A Real Goddess Would Let Nobody Die

<I am impressed by how relaxed you are, Telf,> Love hummed. <Even Suri and My Messenger feel a little anxious when linked to Me.>

Anxious? From feeling how effortlessly Love could destroy her? No, not Telf. Love being so powerful and having total control of Telf meant Telf was totally Safe. Maybe it would feel scary if Telf was powerful, normally, but not compared to Her? But Telf was always powerless, except that the True Goddesses were on her side. The True Goddesses and Their power meant safety--They were safety. It was scary to be away from Them, not with Them. What could possibly go wrong, connected directly to the True Goddess of Love, with the True Goddess of Prosperity right there, kneeling on Telf's left? This was the furthest thing from anxious Telf had ever been.

...Telf was lying next to the True Goddess of Prosperity, on a mat and pillow of Her Essence, in Her Empyreal Armory, while communing with the True Goddess of Love. The more Telf thought about how intensely, absurdly holy this situation was, the more she shuddered with piety. She did her best to channel the feeling to the Goddesses, before it overwhelmed her.

<To be so loved by such a gleaming soul is deeply, deeply humbling. I am glad that you know how much We Love you in return.>

Yup. Telf was Loved Loved Loved Loved Loved.

<Teeteeteet! That's right! Good! Now, even though you are already aware, still I need to say the words: We will never betray your faith.> Telf's body trembled as her soul buzzed in tune with the Goddess' voice. <We will earn it, relentlessly, until We have hunted tragedy to extinction, and the stars no longer have any need for Us.>

It was just like Prosperity's promises, earlier, a promise made so solemnly, by such Divinity, that it may as well have already been kept. This was how the True Goddesses wrote Fate. Telf reeled from more shudders of piety.

What a wonderful day it would be, when They finished Their holy work. The corners of Telf's mouth twitched as she imagined all those people, everyone in every domain, and on every world, getting to live a life of blessings, like her own. Telf lived in a gleaming sky-home, ate meals on a schedule, could stop and pray whenever she wanted...And someday, so would everyone. It was such an honor, to be a Helper.

<It's Helpers like you that make Our work possible. We would never be able to do everything alone. And on that note, I owe you My thanks.>

"Ahhaahaha," Telf sighed, involuntarily, still dead weight on her mat. She was now in a bath of warm gratitude so intensely cozy, straight to her bones, that soaking in it washed the fuzzies away.

<It takes quite a special soul to give her own Goddess a proper scolding! I am relieved to know that Suri is in such good hands.>

Full-body warmth, floating in a bath, fingers on her scalp, communing with the True Goddesses.

Every choice that Telf had made in her entire life had led her to this point, which meant every choice she had ever made had been the right one.

<How right you are, young lady. How very, very right you are,> Love cooed. <I am glad you understand.>

Well, if now wasn't the time for Telf to thank the Red Goddess, then when?

<Thank You, Holy Goddess, for Your Love,> Telf prayed. <You helped us escape, a few months ago, but really I mean the first time, when You saved me from despair. It still shames me, how close I was to giving up. It will never happen again.>

Fuzzies returned and absorbed the bath of gratitude.

Oof.

Telf was Loved Loved Loved Loved Loved again.

<You have nothing to be ashamed of, Telf.> Ah. This was Who taught Prosperity Her soft compassion voice. <It is not embracing Our Creed that has made you a gleaming person. You are only so devout because Our Creed matches yours. You were born into a life which taught you at every turn that misery was the way of things, that there was no point in trying, that no matter what you did, no matter how hard you tried, every victory was temporary and only unhappy endings would ever be possible. Even so, you have always--always--chosen the path of self-sacrifice, of generosity, of being a helper. But a girl whose childhood was stolen from her can only endure so much tragedy. It was My sacred honor to show you what you needed to see: real Goddesses are on your side. The Universe is not a place where the weak are only victims and the strong are only perpetrators--that is a false system of false gods wielding false authority. The strongest are helpers. Unhappy endings are for the wicked.>

Telf wept in the same way as she had then. Her mother dead, Arelvi screaming in her arms, and her brothers staring up at her, seeking hope from someone who had none, when a Goddess' Love flowed into her, and a lullaby started in her mind.

