A Real Goddess Would Let Nobody Die

"So, you remember how, during My introduction, I said that I was born from the White Goddess' template?" Kennalaria hesitantly asked Her parents.

Papa nodded. "When You were born, we suspected something. We knew that Her Essence had saved our daughter, so we were, um, surprised but not astonished, it was understandable, when You came out very white. We didn't know the details, still don't, but it was obvious that the White Goddess had brought our daughter back to us, and that was a side effect. So be it, didn't bother us at all. We just sent thanks and took You home."

Mama was emotional like she had been in every meeting for the last twenty years, but in good enough condition to speak today. "I did wonder if maybe She would come for You one day, if, if," she waved her hand at Kennalaria, "if you were, you know..." She still couldn't settle on the words, still waving her hand. Eventually, she rasped, "Like Her."

And, here came the waterworks.

"Oh, even after twenty years, I still can't believe it. It did not go exactly how we imagined, but when, when She said, said maybe...Oh, I had always wondered. You were such an impossibly good kid. I am just so proud."

Kennalaria stepped forward to give Her mother a hug.

"You were right to suspect, and I know what happened. My body was being destroyed, by My unique kind of magic, so Her Essence filled in the gaps according to the only pattern it knew: Hers. And also, the similarity is even deeper than My appearance. There's a mage thing, where core personality traits are encoded in mana. Her mana imprinted Me with Her core personality traits, and I am very, very thankful for that. For My appearance, too. Her appearance."

She stepped back. Her parents seemed unsurprised.

"So, I feel...very similar to Her, like I...come from Her, you know? And," the vertigo She had been feeling all morning surged, "She just told Me last night that She feels the same way, and thinks of Me as Her Daughter, and I wanted to...make sure that You wouldn't be upset, if I, um--"

Mama spoke suddenly with firmness from nowhere. "You are as much Her Daughter as mine. I birthed You, but She made You and gave You life and then raised You at least as much as we did. And we aren't blind. You look more like Her than any daughter has ever looked like her mother. Sound like Her. Walk like Her. Crouch like Her. You are biting Your lip right now and wringing Your hands slightly to the right of your navel in exactly the same way that She does when She's worrying about everyone. You do the same suppressed giggle thing. It's uncanny. Listen: You are a Goddess. We accepted this a long time ago. You are our daughter, and You are Her Daughter. And why would I mind that? Is there any better Mother to share a daughter with?"

Luck was feeling very lucky.

"No," She croaked. "There isn't. Thank you. For everything."

----

"Mmmmmffffff," Kennalaria wheezed that night. "You, seriously, did this, every second, alone, for twenty, five--"

"Yes, I was psychotic, literally," Menelyn interrupted. "I was constantly having vivid hallucinations, involuntary flashbacks, mostly of failing to protect My family, constantly replaying how I had let them die in perfect detail. The memories locked-in, in the same way that You experience now. The only way I could justify to Myself that I had lived and they had died, was by making Myself so powerful that I would never again need to let anyone die."

Kennalaria chuckled despite the pain. To the unfamiliar, that would sound like an ideal to strive for while accepting that it would always remain out of reach because you would need to be a goddess to achieve it. Her Mother had made Herself into the immortal Goddess of Salvation, built a world where volcanic eruptions sheepishly apologized for bothering Her, and still worried, still thought of Herself as lacking, because She was unable to save all the stars, too. Kennalaria was this person's Daughter. She was pretty sure that thought had made a lot of fuzzies that She couldn't feel through the blinding agony.

"To be satisfied that I was doing everything possible, I had to maximize My suffering, push Myself to the limit of endurance. I treated the pain as penance for unforgivable betrayal. I didn't completely stop treating it as penance, didn't think I was...redeemed enough to relax and just live, until I achieved My first resurrection. The guilty hallucinations never completely stopped until I had Izena back."

Menelyn's--Izena's--arms wrapped around Her. Once She was released, Menelyn laid down next to Kennalaria, wrapped an arm around Her, and channeled the healing spell while speaking quietly.

