A God's pack

Day 110

The speed of travel had to be slowed to better accommodate Dulce, she had never walked so far in her whole life so her feet would start to hurt pretty quickly. Time didn't mind it so much, she never asked for him to slow down or stop as the breaks they took was always a choice that he would make based on how painful it looked for her to walk at any given time. Dulce seemed very interested to hear more about the pack, an understandable interest to have considering she would be living with them for the foreseeable future. Despite how poor of a job he had no doubt did on explaining the people in their pack, Dulce still seemed hopeful to meet them. At this point, they were walking through the familiar surroundings of the Ancient forest that stretched to the horizon from the mountains. 

"You keep referring to a hunting party as 'the girls', but you've only told me about one of them. Who is everyone else in that hunting group?" she asked, following a few lengths behind him. Her feet must be starting to hurt again, but they were very close to their destination so he was reluctant to stop. 

"Oh, that's... a habit. You already know Asteria, from the sphere, the other two were Surie and... Felis. Surie is a stoic, quiet, woman. She's an exceptional shot with a bow. Felis... well she was one of our first hunters, an exceptionally good one too."

"Was?" Dulce asked lightly, he could hear the curiosity on her voice. 

"Yes. Felis didn't like humans, something she made very clear to me when she first joined. She left the group when I allowed Soaphoet to stay." he explained, still feeling some amount of guilt over the obvious distress he had caused between Surie and Felis.

"Soaphoet is the human boy you mentioned?" she asked, to which Time nodded shortly. 

"You'll meet them all shortly, we aren't that far away now." the new-God paused to wait for Dulce.

"Can I ask you something?" Time gave the snowy-haired woman a glance, raising an eyebrow at her.

"Of course you can."

"These woods feel very alive, does some immortal live here?" she asked, her tone somehow managing to just stay inquisitive instead of becoming worried. 

"A healer, The Healer, actually. They were the one that talked me into going back to the sphere." 

"Something that I'm glad you took my advice on." the voice of the healer responded, Time turned to look at the freshly appeared immortal, blinking in confusion at the new appearance of the being he already knew. While they had looked like a being of autumn before now he felt like he was looking at a person crafted out of moonlight and stars.... he supposed that's what healers were but he hadn't thought that it would be so obvious. The Healer noticed his look, and smiled at him in an almost smug manner. 

"You have way too many different appearances, Healer." he noted, turning his attention to Dulce who seemed to be admiring the healer. To be fair the autumn form of the healer was nothing if not considerably attractive, he just found them too... unnerving to be around to think much of it. 

"Hello, I'm-"

"You are Dulce, daughter of Ostolous and future Goddess of sky, yes?" they finished for her, to which the heir-god nodded. "Well, Dulce, it is a pleasure to meet you. You now know where to find me should you have need of a healer." the healer dipped their head, respectfully, before doing an even deeper bow to Time and disappearing just as suddenly as they had appeared. Healers. 

"We also have our own half-healer." he noted to which Dulce gave him a confused look.

"A half-blood healer?"

"Yes, have I mentioned Relis yet?" 

"Oh, you mentioned that he gets hurt a lot." he had forgotten saying that but it wasn't inaccurate, this man had probably spilled enough blood in camp to create another person out of. 

"He does. As long as he isn't hurt he's a pretty good medic, though." Dulce grinned at this, glancing around herself as she took in a deep breath like she was just taking everything in.

"You obviously care very deeply for your followers, I can't wait to meet them." Time smiled lightly in response, he had only been gone a week but.. he really did miss his pack. They meant a lot to him.

"They're good people." it didn't take long for them to step out of the tree-border and over the line into the meadows. So close. 

"Wow... you live up there?" she asked in a breathy voice, seemingly struck by the beauty of said place just as he had been when he first came here. 

"Yes, just wait. It is an even better view from the top." Dulce didn't look like she believed him, he wouldn't have believed it either unless he had seen it for himself. Those that live only in meadows would never understand such a view from words alone. They began to cross the meadows, Time focusing on Dulce as she spoke about how she had 'read about' places like this. He was too focused, actually, so much so that he only had a moment's notice to the company they suddenly had. Bracing just in time to not get toppled by Bear. The tall werewolf roughly grabbing him by the shoulders like he had to make sure he was real, a searching look on his face.

"You're back." a pause as the man seemed to notice something. "You look different." he noted which caused Time to attempt to choke back a laugh in response. 

"Are you sure? Maybe you need to get your eyes checked." Time was reminded of how different he sounded now too based on Bear's reaction but, to his amusement, the man did rub one of his hands over his eyes before squinting at him. 

"Bear, you can't just-" Hercules wheezed, a look of surprise catching his features when he saw Time. The tattooed man dropped to a more casual walk now, stopping slightly behind the tall hunter and using him as a prop to catch his breath.

"Wow, you look... just like.... those old painting I used to see.." Hercules managed to say through breathing attempts. 

"I'll take that as a compliment." he responded, to which the black-haired hunter smiled sheepishly. Alright, so here was two... had he side-tracked a hunting party? If so there should be at least one more-.

"Time!" it was only by the virtue of being a True-God now that he was still standing, a dusty haired hunter attacking him with a short hug before stepping back with a goofy grin. Hercules was the first to notice the snowy-marked woman standing slightly behind him.

"Oh, who's this?" he asked, a curious but friendly look on his face.

"This is Dulce." Time stepped back a few paces as he gestured to the Heir-Goddess, before turning to look at her with an encouraging smile.

"oh, right. Hello, I'm Dulce. It is so nice to finally meet some of you, I've heard so many good things!" she responded with a shining smile; Hercules seemed to like her immediately based on how friendly she was alone, Bear seemed to be thinking about something, and Drifter-

"They must call you Dulce because you're so sweet." the young-adult noted in a humorous tone, to which the Goddess groaned. Drifter looked like he was still very pleased with his own joke though, Time rather liked it as well.

"Dulce, here, is the heir-Goddess of the sky. She'll be staying with us for the foreseeable future." 

"That explains it." Bear said, seeming to be done with his examination now that he knew the situation, Time was once again reminded of how sensitive to ether Bear was and he wondered if that was why he had been staring at Dulce. The hunter didn't seem particularly interested anymore, more just generally happy that he was back. 

"Did I interrupt you three doing something?" he asked, to which Bear opened his mouth before closing it with a guilty look.