<A single garbled lullaby was all you needed. From that little spark of hope, you worked your own miracles. Don't you dare forget who got your family to that platform, and I mean more than the trek through the jungle. We are in awe, holy sky priestess. Look at what you have achieved! Arelvi can hardly remember a life without tasty frogs and big sky. Vellum will never know what it is like to be beaten. And do you know why Gwell tries to help however he can?>

Did Love actually expect Telf to be able to think straight, right now!? Well, she would try her best...

<He has a crush on Prosperity?> she answered, remembering the end of the day's lesson.

Her poor, poor brother.

<Teeteeteet!> Love sure did giggle a lot. <That too, but mostly, Gwell suspected for a long time that his big sister was something really special, a walking miracle, that he might be the luckiest little brother alive. Then that big sister was chosen by the True Goddesses, raised as an example for everyone to follow, a gleaming model of excellence fit for the holiest job in the holiest place in the entire world. He always knew it! You are his idol, and you know what I think? He couldn't have picked a better one. You know that Suri wouldn't let just anyone dress in Her color and speak on Her behalf in the nexus of the Empyreal Armory.>

...All this divine praise was tickling Telf's memory. She'd been blushing the same way for the same reason right before Prosperity offered her a 'special option.'

<Good instincts! Here's the special offer I have for you: Would you like to visit Our Garden?>

Telf was too stunned to reply. The Sacred Realm!? Her!? That was possible!?

<If you agree, I will take your mind into Me, temporarily,> Love explained. <You will see what I see, feel what I feel, and hear what I hear, until I return your mind to your body.>

Telf moved her eyes to look at Prosperity.

"Keekee wouldn't offer if you hadn't earned the privilege," She said. "The statue is working fine, and you're in good shape. I will join soon."

Telf swallowed. If she insisted that she wasn't worthy, then what would that say about her Goddess?

<Is this...common?> she asked.

<I am 8668 years old, and until now, I have hosted only My Sisters and My Messenger. Is that a yes?>

Telf swallowed again. If Ma and Pa could see her now...

<Yes, please. And thank You.> Prosperity's first Helper would make Her proud.

A blast of approval made her head spin.

<We are in the Temple of the Stars. I hope you enjoy the view!>

Telf took a deep breath. Prosperity had told her of this holy place, where the Red Goddess Listened for prayers.

The sky-chapel faded out.

Stars. Stars everywhere. Stars forever. Countless tiny lights sparkling in the void.

"Welcome, Telf."

Two glowing, red-nailed hands rose in front of the eyes Telf was sharing, and made waving motions.

Telf could see hints of pink brows and lashes, and a glowing nose.

Nope. On second thought, this was too much. Less than half a year ago, Telf had been some random, half-starved, bruised, grimy, ragged slave girl whose entire worldview was based on hearing a garbled lullaby from the Red Goddess one time, and now, and now, and now--

<I'm here, Telf.> Telf heard Prosperity's voice in her head. <It's alright. Focus on the view, and remember: you earned this privilege. We love Helpers, most of all, and you are the first ever Helper born outside the Sacred Garden. You volunteered, and I accepted you. All Helpers, you included, are assigned to a Temple on Our Garden. The Temple of the Stars is your Temple. Welcome home, holy sky priestess. This is your right life. This is what you were born to do. This is what you have earned, with all that self-sacrifice and resolve. Welcome to your Temple, Helper.>

Telf could still kind of feel her body on the mat back in the chapel of her sky-home. Her Goddess was pressed against her left shoulder, lying next to her.

Telf breathed.

Her right life. She was a Helper, a real priestess of the True Goddesses. She was a priestess to Goddesses, meeting with Them.

Right. This was what a priestess did, and she was a priestess now. Holy priestesses gleamed and did holy work, in holy places. This was normal for a holy sky priestess.

This was Telf's sacred purpose.

As she took in the field of stars, Prosperity's Helper eventually calmed down enough to notice that something about Love's glow was odd.

<Why does Prosperity glow blue, but Love glows...um...clear?> she asked.

