The Greatest Sin

Fortia and Maisara talked over the phone. “Elassa recalled me, Arcadia was attacked.” Fortia said sourly. The months of managing Doschia’s crumbling markets had done little to put her in a helpful mood.

“Mmh.” Maisara said over the phone. Ruffling papers came over the speaker. “I got a letter too, from her.”

“What do you think?”

“Only natural, children play around until they break something and then they have to call upon adults for help. I assume she doesn’t want us, she wants the Paladins and the Guardians.” Maisara said coldly.

“I thought the same.”

“There’s just one thing I don’t like.”

“What?”

“Why is it Elassa’s seal… and not Allasaria’s?”

Kavaa turned to the sky as she saw Fer fall to the ground and Anassa walk those crimson stairs. It had to be Anassa, she had sauntered onto battlefields like that in the past too. On those magnificent stairs, opaque, as if an artist had brought a pencil drawing into life. They materialized before her, with railings pulled straight from a grand castle, each delicate step she took, the stair behind her disappeared. It fluttered into butterflies that gave a few flaps of their wings and then burned up.

Fer hit the ground like a boulder. Kavaa took a step forwards on instinct, and then the Goddess of Beasthood walked from that cloud of dust. She was coming to Kavaa. The Goddess of Health turned back to her Clerics, she had just been trying to raise morale, Kassandora had instituted a brutal regimen and Kavaa was afraid it would drive her men to exhaustion.

It was odd. In the Great War, her Clerics were pushed to the brink and signs of fatigue seemed to evade them. Now though? Kavaa looked across her men. “Meeting over! You will see me later today!” The men saluted and went off, each one in dark green shirts and shorts. There was no reason to wear armour in this sweltering Sun. A few started to go off, more turned to look at Anassa. And that sour feeling hit Kavaa. It hit when she saw how Kass’ soldiers looked at their Goddess, it hit when she saw how the Goddesses looked at Arascus, it had hit when she saw Paladins ponder Maisara, Guardians gaze at Fortia and when the Seekers saw Allasaria. Her soldiers never looked at her that way.

The ones who did had left to join Kassandora.

Kavaa turned as Fer approached. She walked in a wobbling manner, Kavaa didn’t even need to use her magic to know the woman was injured. Cuts littered her body, her skin was gaunt and pale, her ribs exposed through the tears in her clothes. Her shaggy golden hair was a pale blonde and her tail didn’t wag from side to side.

Kavaa took a step forwards as Arascus, Kass and Olephia approached from that cliff the former had gone to. Arascus had stuck to his word, the only people who knew of the full plan was the former two of that group. Even after Helenna had wormed words out of Neneria’s maids, they had little to talk about but her fondness for sweet cakes and red wines. Kassandora had no maids and her own guards that denied entry even to Divines, Arascus didn’t even have a tent to spy in. The man was always moving and always on guard.

“I am back.” Fer’s voice was tired and pained, but she still managed to sound cheerful. “Thanks Kav.” The woman collapsed onto her knees. “Your blood saved me, I used six vials.” Kavaa had expected her to use one, maybe two. From seeing the woman fight in the Jungle, a few drops of Kavaa’s own blood was enough to bring Fer back from almost dead. “Heal… please.” Fer said tiredly as she rolled over onto her side, then collapsed onto her back. “I held it, Ana said not to sleep.”

Kavaa dropped to her knees instantly. Her hands touched Fer’s cheeks and Kavaa’s eyes bulged as she inspected the damage. There wasn’t a single sinew of muscle that hadn’t been torn. Most of Fer’s veins were about to tear apart from the pressure of her own heart, every bone had at least half a dozen fractures in it.

Fer smiled as Kavaa started to pour healing into her. She mumbled an “owie” as Kavaa got to those ribs. Parts of them weren’t even recognisable anymore, it was only bone dust. Kavaa’s magic pulled re-stitched sinew, those bones reformed, they tore at the flesh as they reassembled, the woman’s skull had two cracks, those were delicately put together and allowed to recast themselves like a helmet of steel. Her hair started to change, from the pale straw back to the vivid gold. “Owie.” Fer mumbled again with more energy. “That pinched.”