"I was worried that You would insist on being as insane as Me, at the start. Out of over-enthusiasm, or to prove Yourself. I'm glad that You are sane. It's better to go slower. A few hours a day will double Your pool in less than a century. That's good enough, and at that rate, it's not too different from a daily exercise routine. More painful, but it's psychologically tolerable, and allows You to live a life. You will hit the practical cap, the level where Your pool starts to fill so slowly that greater size isn't really useful, within a few millennia regardless. There's no rush. Don't hold Yourself to a standard unreasonable even for a Goddess."

She kissed Her Daughter's cheek.

"I will be right here, the whole time."

Kennalaria grunted out a question to confirm something of critical importance. "Hair, less than, thousand?"

"Yes, most likely."

Twilight stared at the ceiling. Glittering hair. Starlit eyes. Twinkling brows. Glistening lashes. Partially transparent dark violet everything, maybe lightened a bit by the coloring already present, or mixed. The Twilight Goddess of Her imagination, as omnipotent as She was sparkly, smiled back at Her...She was the only way life could get better than it already was.

"Worrrrrrrrth," Kennalaria moaned.

"And a full outfit shortly later. That one's not as much of a hard line, since different styles require different amounts of mana."

"Be patient," Izena warned. "Eye incineration is to be a last resort."

----

Over the three months since Kennalaria's deification, a new routine had developed.

After the dawn rituals were finished, Menelyn and Izenakee would leave to handle whatever the day's business was.

Menelyn's healing and resurrection were always in demand, everywhere, with many from each major Temple city and their respective regions--Rokesha in the west, Ezenta in the north, Esto in the east, Kanenn in the south, and Benevin in the center--awaiting Her arrival. That was the most common, generic daily task. Sometimes something needed repairs.

Sometimes, there was a dispute that required the Goddesses' mediation, or a ceremony to attend, and there was other miscellaneous business from time-to-time.

This much had been the old routine, and it had always bothered the trio that Their Temples so often had no Goddess present during the daytime as a result, even when They were nominally in residence. So, people visiting in hopes of meeting the Goddesses would often find none available, and this had contributed to a common impression that Their time was too valuable. The worst part was that the impression had some truth to it. Their time belonged to the people for whom They served a sacred purpose, but very often They had no time to give.

With the induction of Kennalaria, this had changed. There was now almost always at least one Goddess available: The Violet Goddess could be found near or in the Pool of Salvation during the day. It was fine for Her to work separately, since She could rejoin the Others rapidly if there was an urgent need. So, if the Goddesses were in the city, you could go to the Temple, and One would be there, consistently. There would likely be a crowd, She might not be able to talk to you one-on-one, but She would be there. You could walk into a Temple and meet with a Goddess, at any reasonable hour starting shortly after dawn, if They were in the city. A 7996 years-old pattern had been broken.

Sezzen had heard this, and had come to the Temple today on a whim. He had no big problems to solve; he was only curious. The Goddesses were in Rokesha, for the first time since the Violet Goddess' deification. Why not go to the city and see Her?

As soon as he walked in the main door, She appeared in front of him. Literally, just appeared--poof! Her unique magic. That alone was enough of a thrill to justify the trip. Any magic was cool, but She was the only mage Who could do that. And, how often did anyone get to see One of the Goddesses from three paces away? There were billions of people in the world, and only three of Them! Well, four, but three bodies. Sezzen found himself smiling before he knew it. This was so cool!

And then his senses resolved Her into more than a glittering outline.

Wow. The display did not capture the glow of divinity properly. He had heard that it was partly a psychological effect, that the Goddesses gave a metaphysical impression of brightness to an observer that complemented the genuine physical glow, but it had to be seen to be truly understood. She appeared to have been painted over the world using a shinier palette, like She wasn't completely inside reality, but on top of it. Combined with the sense that She had a dirt-repulsion field and the manner in which She had appeared...

"Teeteeteet," She tittered, just as he subconsciously breathed a whisper, "A real Goddess."

"Yes, I'm Luck! Welcome!" She said. "I'm glad I look the part!" She made a pose with Her arms out to the sides. Every syllable, every twist of Her wrist, cock of Her head, shift of weight, flutter of clothing, glittering strand of hair...everything gave the sense of barely-contained, high-pressure joy.

Sigh. Sezzen was emotionally self-aware enough to recognize what had just happened, and wise enough to know how disastrous it was. 'Hmmm, how about you don't crush on a literal Goddess Who manifested from Divine Light?' he scolded himself. 'Maybe try your luck with someone attainable like a starring actress or mage prodigy, uh, a mortal one, or something?'