"We were hunting in the snowier woods, up the mountainside. But Bear here noticed you a while back and abandoned his post." Drifter spoke up instead, no ill intentions in his words. 

"I trust it was just the three of you and that Vaitelin has been kept in camp, as instructed?"

"Yes, he's not been hunting since well before you left. Relis stepped up in your absence and he has been very strict about Vaitelin's treatment." the tattooed hunter explained, causing Time to give him an odd look. 

"Really, Relis took control while I was gone?" he could very hardly believe it, most of the pack barely tolerated the man.

"Someone had to, and Relis was willing to make the calls. He's pretty good at it too... I'm sure he'll be very glad for things to go back to normal now that you're back., though." Hercules continued, smiling. 

"Are you three going to walk with us up to the camp?" Dulce asked in a light voice, Drifter opened his mouth to respond but Bear beat him to it.

"As much as we would all love to do that we still have tasks to do today, we'll be along shortly." Hercules nodded in agreement, causing Drifter to sigh dramatically before smiling, waving, and turning to lead the other hunters back towards where they had come from. 

"Don't worry, Dulce, I'm sure there will be more people to meet in camp so you aren't quite stuck with me." he said in a teasing manner that made the heir-Goddess stumble over herself to respond.

"Being with you is not the same as being stuck!" Time laughed in response, beginning to walk up the rocky path that would lead them to the camp. 

Dolce stayed close to him now that she knew they were in the final stretch of the journey, she seemed to have forgotten how much her feet hurt as she shifted to speed walking. Nearing the top, Time lately grabbed the Heir-Goddess arm which caused her to give him a confused look as she slowed to a stop with him. 

"I know you are excited, but don't forget to take in your surroundings." the true-god stepped to the side while gesturing out over the edge of the more worn mountain path. Dulce blinked at him, before carefully stepping toward the edge and peering over. From up here you could not only see the entire meadow at the mountain's feet but you could also see the beautiful greens of the ancient forest stretching out around the mountain as far as the eye could see. Small gaps of woods to reveal twinkling water, old overgrown paths, minor mountains that reached for the sky and hardly surpassed the tree line. The sky-god remained silent for a long moment, before giving him a doe-eyed look. 

"It's nice from up here isn't it? Worth the walk?" he noted with a small smile, to which Dulce responded with brushing her hair out of her face and grinning wide at him. 

"Do you get to see this every day?"

"Yes, it is even better in the fall, or in the mornings. You'll see." Dolce believed him when he said it this time, following him up the mountain at a slower pace now. They hadn't even actually stepped foot into the camp quite yet when a frizzy-haired Rem basically jumped him. It was understandable that Rem was the first one in camp to respond to him, the youth had probably been aware of his presence since he had started walking up the mountain... actually probably before that now. His ether was much stronger than it had once been and he didn't have to even think to be able to 'see' well into the ancient forest below. 

"Rem, what happened to your hair?" he didn't know why that was the first thing that came out of his mouth, but he had never seen the young teen's hair so frizzy before. He hadn't seen Rem since before he had even left, as Relis and Robin had went to re-take the youths from poor Sar'ene the same day he had left to go to the sphere. The thirteen-year-old rubbed a hand across his neck, a sheepish look on his face.

"Well, ya'see, funny story about that-" saved by the loud bell.

"Iniooo!" Time rolled his eyes as the name but kneeled down just in time to grab the toddler barreling toward him at his best clumsy sprint. The New-god stood back up, an overly pleased child on his arm, quickly taking note of Robin approaching.

"Time, you're back! We were really worried about you-." at that point she seemed to notice Dolce, the red-head raised an eyebrow at the strange woman but continued as normal when Time offered her son back to her. 

"I apologize for running off, I didn't mean to cause any concern." he said in a soothing tone, one that Robin sighed in response to but nodded begrudgingly at. 

"I see you brought someone new home... again." the priestess noted, seeming to be examining the snowy-haired goddess. 

"Yes, of course. Dulce, this is Robin, Robin, this is Dulce... heir-Goddess of sky and weather." he introduced for them, stepping back.

"Hello, I've heard a lot about you! I'm Dulce." the Goddess continued with a smile, Robin remained silent for a long moment as she continued to size the other woman up before returning the smile and dipping her head in greeting.

"Only good things, I hope." 

"Only the best." Dulce assured, glancing at the two younglings that were standing about. "Who are the little ones?" she added, looking at Rem first. The patchy youth blinked at the attention, before lifting his head and doing his best attempt at a bow. A rather poor one but it wasn't like he had really been taught. 

"I'm Rem! So nice to meet another immortal, I hope you're nicer than some of the other ones." most likely referring to Sar'ene, who he had been living with for a little while. He couldn't imagine the Space God was particularly adept at dealing with children. 

"And this is Aika." Robin added the introduction of her son, shifting him in her arms so Dulce could get a better look at his face. The goddess stepped closer, leaning forward slightly to examine the toddler with a pleased smile on her face.

"What, like Time?" she asked, innocently, a genuine curiosity on her tone but Time choked at how easily she had asked that. Robin looked shocked too, even those who knew what Aika meant hadn't been willing to have the nerve to ask, yet. A question she had never had to answer, one he wasn't sure he wanted her to. 

"This is what that means, isn't it? Aika is the direct translation of the word Time in a different language." Dulce continued, turning her hazel-eyes to him briefly. The new-god sighed, but nodded.

"I've... been wondering that too, actually, I just don't think anyone has gotten around to asking that yet... especially not like that Dulce." he responded, the goddess stood up straighter.

"Oh, it is rude to ask that of a mortal?" she asked, to which Time shrugged. He... well he wouldn't know if it was. Probably not? That would be a silly thing to get offended over. When she wasn't told, explicitly, that it was impolite she turned to look at Robin again with an expectant stare. 

"What was your inspiration?" the goddess continued to ask, prompting the red-head for an answer but in a distinctly polite way that made her simply sound interested. Time was fairly certain Dulce was testing the waters, actually, but he wasn't interested in stepping in... he wanted to know the answer too. Robin looked at him, like requesting help, but when he didn't step up to end the conversation now she sighed.