"My immortality comes directly from Menelyn, the Sun Goddess," Love explained. "Because Suri is not here with Us, She needs to power Her Own immortality. So, She glows Her Own color, instead of Menelyn's."

Before Telf could decide whether it was okay to ask to see more of Love, the Goddess giggled.

"Don't be shy! You're allowed to see more than just My hands! It's part of why you're here."

An image of the Goddess of Love, as inhumanly beautiful as Prosperity, appeared in Telf's head. Aside from all the pink and red, the first thing to draw Telf's attention was how fancy Her hair was. Prosperity's curly hair was simply tied back behind Her ears with a sky-band, but Love's was braided into two loops, one hanging to each shoulder, and there were rubies woven into it.

"Izena braids My hair in a different style every morning."

<It looks nice.> Telf was truly impressed. <Very fancy.>

She wished she knew more words, but it was fine. Love would know exactly what Telf was trying to say.

"Thank you! When you are ready, let Me know, and I will turn around and show you Our Sisters. It was best to start with Me, because I look most similar to Suri, in the sense that both of Us are essentially glowing women with unusual coloring. Menelyn and Izena have a much brighter but weirdly see-through glow--reality can't figure out how it's supposed to show infinite brightness and infinite darkness at the same time. As for Twilight..." She trailed off, and sighed. "I'm sorry, Suri. She refused to wear real clothes."

"We never hide how magical We are!" a cheerful voice called out, from behind. "All Our other Helpers have seen My true form! It's only fair!"

<Bluhhhhhhh,> Prosperity sighed in frustration. <Telf, just try to remember what I've told you about Twilight's...sparkliness, and everything else, and prepare yourself. Most importantly: It's alright to look at Her. She's the Goddess of Beauty. She wants you to look. It's not blasphemy, or anything. You're not doing anything wrong.>

<What is She wearing?> Telf asked. It seemed like a big deal?

<Basically, something like what you wear to sleep, but made of Her Essence. Her Essence would be see-through if it wasn't so sparkly, so Her outfit is very...alluring.>

Alright, Telf's curiosity was soaring. She needed to see this Goddess Who was apparently so indescribably gorgeous that Prosperity thought She couldn't use 'Beautiful' in Her written name.

"Should I turn around?" Love asked.

<Can I see only Beauty, first?>

"Sure. Can You jump over to Your right, Twilight?"

"You bet! I'm wearing My favorite, Telf! Get a good look and tell Me what you think!"

Love started to turn.

For better or worse, Telf would be the judge of whether her Goddess was--

Oh.

Time froze.

It was a good thing that Telf was supposed to 'get a good look,' because...yeah.

Wow.

The True Goddess of Beauty.

Of Beauty.

Right.

Like Love, but Beauty.

Telf felt a new, deeper understanding of what True Divinity really meant sparkling inside her.

Wow.

It felt so strange, knowing that this Goddess Telf was seeing actually existed. Like, there was a real Goddess out there, a physical being, Who looked like this. Perfect was real, and Telf had seen Her. In the Sacred Realm, a real place, there was a real Goddess Who woke up every day looking Perfect, and then She just...did things, like, like talking to people, and breathing, and stuff, while looking Perfect the whole time. She lived like that. All the time.

Telf couldn't wrap her head around it.

<She...just walks around, in the Sacred Garden, and...people see Her? See Her...being real? And then...then they keep living? Like it's normal?>

It didn't seem possible.

<I don't understand it, either,> Prosperity sympathized.

"They try," Love answered, wryly. "She doesn't usually wear Her Essence, which helps. But seriously, imagine being in My shoes and sharing your home with Her!"

Telf thought about it briefly, and realized something very important. No matter what, Telf had to make sure Gwell never saw Her. Vellum, neither. None of the boys. Actually, it was even more important that none of the girls saw Her. Growing up was hard enough without comparing yourself to...

Oh. Oh no.

Poor Prosperity. No wonder She needed help thinking better of Herself, with Her for an older Sister. Telf couldn't imagine. Being a Goddess had downsides.

Telf had some work to do.