Kavaa had just torn the inside of the woman’s thigh as she stitched her broken leg.

“Does it not hurt?” Kavaa asked.

“It’s fine.” Fer replied. “Keep at it.” Her stomach rumbled, rumbling stomachs were always a good sign. If the body had enough energy to think of being hungry, then it meant the damage wasn’t too bad.

“This will hurt.” Kavaa said as she probed the woman’s hands with her magic. These were in an even worse situation than the ribs. Every finger had been thoroughly destroyed and her nails had fallen off. Fer merely giggled, smiled happily and closed her eyes as she took a deep breath and put her into the air.

Kavaa would doubt that even Kassandora would allow her nails to be regrown. Kavaa had only done it to herself once throughout her entire life, since then, she had spent over a thousand years making sure she would never have to do that again. Fer merely made a sour face and curled her toes as Kavaa forced skin rip and tear and allow new nail to form over her finger. And a quiet ‘ow’ this time.

Kavaa wiped the sweat off her forehead as she looked at Fer’s face. The Goddess of Beasthood pressed her head deeper onto Kavaa’s lap as her stomach rumbled again. She stared up, a bright smile painted on her face, those yellow cat-eyes staring up at Kavaa. Even the ears on the top of her head wriggled against Kavaa’s stomach. “I’m hungry.” Fer said. Kavaa looked down at the Goddess as she thought of what to do. Fer was Fer, Gods did have slight variations in themselves. Did she really need to be fed blood? Kavaa could see it.

The Goddess of Health was about to cut her hand open to feed Fer when Arascus, Kassandora and Olephia finally reached them. Kavaa blinked as she realised how long it had taken, bones could be healed reforged in a mere few seconds when touching, and it had taken her almost a dozen minutes to fully heal Fer. And she blinked again when Kassandora kicked Fer with her black boot, Fer yelped as the Goddess of War, hands on hips, leaned over her like a teacher telling off a naughty child. “Don’t beg like that Fer!” Kassandora said angrily. Olephia came over to Kavaa and handed her a piece of paper.

Please do not feed the cat just because she smiles at you. She is always hungry. Olephia smiled mischievously at Kavaa’s expression then shook her head and wagged her finger at Fer. It was the first time Kavaa had seen Fer told off… But then if anyone could it, it would be Olephia.

“Thank you for healing Fer, Kavaa.” Arascus said as he leaned down, grabbed Fer’s hand and pulled her up. Fer stood like a new woman, that golden mane of her spiralled down her back, her tail wagged through the air, her ears jumped. “It’s good that you made it.” The two hugged each other. Kavaa stared up at that from the ground. Arascus in his black uniform, dark hair brushed back, and Fer, clothes torn and looking as if she had just walked out of a battlefield, on her toes as she rest her chin over his shoulder. God of Pride and Goddess of Beasthood, eyes closed and smiling as they hugged each other.

And Kavaa tried to remember the last time she had been hugged like that. Did it ever happen? Even once? She blinked a tear away and composed herself as Kassandora pulled her up. Arascus eventually let go of Fer as the Goddess’ stomach rumbled again. “I am actually hungry.”

“We have fresh game.” Kassandora said flatly. “I expected you to be.”

“Little Kassie is always so thoughtful.” Fer turned to her sister and Kassandora merely shook her head. Kavaa stood there, little Kassie was still such an odd term. The top of Kavaa’s head only reached up to Kassandora’s shoulders, the woman was a mastermind in her own league, stronger than Kavaa five times over… And she got called little Kassie.

“Lovely as always.” Kassandora said as she looked up to sky.

“Are you two going to greet each other?” Fer asked Kassandora and Olephia nodded rapidly.

“We are.”

“Then I’m not going to miss that.” Fer and Olephia started to distance themselves from the group. Arascus took a step, stopped and then put his hand on Kavaa’s shoulder.

“Come, you don’t want to be close.”

“I don’t?” Kavaa asked.

“I’ll explain it.” Arascus said.

Kassandora hissed in response. “There is nothing to explain, Anassa needs to be slapped down every now and again to keep her in check.” Arascus sighed and walked off with Kavaa. Fer and Olephia were already sitting on the dirt with a good amount of ground in between them and Kassandora.