"I named Aika after the word Time, yes, because when I was pregnant with him Time was the first person who told me it was going to be okay. That I wasn't in trouble for it. He also helped me a lot through that awful period of my life... it just felt right to honor the person who was the most willing to go out of his way for me." Robin responded, pressing a quick kiss to Aika temple, Dulce made an 'awe' sound in response to her explanation. 

"That's a lovely reason to name him that... and I think that he looks just like an Aika." he hadn't noticed the tension until it was gone, good. Glad that was out of the way so quickly, not sure the exact reasoning for it though and he was pretty sure he didn't want to know. Dolce seemed pleased enough to gush over the toddler, who was simply glowing in the spotlight, as they all moved to enter the camp. A very welcome sandy-blond was sitting next to the fire, and Time marched across the camp without hesitation to sit next to the man. 

"'Ayyy, Time! Where you been? I was startin' to miss you." the friendly werewolf said with a bright smile, shifting to be more comfortable on the log he was sitting on. Time could tell, without asking, that Vaitelin's bandages had just been changed based on the strong herbal smell on the air. 

"What are all those neat little marks you gots now? You went and got a make-over without me?" the hunter continued in a teasing tone, that Time rolled his eyes at.

"Sorry, Vaitelin, not all of us can be as attractive as you naturally and I was getting jealous." Vaitelin snorted in response to this, rolling his eyes and playfully shoving him. Robin sat down across the fire, near Relis, as did Rem. While Dolce sat down on the log behind Time. The sandy man noticed the new face immediately.

"Ay', I don't recall ever seein' you before. You must be another stray Time's brought back with him. I'm Vaitelin." 

"Hello! Dolce! You're one of the originals of the group, aren't you?" she responded, brightly, seeming to be able to tell how friendly Vaitelin was just by looking at him and responding accordingly. The hunter rubbed a hand across his neck, sheepishly.

"Well, I suppose you could say that yeah. Robin was first, then me, then Relis." he agreed, gesturing to the other two pack mates across the fire. Dolce sat up a bit at those words, looking at the blond man who was sitting on the ground across the fire. So far, the shapeshifter had remained silent, and when she turned her hazel eyes to him the man shared a look with Robin.

"You're Relis, then? The half-healer?" she asked to which the icy-eyed man turned to give her a searching look. 

"And half-shapeshifter, yes." he agreed, oh. Shit. He had forgotten to mention that part. Time turned to look at Dolce, who was surprisingly calm. She just gave him a careful, hazel-eyed, look before returning her attention to Relis. She trusted him enough, already, to believe in his judgment in Relis's character. 

"The hunters that we met in the meadow... Hercules and them, mentioned that you were the one who stepped up while Time was gone." the Goddess responded, the blond gave her a look before slowly nodding.

"That just proves how good you are, doesn't it?" Dolce continued, Relis... well.. he looked like he wasn't sure if he had heard her right. Icy-blue eyes filling with shock, followed by a wistful expression, before he averted his eyes to the ground... embarrassed? No, not that. Hurt, for some reason Dolce's words had hurt him. 

"Thank you for that, by the way. I know I didn't exactly give you any notice." Time spoke up, giving the blond a critical look. 

"Someone had to do it. Might as well be me." 

The sky Goddess proceeded the ask question, after question, to the currently gathered group. Vaitelin seemed pleased enough to humor her and was eager to share stories that made him look good. Robin mostly stayed out of the conversation, mostly only responding when prompted specifically, and Relis was acting per usual. Vague, a little unhelpful, but otherwise friendly enough. 

As the sun began to set a familiar face of Asteria appeared with the rest of her current hunting party. The response to seeing him was instant, her sprinting across the clearing with enough violent intent that Time flinched with the expectation of her hitting him. Which didn't happen, she just dragged him into a back-breaking hug while whispering 'how dare you' at him. When she stepped back she did a double-take at Dulce, who opened her mouth to introduce herself but Astaira held up a hand to mute her like a child. 

"Don't you tell me this is what I think this is." she said, Time gave her a confused look as he glanced at the snowy-haired Goddess before returning a look to Astaira which prompted her to continue. 

"You went and got engaged didn't you?" the demi-goddess stated, which immediately made Time feel insanely embarrassed. He hated having to admit that, he didn't see why it was anyone's business.

"I... don't see how that would matter to you, Astaira, unless there is something you've been meaning to tell me." he responded with a verbal jab, which had the multi-colored woman actually jabbing a harsh hand into his ribs to make him wince.

"Don't throw that at me, you're like my brother, you know why I'm asking." 

"I don't actually." he rubbed his side, sorely, giving the huntress a sour look. 

"I thought part of the entire reason you came out here was to get away from the courts so you didn't have to bother with stuff like that? I thought you wanted to find true love. That was a big thing for you." like he didn't know it, he was well aware of the choice he had made and he was well aware of what it would cost. He had desperately wanted to find love, the real kind, but what chances did he have to find any Godly beings out here? Much less one that would spark something he had never even experienced an inkling of before. It still hurt to have it thrown in his face, but he refused to stoop to her level on this.

"We aren't children anymore, Asteria, and Dolce is a very lovely goddess who wanted away from the courts as much as I. She wouldn't have been able to leave the sphere without me." he responded, to which Asteria frowned before looking at said Goddess critically. 

"And you're okay with this? Completely fine with getting betrothed to someone you barely know?" she pressed, looking for a specific answer. 

"I was the one who wanted this, actually." Dolce's voice was even, meeting the demi-goddess's eyes carefully, the silence stretched for a long moment before Asteria sighed and stepped back. Dropping it. 

"I am sorry about that, Dulce, Asteria can be a bit impulsive. I'm sure she didn't mean anything against you by it." he said quietly, sitting back down on the ground near the Goddess who smiled lightly at him. Dulce didn't seem put off by the interaction, still being very friendly to the demi-god and beginning to question the newly arrived people about random topics. Everyone seemed to like her well enough, excluding Robin perhaps, and Time was glad that she was so willing to make a place for herself here. True love might not be a thing he ever got, but she wasn't a bad woman to be betrothed to. Things could be worse.

Dolce was an heir goddess so she obviously didn't need to sleep but that didn't mean she wouldn't prefer a place to have. 