<Prosperity, 'Beautiful' is not only for Your Sister,> she told her Goddess. <It belongs in Your name, too.>

<Awwwww!> Prosperity giggled. <Thanks, Telf!>

Actually, thinking about it more, 'Beautiful' didn't belong in Beauty's name. Beauty needed something different, something of Her Own. 'Beautiful' would give the wrong idea--it had given Telf the wrong idea. Beauty wasn't beautiful, She was Beauty. Except, even that gave the wrong idea. Using any words for Her that were also used to say other things were pretty would give the wrong idea, like She was comparable to the other things that those words were used for.

Telf spent a while searching for words that would work for writing Beauty's name. The Goddess had asked to know what Telf thought, after all.

<Holy Goddess, You asked me to tell You what I think.> Telf had made her decision. <We should write Your name 'Perfect-Delicate-Immortal-Sparkly-Invisible-Look!'>

It made as little sense as the Goddess it described, so it wouldn't give anyone the wrong idea.

The Violet Goddess grinned, then sang, "Fab-u-lous!" while wagging both pointer fingers and tilting Her head with each syllable.

Even Her nails were sparkly.

<What does that mean?> Telf asked.

"'Fabulous' is the word from Our Language for what Twilight is," Love answered, and giggled.

That worked, then.

<The Goddess of Fabulous. I like it. It feels right.>

...It was a little unnerving. Fabulous had never been fully still--always shifting Her weight, or rocking Her head back and forth a little, or twisting Her wrists--but after Telf spoke, She suddenly froze.

Except Her hair kept rippling, slowly. She was so impossible.

<Brace yourself,> Prosperity warned.

Her Sister appeared in front of Telf in a sparkling flash of violet.

"I like you!" She gushed, bouncing on Her toes, with fists clenched near Her shoulders. "God-dess of Fab-u-lous! Ohhhh, you really get it! You would, too! Every morning, when you get up and make yourself all, um, how do you say it?! Gleamy! And you feel so proud of how good you look, and you want people to see!? That's being fabulous! And, when you made Suri all proud of Herself?! Made Her feel good, even though it wasn't strictly needed?! Fab-u-lous! Ohhh, let's go! We--We need to show her, show her a mall, or something! A fabulous day! Can We?! Down in Esto?! Go to a mall?! I bet she'd love a mall! Oh, and the Island! She deserves it! And Weee cannn siiiing forrr herrrrrrrrrrr! Let's go-go-go!"

It was a good thing Telf had been warned about...all of it. Especially Her eyes.

"We haven't even introduced Telf to Your Mothers, yet," Love reminded Fabulous.

The stars dimmed.

"We can do that at the Island."

The Sun Goddess had spoken, from out of Telf's view.

Her voice...rang, like She was singing, and had a slow pacing, stretching some syllables. The world had no choice but to pause and listen in respectful silence.

Her sentence wasn't phrased as an order, but...Telf felt it in her soul, saw it in the dimming of the stars, and heard it in the silence: When the Source of True Divinity spoke, Her suggestions ought to be treated as commandments.

Sure enough, before Telf had finished processing what was happening, she was staring out at more water than she had known existed.

Love didn't need to ask--She stared silently at the horizon, for Telf's sake.

Every holy place...first the Empyreal Armory, then the Temple of the Stars, and now the Goddesses' Island...they were all so beautiful...because of course they were...

Kloo-rooing mixed with giggling--giggling that made the brightness of the world flicker--broke Telf out of her daze.

Sensing that Telf wanted to see what was happening, Love spun around, and Telf's first glimpses of the Goddesses of Justice and Salvation were of Them squirming and squealing, buried under a pile of birds, with rays of Their glow escaping here and there through gaps in the fluff.

The fakes were so, so, so fake.

Telf was pretty sure that they knew it, deep down. That's why they would never be okay with being seen like this, rolling in the sand while suffering savage tickle-torture. It took actual dignity to be comfortable looking so undignified.

"I still, have dignity?" the Sun Goddess gasped, through Her suffering. "That's good, to know!"

"Help, Us!" Those must be gasps of the Night Goddess.

Telf could tell that her body was weeping, back on her mat.

"We Love you, too," the Love Goddess said, just before She was swallowed by Her Own fluff pile.

As if Telf could possibly have forgotten. She had never stopped feeling Loved Loved Loved Loved Loved.