“So?” Kavaa asked. In the Great War, Arascus laying his hand on you was a death sentence. And now she felt… she felt safe. Kavaa pushed that feeling away, it had to be one of the man’s powers. There were Gods out there who could manipulate emotions.

“Anassa is vastly stronger than Kassandora.” Arascus said in a flat tone. He turned away to make a gap between Fer and Olephia. The Goddess of Chaos was scrawling something into her notebook as Fer nodded along, a smile on her face and ears jumping with every nod. Behind them, the vast camp of Clerics with its multitude of flags were and wooden homes was starting to brim with life more than it usually did. A crowd of men was coming to watch. “If I had to rank them…” Arascus bobbed his head from side to side. “They’re all different of course, but raw power, one on one, classical duel. Anassa is third.”

“Who’s first?” Kavaa asked.

“Olephia and Irinika.” Of Chaos and Of Darkness. There was no surprise in that. “But Anassa has never bested Kassandora in a duel.” Kavaa looked up at Anassa still walking down her stairs. Did she actually intend to walk the whole distance?

“I see.”

“Anassa is the hardest to deal with.” Arascus said as he crossed his arms. “Easily the hardest, every family has a problem child, Anassa is ours. If she gives you trouble, or if she gives it to Helenna or Iniri, then call me, if not, then one of my daughters.” Arascus spoke slowly. Kavaa nodded. The White Pantheon was filled with nothing but problem children. It had been surreal to stay with Arascus and the others so far, with all of them getting along. It almost put her heart at ease to know that they had their issues to deal with. Almost. They were still far too nice to each other.

“So she’s like the Great War Anassa?” Kavaa asked as her eyes moved to Arascus. Incredible.

The man chuckled for a moment. “What do you mean by that?”

“Well like with Fer, she’s… I mean, we fought each other back then. She isn’t how I imagined her to be.” Arascus seemed to understand.

“Fer’s bloodlust makes her into a different person.” He pointed to Olephia. The Goddess of Chaos saw him, smiled and waved back before going back to writing something. She handed a note to Fer and the woman howled in laughter, her tail beating the ground with mirth. “Ironically, Olephia is the most stable. She’s so overwhelming she’s never had to practice battle.” He moved to Kassandora. “Kass is… Well… you know her.”

“I think I do.” Arascus nodded grimly.

“Kassandora is rather hard to get to know, but she likes you.” Arascus said.

“She does?”

“She does.” Arascus said. He squinted and pointed towards a hill. Kavaa could just about make out a figure on it. “There’s Neneria. She’s sweet, although admittedly she’s hard to like.” Kavaa shook her head. This was nothing like the White Pantheon. There it was about the powers and domains that were useful. Kavaa always took a backseat because she ranked near the bottom of strength… And here? The man just called the Goddess of Death sweet and hard to like!? That was it? What about her talents? Her power? She was the Goddess of Death! Surely he had something more to say about her than the fact she is sweet!

“That’s all?” Kavaa asked and Arascus shrugged.

“I’ve dealt with Allasaria too so I know where you’re coming from.” He said. “But yes, that it is. Anassa is the only that has the White Pantheon mentality when it comes to power, and even then it’s not so extreme as it is on the Mountain. The rest don’t worry about it.”

Kavaa sighed and looked up at the man again. Was it him? They all deferred to him, the God of Pride was strong, but even in the past Olephia had always been stronger than him. How had he crafted such a perfect Pantheon? “I don’t… I…” Kavaa struggled to get words out. “How?”

“Maybe it’s Olephia?” Arascus asked. “It’s hard to compare strengths when you’re all in Chaos’ shadow.” Kavaa looked over to Fer and Olephia sitting on the ground again. Fer was drawing something in Olephia’s notebook with a wobbly hand. “But I don’t think it is, we’re family, we just like each other. Kassandora and Malam are the weakest, but they’re the big decisions makers who are deferred to.”