"Surely, you have a house, yes?"she asked, rubbing her eyes. Perhaps the several day walk had been more strenuous on her than he had thought, she hardly had the travel experience he had been allowed even before he had the sphere to make the pack. Time paused, looking at the snowy-haired woman. Most of the pack had already went to sleep by this point, the night long-since darkened, the only still waking figures being that of Relis and Bear who had both removed themselves from the fire-pit and had retreated to the east-facing camp entrance to discuss something. Vaitelin had, at one point, been standing with them while they spoke but his hurting leg eventually had him tapping out of whatever conversation the men were having on the other side of camp. 

"I.. yes. I do, wouldn't you prefer your own though?" he asked lightly, she probably hadn't known that would be an option. In a lot of arranged engagements it wasn't.

"No, I don't like empty space very much." the heir-goddess stretched, yawning, before getting to her feet with a wince. "Don't you need to sleep too?" she asked, to which Time shook his head in refusal. 

"Not particularly, neither of us needs sleep like mortals do. I've hardly used my house anyway, though, so you might as well." the dark-god got to his feet as well, making a small 'follow me' gesture, before leading Dulce to the house that had been marked as his. The only real defining feature of it being that it stood further away from the rest. He didn't spend almost any time here, if he really needed sleep he preferred the temple, so there was very little to differentiate it from anywhere else.... just the herbalism books that Relis had gotten him and a few extra hides... not that he needed those either considering Gods don't feel temperature like others do. Dulce quickly made herself at home, dropping onto the low-lying bed that... honestly he didn't think he had ever actually used before. Someone might as well. 

"Oh." a sound of realization that made Time gave her a strange look.

"What?"

"I forgot something." she responded with a sheepish look, it took the New-God a long moment to catch up.

"Forgot something back in the sphere, you mean?" he responded with an amused quirk of the eyebrow. Dulce just looked more embarrassed in response.

"I didn't bring anything to sleep in." ahhh, not a problem. Not something he would have thought of either, considering that was more of a luxury thing. Time quietly crossed the wooden-planked floor, kneeling to open the small, simple, box chest that sat up against the wall near the bed. The two of them weren't too off in height, and while he was a bit broader than she, it wasn't like his clothes wouldn't fit her in a pinch. Cotton-wear wasn't something he generally wore, again he couldn't feel temperature the same as mortals could so he didn't so much need it, so the shirt and simple pants weren't something he had worn more than... maybe twice a few years before. The new-god placed them on the bed beside the heir-one.

"We aren't too different in size so if you ever need something to change into you can take something of mine." he said lightly, to which Dulce smiled warmly at him as she picked up the folded set of clothes he had put next to her. 

"You are... very, very, kind, you know that?" she said with a strange look on her face.

"Are your feet still hurting from the walk?" Dulce looked a little surprised that he had noticed, blinking before looking guilty again. He didn't need further answers than that. 

"Can I see?" some hesitation before a nod, the young-god kneeled next to the bed and removed the shoes. They were made for court, not for walking long distances. Too tight and pinchy for an actual useful pair... she probably would have been better off barefoot. Some red, scuffed, scratch marks on her toes, but the damage that was likely hurting the most was due to the back of the shoe bitting into the back of her ankle. At this point not only had the skin been worn away in one straight-line across her ankle, but the shoes had a clear blood-stain dripping down the back. 

"You could have said something, Dulce, I don't expect you to walk on bloody feet." Time wasn't sure if his tone was scolding or caring, maybe both. For a second he considered which of the herbal mixes would work best to helping the cloth-cuts heal but... then he remembered that he wasn't an heir-God anymore. He was a True-God and just... healing the cuts wouldn't be a big thing. Huh.... guess the time he had spent learning medicine was wasted now wasn't it? 

"I ruined my shoes, didn't I?" she responded which caused the Time God to look up at her to give her a strange look. She was worried about her shoes when she had cut up her feet? On that very same pair of shoes, even?

"I... if you really care about it I suppose I could figure out some way to salvage them but they aren't good for areas like this, Dulce." lightly, Time placed his hand over the ripped skin on Dulce's heal before... doing what he had seen Sar'ene do and just... drowning the wound in ether. It didn't take much, even though he had no idea what he was actually doing, but he just knew when it was enough. She should be fine, now, but if she kept trying to wear those shoes the skin would more willingly rip than it had before. Not a perfect heal, but it wasn't meant to be. 

"Is there anything else you need, Dulce?" he asked lightly, removing his hand and sitting back and away from the woman. Now that he was looking at her face again he could vaguely see out-lines of markings on her face, most likely a direct response to the extra ether she had for the moment... maybe a sign of where her Goddess markings would appear. Neat. 

"No, I.. think I have everything." 

"Let me know if you think of anything else. Good night." Time stood, flattening out the wrinkles in his tunic, and dipping his head in a respectful gesture when Dulce quietly responded with a similar 'night'. The god left to allow the heir-goddess her peace, retreating back to sit next to the fire for the rest of the foreseeable night. Hm, looks like Bear had went to sleep now too. It was just him and Relis next to the fire again. 

"You ever going to tell me what's bothering you, or am I going to have to dig it out of your ether one day?" he asked the other, casually. 

"It's not important, and I ask that you don't." Relis responded, causing Time to sigh but nod in acknowledgment. It really wasn't his place to try to drag out every secret from someone else's mind just because he, personally, didn't like them very much. Relis might not be the most innately honest person but... he had proven to be good-willed when it mattered and that was more than you could say for most. For the moment, whatever secrets Relis had, he could keep. 

Strangely enough, things went back to their normal flow pretty quickly after this. Obviously, Felis was still missed and there were the occasional days in which he wished that the exceptional huntress was still around, even with time he still often found himself looking for Tero, or Rory, and the pack would still sometimes experience sudden bouts of heart-felt grief surrounding the way that Heeteri died, but things continued to move on even in their absence. Time hadn't forgotten them, nobody had, the mortal life was just one that was too short to sweat things like change for too long. They had to learn to be okay with it. And they were. With each passing year it got easier to go without the people he would expect, and he was fairly certain that the werewolves felt similarly on the matter. Time once again found that it was difficult to keep up with how much time had passed, even more so now than before, perhaps it had something to do with being a God now? Regardless, it was becoming more and more apparent of the passage of time with each day, as it took longer for his experienced hunters to bounce back after a hunt, and as some of the pack began to get grey-hairs. 

