered. The Warrior of Light along with her companions of Gage Acquisitions had once again proved their tenacity against what the Gods could bring to bear. Wounds were tended, food and drink distributed, and data poured over.
Meya held a cup of water, golden eyes peering into its shallow depths as if trying to find answers therein. She had seen her patron in the flesh, Menphina, goddess of love yet she didn’t feel the reverence she expected to stir inside her. Instead she felt something else, something angrier. She shook her head, trying to banish these thoughts, and turned to take a walk. Surely that would clear her mind.
“Dear child, what troubles you so?”
Meya startled, dropping her cup into a pond she had wandered by. She whirled around and looked up to see Menphina drifting a few feet above. Her smile was a knowing one that, for whatever reason, irritated Meya.
“I’m… just tired. That’s all.”
Like a petal on the wind Menphina drifted lower to be more at level with Meya.
“You don’t hide your heart as well as you think you do. For I have watched your path with great interest! Your birth, bathed in Moonlight, was auspicious indeed, and as you grew into yourself I-
“Then where were you?”
Her voice, though hushed, seemed to carry across the plaza. Conversations paused, eyes of gods and man turned to them. Menphina simply waited as Meya’s hands clenched tightly, her ears pinned back and tail thrashed wildly.
“You watched me? All these years of praying and calling to you! I wallowed in such a dark place for so long! I needed help but you never came!” WHERE WERE YOU!?”
Meya’s face contorted into a tear stained snarl as so many years of bottle up pain surged forth. Menphina, eternally kind and loving, listened without flinching, even as the anger in Meya’s voice broke, choked by sobs.
“I needed you, I needed you to make the pain stop, I … I…”
Menphina drifted closer, scooping Meya’s hands into her own, “You deserve to know that, we, your twelve, are not all powerful. We watch over our domains but we cannot interfere directly with the lives of mortals. But we hear you, ever prayer, every plea, we heard them all. My heart broke as I listened to yours and I desperately wished I could provide succor in your aching heart.”
Menphina squeezed Meya’s hands, gentle, but comfortingly, reinforcing that she was here for Meya now.
“But even if I could I would not do away with the grief in your heart. As painful as it is, grief and love are opposite sides of the same coin and to truly love someone as you did your Aurielle is to feel the pain of their absence.”
“Then…” Meya’s voice was a whisper as she spoke, “What do I do?”
“Let time pass and the wound will heal. I promise you this. Lean on your family when you need and they will carry you till you can stand tall once again.”
Menphina’s smile was ernest and caring as she released Meya’s hands and began to drift back to her Pantheon, “I am so proud of you for coming this far, dear Meya! Your heart fair shines with the love inside it! You simply need to embrace it!”
Erick, released from Aeryn’s do-not-interfere grip, hurried over all concern and worry, “What happened? I’ve never heard you be so upset at, well, anyone before.”
Meya looked up at Erick and placed a gentle hand on his breastplate, “I need to go and… think on some things. I’ll be back soon.”
“Meya, hold on, you can talk to me don’t-” Meya stepped back, the teleportation magic triggered, “Wait!”
And she was gone.