Kavaa took another deep breath. Incomprehensible. Every Divine worked alone, the White Pantheon was merely an amalgamation of kingdoms that worked together. That was as far as it went, it would have never appeared if a lone Divine could pose a threat to Arascus. The White Pantheon was simply a treaty of mutual benefit and mutual survival. Pantheon Peace’s public goal was to stop wars between mortals, but it was actually to stop Divines from shattering the world. Kavaa’s cheeks went red as she heard her own thoughts. Breaking from the Pantheon had been treacherous enough, but now there was a little voice in her head that wanted admittance into Arascus’ orbit. “I…” Kavaa took breath as she calmed her mind. “That is certainly different.”

“That it is.” Arascus chuckled. “But Fer living in civilization? Chaos walking around without anyone batting an eye? Kassandora being the hero of this country? Neneria being out in the open? I would not have it any other way.” Kavaa nodded as her eyes strained to Neneria. The woman was starting to move down the hill and approach the two Goddesses sitting on the ground. Arascus smiled proudly at her. “And Fer helps keep everyone together too, she’s easy to like.”

“She is.” Kavaa said. It wasn’t a lie to say she had grown fond of the big cat and her antics since they had ventured into the Jungle. But then Helenna was as easy to like as Fer, and Helenna had never received that treatment in the Pantheon. Anassa interrupted them. Her stairs stopped and she laughed from above.

“They’re beginning.” Arascus stared as he looked up at the sky.

“Beginning what?”

“This is how they always are. Kassie won’t back down and Anassa…” Arascus chuckled. “Well, Kassie hates it but Anassa loves her little sister a bit too much.” The man sighed and put his hands on the back of his head as Kavaa’s eyes scanned the rest of the Divines. Helenna and Iniri had appeared from the camp, on the other side of Fer and Olephia. Those two were stood up now, Fer’s eyes had sharpened and were blinking around. Olephia looked ready to speak. Neneria had deployed a few ghosts by her side.

“Are we safe?” Kavaa asked.

“They make a mess when they play.” Arascus said apathetically. “You get used to it.”

“But you’re all at attention.” Arascus smiled as he looked at Kavaa, a spark in those blue eyes looked impressed with her perceptiveness. Kavaa hated the fact she felt happy with herself when he acknowledged her.

Arascus merely smiled and looked back at the two. “Sometimes, they have to be pulled off each other. But trust me, they’re each other’s favourites.”

“It’s good to see you’ve managed to pull through this far!” Anassa shouted down from the air, her voice noble and haughty. The entire camp went quiet as Kassandora put her hands in her pockets.

“You’ll kick the bucket long before I do.” Kassandora shouted back up.

“Oh I don’t think so.” Anassa said, she must be using sorcery to amplify her voice, Kavaa somehow heard her condescending tutting. “Are we still swinging a sword around?”

“Still are and still will.” Kassandora said. “Have we moved onto playing in the real world?”

“Never have and never will.” Anassa shouted back down as Arascus sighed.

“This isn’t a good look for them.” He said slowly, his rumbling voice barely reaching Kavaa.

Kavaa agreed. “It’s not.”

“Are you using a shield at least?” Anassa said from above. Her sorcery started to come to the ground.

“I’ll use a shield when you start dressing properly.” Kassandora shouted as Kavaa looked over to Anassa. The amount of skin the Goddess of Sorcery showed would… well, it’d make Helenna blush. Her eyes travelled to the Goddess of Love. Actually, Helenna may be getting ideas.

“Same rules as always?” Anassa said and Kassandora burst out in laughter.

“Your rules, not mine.”

“I have to go easy on my little sister or I’d feel dirty about myself.” Anassa shouted as the platform below her disappeared and her heels touched the ground. Kavaa didn’t take her eyes away from the two, but she leaned into Arascus, her fingers brushed against his as she felt Anassa’s power blast out in waves. Kassandora’s armour appeared around her apart from the helmet and Joyeuse materialized in the air. It stabbed into the red dirt and Kassandora easily pulled it out.

“What are they talking about?” Kavaa asked.

“Anassa won’t fly and Kassandora only has to get her once, Anassa won’t go for the face.” Arascus said and shrugged. The movement made Kavaa remember to pull the back of her away from his. “They agreed to it themselves, don’t be scared.”

“I’m not.” Kavaa answered immediately. She wasn’t, but it was Anassa. The Anassa. In the Great War, the two greatest fears were being conscripted into Neneria’s Legion or being taken alive by Anassa. There had been an honest debate on whether to tell soldiers to end their lives instead of being captured by Of Sorcery.