-Thirteen Years pass-

Day 1

POV change; Aika

The young, dark-toned, man was carefully balancing on the edge of the new-fence that had been put up. It was a mixture of stone wedges shoved deep into the ground, mostly by Time because he had beyond-mortal strength to do so, and plans that were carefully cut and shaved to fit properly. At first, it had been a bet against Rem that it could hold his weight but now that the boards had proven to not even creak under the pressure he was just smugly walking back and forth across the narrow edge, arms only slightly out to help with his balance. He had already been a hunter for a few years now, mostly an apprentice one until more recently though, so he had pretty good control if he said so himself. And he did. 

"Alright, alright, Aika. I think we all get the point now." Drifter said in an exasperated tone, one that the older teen just smiled sharp teeth at. The dusty-haired adult leaning against the new fence that he had been helping with as he watched the young being continued to pace the board to spite him. 

"What? Are you going to push me off, Drifter? Make me get down like a bad dog?" Aika responded, tone mocking instead of teasing, but the older man didn't seem to take any offense at the voice... merely rolling his eyes and giving the youth the same fond look he always had. 

"Ay', I love ya', ya' little prick, but may'e be more useful." while Drifter wasn't about to try to actually intervene, Soaphoet grabbed Aika by the ankle as he moved, causing the teen to stumble and fall off the fence into the prairie grass. The grass was so long it was almost half-way as tall as he was so it made a good-enough cushion to fall into. Soaphoet, less so, but he made sure to drag the human down with him when he fell so they both ended up on the ground. 

"Oh yeah, I'm really feeling the love over here, Soaps." Aika snorted, attempting to shake the other's hand off his ankle with a sharp gesture until the accented human laughed and let him go. 

"I swear, you are all completely useless." Drifter sighed, Aika was just about ready to throw hands for the comment if not for the obvious teasing look on his face. Good, that better be a joke. 

"What ya' mean, all? I'ave been just as helpful as ya' lot." 

"I'm taking a break." the dusty-hunter responded.

"Ay'! So am I!"

"Oh? What are you taking a break from? Getting up this morning really hung you out to dry?" 

"Oy!" 

"Anywayssss, you two lovebirds have fun arguing. I'm going to see if I can find something fun to do." being the youngest in the entire pack wasn't exactly always the best thing, no one wanted to go out and just enjoy themselves. No one wanted to have fun. It was always 'I have chores, Aika', or 'that sounds dangerous, Aika.', 'I broke my leg last time, Aika.' Excuses not to hang out with him. Where was Rem when you needed her? 

"Aika, I thought you were helping with the fence today." ahhh, the voice of an angel. Finally, someone who would actually put up with him. 

"Remmm, nah. I don't recall agreeing to that."

"You did, just this morn-"

"Anyway, I'm bored. You want to do something fun? Piss off the Healer or something?" he interrupted her before she could finish her sentence, he knew he was supposed to help but that didn't mean he wanted to. Time could do it single-handedly, he didn't see why a God needed help with something like that. He had been the one to make the forge, how hard could a fence be? 

"Aika, I know helping with the fence isn't fun but I don't think you should go so far out of your way to ignore your father." 

"He's not my father. Plus, he's got more strength than two of Bear so I don't see why he would need my help with a dumb fence." the patchy woman rolled her blue eyes, the bells in her braids causing a light chiming noise as she shook her head at him.

"Very well, I can't force you to be helpful can I? You said you wanted to visit the Healer?" Rem relented, causing Aika to smile before jumping her and draping an arm around her shoulders with a sharp grin... one that seemed to fill the young-adult with instant regret. 

"I did. What do you think it would take to tick off someone that obnoxiously calm?" 

"Well, keeping in mind that they are very aware of, basically, everything and are probably listening to us right now? A lot."

"Perfect, a challenge."

"Do I want to know what you have in mind, Aika?" Rem asked, cautiously, giving him a look that only made the older-teen wink conspiratorially. 

"No, that'd ruin the surprise. You'll see what I'm up to. Let's go." the red-haired woman didn't protest as he started to drag her into the forest, this was going to be a whole lot of trouble and a whole lot of fun. Hopefully, the Healer wasn't a particularly violent angry immortal and was more of a smoldering, moody, one. Those were his favorite... just like his uncle Sar'ene. Too bad his father's more fun clone didn't live anywhere near here anymore, he hadn't since Aika was a toddling parasite, but it was still fun to antagonize the space-man when he came to visit his cousin. Someone had to remind those gods that they weren't all-knowing and that someone just happened to be him... most of the time. 

"Ugh, you little rat!" a growl from the healer. Usually, keeping low to the ground and getting away fast was a good way to get out of a situation when things went south but Rem had made a good point when she mentioned that they could see everything. Aika squawked out a curse when the Healer grabbed him by the back of his shirt and dragged him back to a stand posture beside them. 

"Oh, my. I am sooo sorry, Healer." Rem whimpered from somewhere nearby, approaching the now soaking wet immortal with a purposefully submissive stance. Aika was still trying to wriggle his way out of the Healer's grip but they had a vice-like grip and no amount of sudden tugging and twisting seemed to be getting him any closer to freedom. Being treated much like a bad dog might, the immortal dragged Aika back another step and forced the teen to look them in the eye. He didn't know that blue could flame like that but, hey, you learn something new everyday right? This was, obviously, some kind of stare down but after an intense few seconds Aika glanced away first to release the uncomfortable tension building at the base of his skull. The Healer had light-brown hair in a huge messy bun, deep blue eyes not unlike his own mother's but deeper and devouring, and makeup that had ran into one of their eyes. That was a win, he guess, he hadn't been intending on that outcome but now that he was being held captive he couldn't help but feel a little pleased by it due to his small-burning spite fire. 

"I can't believe I fought death for you of all creatures." the Healer scoffed, they had said something in a similarly strange vein before and he still didn't know what in the world they were talking about but he had obviously angered the Healer. 

"That's a you problem, I never asked you to do anything." he quipped back, turning the Healer's glare in a glower that made him instinctively shrink back a bit... but only a little because they were still holding him still and he didn't have the ability to peace out. 

"Rem, I truly had great hopes for you." the being's look turned from distance into disappointment as they turned to look at the spotted woman. 

"I know, I know, I'm sorry Healer I didn't know he was planning on using a trap on you." Rem responded.

