A Real Goddess Would Let Nobody Die

Vwoosh. Kthang.

Chep looked over his shoulder again, toward the entrance to his family's hut, wondering what exactly he was hearing.

Fthuummm. Kthrap.

Some of it sounded like thunder, but not all of it. That vwooshing, and the kthanging after. No thunder that Chep had heard in all his ten years sounded like that. Supervisors' weapons? They'd been talking about some kind of fighting, but that was supposed to be many leagues to the east. Were they practicing, or something? Way out here?

Chep didn't know what to make of it. Much as he wanted to poke his head outside and take a look, it wasn't worth risking the supervisors noticing that he was here. Skipping work was risky, but he had no choice: Fi was too sick to be left alone, and Ma couldn't keep staying with her. Ma was already so far behind on her weaving that she was sure to be short of the next offering quota; she needed to make sure she didn't fall too badly short. The supervisors wouldn't care. Well, they'd care about the missed quota, but not the reason why.

Chep peeled the cloth from his sister's forehead, to wet it again, and grimaced. It was hot to the touch. Too hot. The whole day, no matter what he'd tried to get Fi to eat or drink, she'd spat it up, and it had been a while since he'd been able to wake her. It was just like Ruu, last year, before she died. Ma knew it as well as he did, she just didn't want to.

As if summoned by his thoughts, Ma burst through the entrance.

"They're calling assembly!" she hissed. "Go!"

She bolted over to pick up Fi.

"Ma...she can't..." Chep mumbled. He didn't know how to say it.

Fi was way too sick to go out and lie on the ground with her face in the dirt for who knew how long. She wasn't even sweating anymore.

"I know." Ma's voice cracked. "Come. We're already too slow."

Fi was limp in Ma's arms. Chep's shoulders sagged, but he nodded.

They hurried out, right in front of two supervisors.

"You are to go directly to assembly when it is called," one of them growled, raising his weapon. "But you know that."

"No! No!" Ma pleaded, dropping to her knees and staring at the ground. Chep did the same. "It's--my daughter's sick! I came to get her, to bring her. She--"

"Directly to assembly," he repeated. "Or you're a runaway."

That smugness broke something in Chep. Here he was, about to lose a second sister, and on top of that, Ma was gonna miss her quota for it. They could see how sick Fi was. Even though Chep's sister was probably gonna die with her face in the dirt, his whole family was already headed to assembly. They'd almost be there by now, if not for this crap! But what was the point of being a supervisor if you didn't seize every chance to feel big and powerful, and remind everyone that you're the boss?

"Have you got no kindness at all?" Chep spat. People got shot for less, but he'd passed his limit. "You got no sisters? No mothers, neither?"

KTHRAP. KTSHAW.

Thunder, again. Much closer than before, so close that Chep stopped his ranting and looked up from the ground.

The supervisors were looking over their shoulders, in the direction of the thunder.

...They didn't know what was going on.

PKRAK.

That's why they had called assembly.

This pair glanced at each other, exchanged nods, turned back to Chep and his family, and raised their weapons again.

...And just stood there?

<RUN!> a voice shouted.

At the same time, Chep was filled with an urgent need to sprint. Anywhere. Anywhere but here. He pulled at his mother's arm, but she was already rising from her knees, same as him. Running wasn't much of a plan. They would never get away. Except...

KTSHAW. BRKRAT.

Something awful strange was happening.

Flames licked at their heels, just as they passed behind their hut.

KSKRAT. KRAWW.

They had no chance of outrunning the supervisors. Chep was just a kid, and Ma was carrying Fi. Even if they could get away, where were they headed? They had nowhere to go.

...Whose voice had that been, telling them to run?

Chep glanced back over his shoulder, in time to see the supervisors round the side of the now-burning hut, point their weapons at Chep's family, and get hit straight in their stupid faces by a fireball falling from the sky.

VWOOSH.

A blast of hot air caused him and Ma to stumble to a halt. They stood staring at the flames, each as confused as the other. They had seen and smelled scenes like this before, heard these screams, but normally, it was runaways, or people caught praying, or people who missed too many quotas. Not supervisors.

Out of nowhere, a man appeared in the middle of the air, and dropped a few paces to the ground. It was hard to make out the parts of him that had sky in the background, because armor made of sky covered everything but his face.

He...bowed?! To Chep and Ma?! Huh?!

"My name is Pem. I serve the Sky Goddess as one of Her Paladins." He rose from his bow, and cocked his head at the flames over his shoulder. "She and Her Sisters, the True Goddesses, have damned the Hretzis and their minions."

As if he hadn't just made the most fantastic claim imaginable, the man casually grabbed a circle of sky from his back, laid it on the ground, and one-upped himself.

"This is a portal to Her home. Take my hand, and I will bring you to Her. You are all invited."

Chep and his mother looked at each other, then at the flaming remnants of the supervisors, then at Fi, then at the portal.

Ma gulped, and hurried toward it, past their flaming hut.

Maybe...maybe Chep wasn't going to lose a second sister?

----

Finally. For the first time in too long, it was all gone. The cramps. The headache. The nausea and chills. All gone. It was finally over.

Fi's eyes drifted open. She was in the sky, and the two prettiest, shiniest people she had ever seen were smiling down at her, from each side.

So she was with the Goddesses. It really was over, then--poor Ma. Fi started crying, thinking about how sad her family must be.

"Shh, shh," the black-haired Goddess soothed. "You're alright, Fi. You're alright. Everything's fine now. You're safe. You'll never be so horribly sick again."

Well, of course, but it was Ma and Chep she was sad for, not herself.

"Is this, the Sacred Realm?" she croaked.