“Ready when you are.” Anassa laughed haughtily. Kassandora did not wait for the laugh to end. Joyeuse spiralled from her hands and into the air. “Too slow.” Anassa said. A claw of crimson appeared in the air and flicked the blade away. It reappeared in Kassandora’s hands immediately, she threw it again and launched herself at Anassa.

Kavaa tried to keep up, she had good eyesight, better than most Divines, but this? This was a blur of black armour flashing against crimson sorcery. She had never seen Kassandora fight like that, Joyeuse was thrown, hurled, swung, blocked, thrown, launched into the air, then it disappeared only to rematerialize in Kassandora’s grip.

And from Anassa’s side, it was wave after wave of red light. It threw Kassandora into the air, the Goddess twisted, slithered out of it, roared and blocked another wave with her hand. “When does it end?” Kavaa asked.

“When Kass admits defeat or when she touches Ana’s dress.” Arascus replied as he watched. “Kassie needs sort of thing, she gets her anger out.” Kavaa did not see how. The woman was thrown into the air and slammed into the ground. Anassa started walking forwards, Kavaa wandered if she was purposefully making herself into the stereotype of a pretentious noblewoman with that haughty laugh.

“I’ll have to heal them, won’t I?” Kavaa asked sourly. This felt like when Maisara and Allasaria had a spat.

“If you want.” Arascus replied. “They both recover quickly, they’ll be walking tomorrow.”

Kavaa did not understand how the man could be so calm! They looked as if they were ready to kill each other. Red lightning slithered out of Anassa’s hands, her hair trailing in the air, her dress not touching the ground as if invisible servants behind her were carrying it. And Kassandora had that look about her, the same look Kavaa saw when they had escaped from the White Pantheon, when Kassandora had said that they’d only win once they were all dead.

And the man’s words. If you want? What was that!? She was the Goddess of Health! Healing was her duty, of course she would heal them! Kavaa blinked as she realised her thoughts. Had she just been tricked into agreeing? She sighed and shook her head, the man spoke continued. “Fer takes great pleasure in having dolls to play with.” Arascus said as Kassandora twisted along the ground, she swung Joyeuse at Anassa as a crimson fist hammered into her from above. Anassa blinked from in front to behind Kassandora. The swing went all the way around and Anassa blinked again, to the front of Kassandora this time.

“Excuse me?” Kavaa asked as Anassa raised her hands. A series of scarlet plates appeared around her and shot at Kassandora, the Goddess of War cut an opening with sword, threw the blade at Anassa and the pirouetted through them.

“She goes and spoon feeds them when they’re both bed-bound and tells them off. Olephia likes doing it too.” Arascus said, he sighed as he watched the brawl. Kassandora closed the gap, then her hand was impaled by one of Anassa’s red beams. Fer laughed from the side-lines and Arascus shook her his. “And it’s over.”

“Over?” Kavaa asked.

“She’s closed the gap. Kass has won.” Arascus said. Kassandora roared and slid her hand down the spike. Her fingers, palm still impaled on that red spear, almost closed around Anassa’s fist. The Goddess of Sorcery took a step back, red lightning in a ball in her other hand and tried to slam on Kassandora. Kass twisted and punched through the ball of lightning into an explosion, her hand locked around Anassa’s wrist and she flung the Goddess of Sorcery towards the ground.

Kavaa heard Anassa grunt and then moan as her arm broke at the elbow, she didn’t even to inspect to know she’d be healing, arms should not bend that way. Kassandora slammed her knee on Anassa’s back and pinned the Goddess to the ground. “That enough for you!?” She shouted. “You cannot-“

Arascus clicked his tongue and Fer sprang forwards. Faster than that red lightning, faster than Kassandora and her sword. The God of Pride started to walk forwards and Fer slammed into Kassandora, grabbed her, and pinned both of the sparring women to the ground. “Now now little sisters, don’t fight now.” She cooed in a horribly sweet tone. “Big sister Fer is here to make sure you don’t hurt yourselves.”

“I hate you Fer.” Kassandora grumbled sourly as she gave up on trying to slither out of Beasthood’s grasp.