"Way to throw me under the bus, Rem." Aika pouted at the young-adult, who frowned at him, the healer was now ignoring him though and continued to look at Rem with an almost searching gaze. 

"Try not to disappoint me any further, I asked Time to suffer a great deal for you and I would like to live with the belief that it was worth it. I would hate to think that he lost so much blood in that cave for nothing." Rem sagged in response to these words, her blue eyes dropping to the ground. 

"Hey! Hey! Not cool! I'm the one your mad at stop picking on her!" The healer merely glanced at him for a short moment before waving dismissively at Rem. The red-haired woman hesitated, looking at Aika then back at the Healer, before submitting to leave when the Healer pressed her to leave again. Now he was alone with the Healer, great. Loved that for himself.

"Now, what are we going to do with you, little nat?" the Healer asked, tapping their free hand to their face as they examined Aika. 

"Let me go." the young-teen responded, shortly, crossing his arms in a moody manner when the immortal barked out a laugh in response.

"Stars, no.... I know. I'll send you back to the sphere and you'll get to see how they deal with your kind there."

"My kind being Gods? I think I'll be just fine. Plus, I don't have to do what you tell me to so good luck dragging me all the way over there." Aika responded smugly, the triumphant grin on his face wavering when the Healer smiled sharply at him. 

"We'll see if things go so well for you... as far as getting you there..." the same lake that Aika had used in conjecture with a trap in order to heavily dose the Healer swirled like a whirlpool before stilling on a clear, black, starry sky. Didn't even look like water anymore... and it was still day-time as far as he could tell. "You have vastly underestimated my power, Aika. Now... do say hello to Ott'ou for me." now the Healer was the smug one, kissing Aika mockingly on the hand like one would their liege before throwing him into the inky abyss pool... this. Well, either this was about to get terrifying or fun and he didn't have the chance to weigh the pros and cons out before he met with the thick liquid-like substance and fell through to the other side.

"Oph!" he felt like he had just slammed into a stone floor... rubbing his shoulder with an irritated hand as he sat up and looked around him. Yeah... those sure had been stars but now the stars looked like they had been woven into a thick, light-blocking, black fabric... somehow managing to glow. Maybe the sun coming through from the other side using a thing material? That was just a guess, of course. The building itself seemed to be rather minimalistic in the terms of walls, engraved columns of marbled... marble making up the corners and supports of the building... and the floor was also marble. As was the ceiling, actually. Want to guess what the stairs were made of? 

Aika got to his feet, looking around the seemingly empty building and beginning to question where the Healer had thrown him when an agitated sound notified him to the presence of another person. Turning, Aika almost thought that Time had come to clean up this mess, but the man having a totally different hair-type and also... a lot of greying hairs that his father just didn't, made him believe otherwise. Besides the hair, the man also had a salt-and-pepper beard, brown eyes, and a nasty-old scar creating a massive notch in his upper lip that made his scowl look almost like a sneer. Kind of intimidating, not gonna lie. 

"Who are you and how did you get into my house?" the man asked, standing with perfect posture as he threateningly began to approach him again, fancy shoes chiming on the marble-like bells instead of stone. Cool. 

"Who am I? Who are you?"  Aika responded, attempting a commanding tone but just managing to sound lost by the looks of it. The strange man closed the rest of the distance, grabbing a hold of his face with too much force. Aika attempted to wrench himself out of the man's grasp but he, like the Healer, had a vice grip. 

"If I didn't know any better, I would say you were the bastard of my dumb nephew." the man stated dispassionately, a bland expression on his face as he forced Aika to turn his head so he could see his profile. Only when the man seemed to be done examining him did the young-teen manage to wriggle free from his hand, quickly putting several feet of distance between them so as to not get grabbed again so easy... the man didn't seem to care but was looking at him expectantly. 

"You look like my uncle, so that makes two of us." Aika responded, crossing his arms, the man raised his eyebrows but still managed to look disinterested despite this. 

"Sar'ene?" the man asked, looking down at him, Aika pursed his lips and glanced away. He hadn't intended on answering but it seemed that the man didn't need words to know.

"You think Sar'ene is your uncle? So, what, you think Time is your dad?" the man continued, a slightly gratter-like tone to his voice now that made Aika frown. 

"He is. Why wouldn't he be? We look exactly the same, he helped raise me, we're obviously related, that's what a dad is isn't it?" he responded shortly. Why was this man so inexpressive? He was giving him a look but Aika didn't know what it meant so he didn't know how to react... so all he could do was be defensive. 

"Right, sure. And what are you doing in my house?" the man prompted. 

"Some dumb healer teleported me here." 

"Which one?"

"The Healer. Pissed them off one too many times, I guess." 

"Ah, I see. Don't go biting off more than you can chew in the future. They could turn you into stardust without breaking a sweat." the man yawned, crossing the marble-chiming floor and pouring himself a glass of deep red. The man paused, giving him a strange look, before offering him a glass. Aika brightened, immediately, trotting across the cold floor and taking the glass without hesitation. He had gotten into a bottle or two but no one had ever offered him wine before. 

"So, you know my Uncle Sar'ene and my dad but who are you?" not that he felt particularly pressed to know the answer right then. 

"I am Ott'ou.... I suppose you may call me your Great Uncle... for now."

Aika blinked at the greying man, narrowing his eyes in search of some kind of Godly glow or mark... but he found none. Just brown eyes, dark brown skin, and salt-and-pepper hair... that, yeah, looked a lot like an older Sar'ene would. 

"Great uncle... so you are Sar'ene's dad, then?" he asked carefully, to which the man nodded with disinterest. "You're a true God, then?" Aika wasn't even trying to hide the fact that he was sizing Ott'ou up but the man didn't seem to care one way or the other about it. The greying man just gave him a look, before tilting his head to the side and sipping wine from his glass. The teen hesitated before mirroring the gesture, taking a sip from the glass and wincing at how strongly it tasted. Very not sweet, dry and bitter and a little sour, really just serving to further amplify the natural wine taste... that's not how it tasted when they had it as home. Not even a hint of honey on this glass. 

"What, never tasted real wine before, boy?" Ott'ou asked, the smallest ghost of an amused smile on his face when Aika downed the rest of the cup stubbornly. To his dismay, the man refilled it without a word. Ugh. Aika began to dejectedly sip at the glass, trying not to make any obvious faces.