"No, but it's a similar place," the same Goddess explained. "This is the home of the Sky Goddess. We're friends of Hers. My name is Villacqui, and this is Nyrkatess."

Fi nodded; that all made sense. She moved to wipe at her tears, but the Goddess named Nyrkatess laid a hand on the top of Fi's head, and the tears disappeared before she could reach them. With her own hands in front of her face, Fi noticed how perfectly clean they were, and the rest of her. That restarted her sobbing, harder than before.

A soothing warmth flowed from the Goddess' fingertips and palm, starting from Fi's scalp and running down to her fingers and toes, one pulse after another, like the waves made by a warm breeze in a meadow filled with wildflowers.

"Villacqui," She said. "I think I know just what to do."

The black-haired Goddess giggled with Her hand covering Her mouth, and nodded, which set Her earrings swaying back and forth.

Nyrkatess did an excited little clap with only Her fingers.

"What do you say, Fi? Can I pamper you a little?"

"Pam-per?" Fi choked out.

"You know! Do your hair!" Nyrkatess turned Her head and pointed to Her Own fancy style--braids like rope woven from gold passed above Her ears into a loose bun at the back--then to Her shiny black dress, which hung from Her shoulders by narrow straps. "Clothes like ours, and some marvelous jewelry to match! But there's a price! You need to tell us: Of all the flowers you've ever seen, what color did you like best?"

...So this was what being with the Goddesses was like, huh? Fi really hoped that Ma and Chep weren't too sad. She'd feel way too guilty.

"Uh--hic--alright," she agreed, blushing. "And...um...pink?"

The golden-haired Goddess beamed down at her.

"Perfect," She purred. "I have one that should fit."

"I'll tell Fi's family that she'll be ready soon," Villacqui said, as She stood from Her chair of sky.

Fi's eyes widened. That's right! Pa and Ruu must be waiting for her!

"Come! Come!" Nyrkatess urged, in a voice strained by excitement. She held out Her hands, and squealed, "Ohhh! I can't wait!"

Fi took a deep breath, and then another. This was just what it was like being with the Goddesses, right? She was...she was all cleaned up, so...Fi raised her own hands with a gulp. The Goddess pulled her to her feet, and led her over to a chair in front of a table and mirror.

Fi climbed into the chair, slowly raised her eyes from her knees, and saw her reflection. Her jaw dropped.

"Me?" she whispered, touching her face to confirm. Those sort of looked like her clothes, but she'd never...she'd never been so...so...And her teeth.

"Oh, little bud," the Goddess murmured from Fi's shoulder, meeting her eyes in the mirror. "This is only what you look like when you aren't being trampled." There was wrath in the growling of that word. "I can't wait to see your petals."

A pool of pearly moonlight appeared in Her palm, and Fi realized Who these 'friends of the Sky Goddess' were.

----

Chep had a meysifruit the size of his head in one hand, and a skewer of meat the length of his arm in the other.

"Ma, They said to eat," he reminded her, again.

She'd been in a daze since the moment they came through the portal, and especially since she'd seen the Sky Goddess. Ma still couldn't look straight at Her, even from a distance. The Goddess was currently fussing over one of Her Paladins, with Her instrument lying near Her feet.

Chep was glad to see his mother take a bite, distracted though it was, from her own skewer.

"Hello! I'm glad you've found some food!"

Ma still couldn't look at the New Moon Goddess, either. She spun around with Chep, but didn't stand.

"I've come to tell you that Fi is awake, and perfectly healthy," She said, and Ma sagged with relief. "She seems excited to see you. Please, follow me!"

That was enough to get Ma on her feet. They followed the Goddess as She glided across the bustling clearing, away from the food area and toward Her Sanctuary.

Once they stepped inside, She apologized.

"Nyrkatess is nearly finished. We are sorry it has taken so long." She bowed. "Fi was very close to the point where only the Goddess of Life would have been able to heal her."

...They'd waited in line for a little while, and then Chep had been swallowing food as fast as a boy could, and wasn't even finished yet. How quickly did They normally heal people?

Ma shook her head rapidly, dropped to her knees, and leaned over, but said nothing.

"'No expectation of reward,'" the Goddess reminded her. "Most of the people who come to us wish to receive the Fertility Goddess' blessing for their pregnancy. Nyrkatess found it delightful to have something different she could do to help."

The door to the inner chamber opened, and the Full Moon Goddess danced out, clapping Her fingers near Her chest.

"Perfect! Oh, Villacquiiiii! I've been inspired!" She stuck Her head back inside the door, still rocking from one foot to the other. "Come on out, little flower!"

A girl about a year younger than Chep shuffled through the door, staring wide-eyed at her feet and blushing the same pink as her dress and the giant flower in her hair above her left ear, opposite the braid on her right. She was shiny like a pebble polished by the river, and not just from her necklace, earrings, bracelets, and sandals, which all glittered with green gems. She herself, her skin and nails and hair, looked polished.

Wait.

"H-hi," Fi stammered.

She waved with her elbow stuck to her ribs, then covered her face with her hands.

"I--I know this...It's not how you remember me."

Uh, yeah.

"...Fi?" Ma sounded as amazed as Chep.

His sister looked up from her hands, and seemed like she was the confused one.

"Marvelous, isn't she?" the Full Moon Goddess gushed. "Your whole village must be here! Go show them your petals! And everyone else! The whole world!"

She spread Her arms over Her head.

"...Fi?" Ma repeated.

The Goddess nudged Chep's sister towards the exit.

"And don't you try to return that outfit!" She said. "It's too small for me, anyway! Oh! When you need it repaired, bring it to me! Or cleaned! I can clean!"