If She noticed his turmoil, She did him the courtesy of pretending not to.

"But don't give Me too much credit," She continued. "I look the part mostly because of My Mother's spells."

Oh, You only appear to be an immortal Goddess of Joy and Beauty because Your Mother--You know, that infallible Goddess of Salvation from Whose Divine Essence You incarnated, Whose voice makes lights dim themselves out of respect?--has recognized that You are so irreplaceably perfect that She needs to preserve You indefinitely as You are for the sake of the world. Easy mistake to make. I apologize. I misjudged You.

He was very glad that this One couldn't read minds, only the future.

"And as if that weren't enough, Izena has 8000 years of practice at this kind of thing." The Violet Goddess pointed with one hand each at Her two braid loops, hanging behind Her head to shoulder length on either side. "She likes to show off, and She gets bored since She has so little else to do, so even My hair is sparkling today. I'm just Lucky!"

She winked at Her joke, and Sezzen's heart took a few moments to decide whether it would ever beat again. Damn it all.

"So, want to join everyone at the Pool? The others there now seem convinced that beating the Goddess of Luck at games of chance will give them eternal good fortune. It might, but the problem is, it is impossible to beat Me!"

She was bouncing on the balls of Her feet, both hands extended toward him, palms up. "It's always more fun with more!"

For a quarter of a second, Sezzen considered being too shy to touch Her hands, even through the gloves. But, She would be disappointed, that was clear. He reminded himself that She was still a person, even if She was a one in a trillion transcendent one.

So, the next thing he knew, he had appeared at the Pool of Salvation. She waved goodbye with both hands, and skipped back to whatever dice game She had been playing.

A Goddess had just used Her unique magic on him, and that somehow seemed like a footnote to that whole interaction. What a trip this was.

Sezzen sat down--. Sezzen collapsed to the ground, to watch. He knew Luck would win every time, obviously. You had to be crazy to imagine anything else was possible. But, it would still be interesting to watch actual magic in action.

As the game went on, Sezzen observed the people gathered around the area. Some of them were here because they were curious, like him. Some of them were here to...give thanks. Worship was a strong word, at so light-hearted an event, but they were here to let the Goddesses know that They were loved and appreciated.

But it was clear that some of those present needed a place they could go and be welcomed and loved unconditionally. Well, with the only condition being that you abided by The Creed. Luck invested a disproportionate amount of Her attention on them.

Completely for free, anyone could come in, play games, and chat with a literal Goddess? Was this real? She just did this, all the time, every day?

The Goddesses did good work.

----

Kennalaria slowed time as She shook Her cup of three twenty-sided dice. Currently, She needed the total to come out to eighteen for another perfect round. So, She continually looked at the foretelling of what the result would be if She made Her toss, and waited until it was the one She needed.

She smiled. It never took very long in real time.

Everyone who had taken up playing these games of chance knew they were going to lose. That was the whole point. They effectively made a donation to the Temple's relief fund like any other, and in return received the thrill of seeing the Goddess of Luck doing Goddess of Luck things. This was a performance.

She materialized a few small drops of Her sparkly mana, and made them do circles of Her fingers and wrist as the dice flew, for the sake of theatricality, then used them to simulate mocking tears of sympathy when Her roll of eighteen revealed itself.

She turned to Torte, an elderly regular who had first been directed here by Keekee a few days ago. Her Sister had told Her that Torte was a widow who had no remaining family. Kennalaria was the granddaughter she didn't have.

"What do you think, Torteba?" She asked, using the colloquial Rokeshan suffix for a grandmother. "Have they donated enough yet? Or is it time for cards?"

Torte chuckled, got out her brand new pride-and-joy Four Sisters playing cards set, and started passing them out.

Kennalaria could see that dusk was approaching. Her Sisters would return soon for the dusk spells, after which Izenakee would take Her place in the Dome, and it would be time for Kennalaria to do more pool expansion with Menelyn in the Sanctuary.

While the cards were being handed out, She bounced over to the young man who had been watching pensively for several hours now. He gave the sense of someone who had been inspired, who wanted to make the world sparkle a little more. Joy loved all of Her Helpers.

"It looks like you are wondering how you can help, in the future. Sit beside Me for a round, and I'll tell you."