"I was the Time God before Time was, he was my heir. He's a True God now, unfortunately, so I'm not any longer. That is how Gods work, boy." Aika frowned into his glass, crossing his arms again as he tapped his nails onto the perfect surface of the cup.

"My name is Aika, stop calling me boy." the man gave him a long quiet look in response, staring thoughtfully at him, before the man downed the rest of his glass and took the one that Aika was holding to put it back on the silver, engraved, tray-table. He had finished it, so there was still half-a-glass worth of wine in there, but he wasn't going to complain in his case. 

"Follow me." Ott'ou instructed, to which Aika hesitated to respond.

"Where are we going, exactly?" he didn't like the wine but holding the glass made him feel better so he leaned against the silver tray and picked his glass back up to cautiously sip on it. His Great Uncle rolled his eyes but didn't try to take it from him this time. 

"Visiting Sar'ene. Follow me... and stay close for the Star's sake." the greying God said it with more force this time, a slightly short tone to it. The older-teen frowned, swallowing, but nodded without further question. With that, the man swiped back one of the sky drapery curtains and led Aika out into a massive, beautiful, golden meadow. Flowers of vibrant majestic, colors stretched towards the sun and the air tasted vaguely of magic. He felt like he had stepped into a fairy tale. 

"Aika." Ott'ou snapped his fingers in front of the youth's face, causing Aika to flinch out of his trance-like state. "Stay close." the man repeated. It was hard to keep up with the greying God's pace when there was so much he wanted to see. Beautiful ponds, and birds, and golden ornately dressed beings. Eventually, his Great Uncle grabbed him by the arm to make sure he couldn't lag behind. It didn't take long for them to come to a... underground building of sorts. The stairs were made of obsidian, and before he could ask where they were Ott'ou was leading Aika down the long, dark, stair-case. He couldn't see by the time they reached the bottom, no lights, he had no idea how the God wasn't tripping over himself. Suddenly, the darkness evaporated as the old God parted a black-velvet curtain and led Aika inside. This part of the structure was massive, a long sprawling hall that could host every god and goddess and half-blood in existence and still have room for angels.... if those existed. The walls were plated in rose-gold, as were the floors and columns, an aqueduct of clear, crystal,... scented? liquid ran the edges of both side of the room. The ceiling was painted the same encompassing black as the carpets. Velvet. Aika didn't even notice he was being dragged to the end of the room he was so busy taking in the countless engravings on the walls. 

"Father, you are aware that there are set times for visitation?" the voice of his uncle broke Aika from his staring, turning to look at the firey God. The man had his back turned to them, reading a scroll with a silver edging, while he paced behind a low-lying table of dark-stained King's wood. Man, the Gods knew how to make things lavish. Sar'ene turned to address Ott'ou when he didn't immediately respond, the cool expression he had turned to one of surprise when he saw Aika.

"Hello, Uncle." he noted with a small wave, leaning forward to admire the finely-carved and brilliantly shinned table. He could see his own reflection in the finish it was so well done. 

"I asked you not to call me that." Sar'ene responded, Aika didn't have a chance to respond before the Space God took the half-empty glass of wine from his hand and put it on the table, his fire-gaze turning to Ott'ou.

"You gave him wine? you are aware he is only seventeen aren't you?" the man admonished, the greying god shrugged in response.

"Only two glasses of it, and you and your cousin were drinking the stuff much earlier so,"

"I don't think that point is siding with you as much as you seem to think it does." Sar'ene cut in, settling onto the slightly raised floor platform to sit at his desk. 

"We have more important matters to address, anyway. Like, why are you here, Aika?" the man turned his attention back to the teen now.

"What, you didn't miss me?" Aika responded, causing the man to groan and roll his eyes. 

"Sent here but The Healer, so his name really is Aika then?" Ott'ou was addressing Sar'ene specifically, and Aika couldn't help but feel like he was being left out of the conversation intentionally at this point. The youth crossed his arms, deciding to pay more attention to the building if they weren't going to let him in on whatever this meeting was about. 

"Yes, his name is Aika." the God responded.

"What? like that's surprising." he piped up in an irritable tone. 

"It is, actually. Can't believe Time agreed to that." Aika gave the greying man a look, what was that supposed to mean? It was exactly strange for a man to name his son after himself. The youth turned his green eyes to Sar'ene when the older man didn't seem interested in enlightening him any further as to what he meant, merely crossing his arms and leaning back while staring at his son with an expectant look.

"I warned Time of this." the God sighed, rubbing a clawed-hand over his face before looking at Aika with a careful expression that just put the teen on edge. 

"I'm sorry, Aika, this place really isn't for you." his voice was so soft, uncharacteristically gentle, so much so that it was difficult not to feel like he was being handled with kid gloves for some reason. He couldn't help but scowl at the other's tone, but that didn't seem to change the... sorry expression on his face.

"What do you mean, why wouldn't I be allowed here? Astaria grew up here, didn't she?" Aika responded, something about the sentence causing the Space God to flinch but he made no move to apologize. If anything these two should be the ones apologizing to him for being so obtuse. 

"He really doesn't know?" Ott'ou muttered, seemingly, to himself, and Aika couldn't help but glance in between the two people with increasing confusion. What? What was it? Stop with the beating around the bush and just say it!

"I'm sorry, Aika. You aren't like Time and you aren't like Asteria. There is no part of you that is Godly. You're mortal, completely mortal." he felt like he had somehow been punched by the increasingly soft voice, that made no sense. 

"How is that possible?" how could that be right, if a werewolf and a God had a child wouldn't that child be a demi-god. Like Asteria? 

"Because Time's not your father." the voice was so blunt that he stared at the greying god in shock for several long moments.

"This again? Have you even seen me? We look exactly alike!" the teen responded while gesturing vaguely at himself as if he was talking to a blind man. He might as well be if he couldn't tell that he was obviously related to Time. The Space God clearing his throat brought the youth's attention back to him, the short glare he sent at Ott'ou not being missed by Aika before he gave the teen a soft, sorry, look that made him feel sick.

"Aika, I'm sorry. Time's not your father, I'm sorry that he didn't tell you that himself. He loves you, immensely, but you share no blood with him. You are a werewolf, nothing else." the increasingly soft tone felt like a punch to the gut, Aika staring dumbly at the man as he tried to come to terms with what he had heard. 