“Get off me you big cat.” Fer looked extremely pleased with the reactions she got. But the real thing that interested Kavaa was when saw Anassa’s arm return to shape. Impossible. Sorcery could not heal. Could it? Arascus stood over them and sighed.

“Are we happy now?” He said. “Have we fought it out?” Kavaa looked up at the man’s face, Arascus had never looked tired, but now… it was as if he was simply going through the motions, as if this had happened a thousand times before.

“Yes.” Kassandora and Anassa said at the same time.

“Alright.” Arascus said. “You two make a mess.”

“Not my fault Kassie is a little morsel.” Anassa purred.

“You’ve done nothing but choke on me then.” Kassandora said as Fer let the two of them go. Olephia came over and stared down at Anassa. Kavaa caught a flash of the paper: You shouldn’t bully Kassie so much, she’s not a fighter. Kassandora saw the paper too.

“Excuse me Olephia?” The Goddess of Chaos merely put her hands on her hips and gave the woman a flat stare, terribly unimpressed. “Fight me with a sword and then we’ll see who...” Olephia merely pointed at her throat, then at Kassandora, and then downwards towards the ground. The meaning was obvious enough to get. She smiled, tilted her head up, and those violet eyes looked down her nose as Kassandora angrily clicked her tongue.

Anassa stood, or rather floated up. It was an unnatural movement, as if the ground simply pulled her to her feet. Kavaa didn’t like it. Kassandora over and waved the bleeding hand with a hole to the Goddess of Health. “Can you heal me?” She asked, then took a second’s pause. “Please?” Anassa purred from the side as Kavaa took hold of Kassandora’s hand.

“You’ve torn your leg muscles too. And the bones in your other arm are cracked.” Kavaa said quickly.

“Sorry.” Kassandora said and kicked the dirt. Arascus and Anassa exchanged hugs behind them and whispered something quietly to each other, most likely greetings.

“You ready?” Kavaa raised an eyebrow. She had imagined feeling annoyance once this moment came, the same annoyance that came with cleaning up Fortia and Maisara. There was none of that though, it was an entirely different feeling entirely. Something warm and fuzzy within her stomach. Kavaa didn’t know what it was. Kassandora nodded, Kavaa started and the Goddess of War grit her teeth as her knees started to shake.

The damage was nothing compared to Fer’s brutal state, it was over in a few seconds. Muscle and vein was pulled and stitched together, bone was recast and reformed, and it was over. Kassandora bent over and took heavy breathes. Kavaa held her to make sure she wouldn’t collapse. “Healing that hard for you Kassie?” Anassa said from behind.

“Unlike you, I rescued myself.” The Goddess of War sounded especially smug with herself.

“Excuse me.” Kavaa said. “But I was there too.” She said as Kassandora looked up and laughed, waving her away.

“Don’t worry about her.” Kassandora stood up and stretched, arms above her head as she twisted her stomach to either side. “It’s good to see you Ana, great to see you’re as bitchy as ever.”

“Likewise to you Kass, I was scared you’d get robbed by mortals when Fer told me you were out. Or that some stray dog would bite you.” They both looked at each other and burst out in laughter. They even hugged. Kavaa stared at it in wonder. They had just fought though… In the Pantheon, this would have resulted in a year of seething from both parties at the very least. They split up and Olephia came to hug Anassa.

They split up and Olephia pointed at Kassandora, looked angrily at Anassa and shook her head as she wagged her finger in front of Anassa’s red eyes. Kassandora’s were like crimson flames, these were deeper, like a dark red blood. Anassa laughed as she raised her own hands. “I’ll behave Olia, I’ll behave.” Olephia smiled and nodded. “So you’ve been busy?”

“Very.” Kassandora replied as Anassa walked passed Kavaa. The Goddess of Health blinked. Impossible. She turned and looked at Anassa again. The woman had no wounds on her body. But… “We have an army, it will be good to bolster it with sorcerers. I’ve found people I think have potential already but it’s your demesne to decide.”

“Anassa…” Kavaa said and then wished she kept her mouth shut. The Goddess of Sorcery turned, her nose twisted up as she looked at Kavaa. Kassandora stopped and turned, Fer’s ears sprung up. Even Arascus and Olephia stopped. Kavaa felt like a bee in a hornet’s nest. She should have just kept silent.

“If we didn’t face each other in the Great War, I woul-“ Arascus cut Anassa off.

“Ana.” He merely said her name and she fell silent. “What is it Kavaa?” Kavaa took a deep breath and steeled herself for a denial. What would be the worst that would happen? They’d tell her off? Tell her to keep her nose out of family business?

“Are you injured?” Kavaa asked. Anassa raised an eyebrow as she swept her hands down her body.

“I appreciate the thought little Goddess, but do I look injured?”

“Ana.” Arascus said again.

“I sense you’re injured.” Kavaa said, harder this time. Anassa clicked her tongue and looked at the arm Kassandora had obviously broken just moments before. She turned and twisted it and flexed her fingers. Kavaa took a tentative step forwards and used her own magic to find silently search the woman’s body.

“I am not.” Anassa spoke like Allasaria did. As if she looked down on everything and everyone and they were nothing but dust. She didn’t speak to her family like that though. Kavaa didn’t want to be spoken to like that either.

“Your wrists and shoulders are dislocated.” Kavaa said. “Your arm is broken and you were bitten on your shoulder.” Kavaa pointed to Anassa’s shoulder and Fer came in, cooing in that warm voice of hers. She leaned down to put her face next to her sorceress sister’s.

“Well lookie here.” She said smugly. “Seems my little sister isn’t so good at healing as she thought, is she?” She chuckled mischievously. “That’s where I bit you.” Arascus stepped in and leaned to look at Anassa’s wrists.

“They don’t look dislocated.” He said.

“I am sure they are.” Kavaa said definitely. Kassandora leaned in around Anassa and looked up smugly at her, eyes low and voice rumbling with humour.

“Well well well.” She left it at that.

“Kavaa, I can heal myself, rather easily in fact.” Anassa spoke and then Arascus came in.

“Kavaa, you can heal her, Anassa give her your hand.” The Goddess of Sorcery rolled her eyes, slouched and reluctantly put her hand forwards. Kavaa gently took those pale fingers into her own and scanned the woman’s body. She had been correct. She blinked then looked at Anassa. But she hadn’t? There were two Anassas there. One injured and one perfect. As if they were overlaid onto each other, like two drawings, the perfect one hiding the damaged one. How?

Kavaa pushed the question out of her mind and focused on the damage. “It will hurt.” She said.

“Kavaa, I’ve taken more pain than you can imagine.” Anassa said sourly. “Just get it over with.”

“I’ll hold her down if she goes rabid.” Fer said and Kassandora unleashed a terrible hehehe of a laugh from the other side.

“Here goes.” Kavaa said and started to heal Anassa. The Goddess of Sorcery’s knees trembled, her cheeks went as crimson as her dress, she blushed and fell to her knees. Did… Kavaa looked down at the woman as she knelt in the middle of the group. Kassandora and Fer and Olephia were all sharing smug looks and Arascus looked as if he wanted to pick up the bottle to drown himself in wine.

Dislocations were easy to fix, and the wound in the shoulder was almost healed. Kavaa merely helped everything fit back together, she quickly let go of Anassa, took a step back and wiped her hands on the fact of her dress to make sure none of… None of that got on her. Anassa breathed heavily on the ground, her eyes practically swimming in bliss. Arascus grabbed her arm and pulled her onto her feet. “Up you go. Compose yourself Ana.”

And then… Kavaa didn’t know if this was a dream or a nightmare. The Goddess of Sorcery bowed to her. “My apologies Kavaa. You know, you’re not half-bad at that.” Kavaa didn’t understand whether Anassa’s tone was supposed to be pleasant or terrifying or blissful or dreamy or pained.  

She fell behind as she looked at the Goddesses walk with Arascus and start to immediately discuss battle plans. Neneria caught up soon, she shared a few words with Anassa and then fell in besides Fer. Kavaa eventually stopped following them as Helenna and Iniri caught her. The three merely stared off at the tall figures, tall even for Divines. “That was the Anassa?” Iniri asked.

“Did you see her?” Helenna said.

“What do you think?” Iniri followed up. Kavaa had no words.

What a family.