The teen began to scramble through his memories in hopes of finding something, some proof, that he could shove in their faces to prove that they were wrong... but... Time had never told him he was his father, Robin had never told him as much either, and Aika hadn't exactly been calling Time his father to the God's face so he likely didn't know it was something he needed to set straight.... that was why Sar'ene had been so against him calling him his uncle wasn't it? Proof of how much Aika didn't know and he didn't like to hear it. The teen didn't even realize he was shaking until the Space God's steadying hands were lightly placed on his shoulders. 

"Aika, I-"

"Don't. Not like it matters to you right? You aren't my uncle." Aika cut him off, stepping away from the man and putting several feet of back peddling space between himself and the gold-bloods. 

"Not by blood, no, but I've known you since you were little. I still care about you." Sar'ene's voice was so soft, like dealing with a child, he supposed he was when compared to beings who would outlive him by decades. This wasn't fair, he had thought.. the youth shook the thoughts, and threatening tears, from the forefront of his mind. He just wanted to go home... but he also didn't want to return because now he knew how dumb he must look to everyone there for just believing that Time was his father. 

"That's why the Healer sent me here, isn't it? They knew." he asked, and the silence was deafening. Great, he was the last one to know. This shouldn't matter, who cared that Time wasn't actually his father? It shouldn't matter, he shouldn't care, and he certainly shouldn't be on the verge of tears, but... he was. Just proved how dumb he was. 

"You can stay here, with me, for as long as you need to, Aika." The weight of that offer wasn't lost on him, but he hated the pitiful look the Space God was giving him. 

"I think I would just like to leave this place, if its all the same to you." he responded while mustering as much malice as he could, which wasn't a lot as his voice still sounded threatened by tears but at least his tone wasn't quite wavering like a child's. Aika took another step back, crossing his arms defensively when Sar'ene reached out to him. The God retracted his hand like he had burned it, sighing heavily, before nodding at him. 

"Very well, Aika. I'll guide you to the edge of the sphere then." 

"Great. Fantastic. Thank you."

Sar'ene gestured faintly at him, 'follow me', but it wasn't really needed considering the fact that the Space God had his hand in between Aika's shoulder blades to lead him out. He didn't see why this touching was necessary, but he was too drained for the whole ordeal to pull away this time. This beautiful place? With golden fields, and bright summery light, and detailed buildings? Wasn't meant for people like him, only for the Gods and he wasn't one of those... he'd... likely never be allowed in this space again. Immortals only and he was just a werewolf. The walk across the blessed field was quiet, tense, but Aika didn't care to break the silence. 

"Aika..." his uncle- Sar'ene grabbed his arm to stop him, forcing him to face the fire-like God with gentle hands. He must be like a glass doll to someone like that, he could tell based mostly on the way that he seemed afraid to actually touch him, hovering more than grabbing. Time had been the same, but he had thought it was because he was just so anti-touching. The teen did his best not to meet the other's eyes, staring beyond the God, but a light touch to the forehead told him that Sar'ene wasn't just going to let him leave in peace so easy.

"Aika, please look at me." he didn't think he had heard quite that tone of desperation on the man before, reluctantly he tilted his head to regard the Space-God who looked highly conflicted. 

"Promise me that you're going to be alright, that you are going home and that I don't have to worry about you getting hurt." the look should be expectant but instead it was searching, Aika sighed in response. He didn't want to go home, he didn't want to deal with his mother, or Time, or the numerous people in the pack that called  Time his father. The long silence he responded with made the man frown at him.

"Aika-"

"I'll be fine." he finally managed, dismissively, brushing the God's hands off and turning to continue to walk towards the direction Sar'ene had been leading him in. The Space God made a sound in response, before moving to walk with him. Like he was compelled to do so. 

"Why are you so insistent on following me? I know the way out now, I'm not a child." Aika attempted to shoo the man away, but he just shook his head in response. 

"Mortals aren't allowed to be here unless they are Hollowed, you aren't. If you walk around by yourself someone is going to notice you are here when you shouldn't be." he responded, Aika... didn't know what a hollowed was but something about the word made his insides tense with discomfort. 

"If I'm not allowed to be here then why bother offering to let me stay with you? Don't lie about being supportive." he couldn't help but scowl at the man, crossing his arms like a child and viciously drawing away with a growl when Sar'ene attempted to grab his arm again. 

"Aika, you are my nephew-"

"No, I'm not, remember?" a deep sigh from the Space God in response to his tone.

"I love you, I've known you since before you could speak, I'm willing to take that risk if you need me. I'm always here for you." surprisingly heartfelt for someone who was generally so distant, and cool, and short-tempered. Aika didn't know how to respond to that, accepting help wasn't as easy as lashing out was, so he just turned his eyes to the golden-waving grass at his feet. 

"Aika, you don't have to go back to the mountain if you don't want to. You can stay with me." Sar'ene made the offer again, and as much as he didn't want to accept... he felt like a part of him was crumbling to pieces. The teen didn't say anything, biting his lip and forcing back the threatening tears again, before nodding mutely. Gentle as a whisp, the God began to lead him back the way they had come from. He didn't know how this was going to work or how long he could possibly be allowed in such hallowed grounds but... at least he didn't have to think about going home for a little while longer. That was something. 

Descending the obsidian stairs again, Aika was plunged into complete darkness once more but his footing was more sure now that he knew that light was close near-by. 

"Can you... see in this?" he chanced asking the Space God who was leading him, mostly to take his mind off of things. 

"Yes, you can't?"

"No. It's pitch black, I can't see a thing." a thoughtful sound responded, suddenly the hand that had been leading him left his shoulder and the only sense was the sound of Sar'ene shoes tapping across the cold-thick polished floor. He wasn't sure what he was doing until the wall lit up with fake stars, and while everything was still remarkably dim he could vaguely make out shapes now. 

"That's.... a bit better, I guess, thanks." he still put his hands out in front of him like he expected something to be blending in with the darkness but he knew the way forward without being led like a tied horse now. The velvet of the dividing curtain was the softest, most luxurious, material he had ever felt. His troubled mind going blank for just a moment as he tried to rationalize what touching magic-fabric would feel like before he pulled the drapery aside and stepped back into the golden-plated court-room. It wasn't any less breath-taking the second time, he almost didn't notice Sar'ene following him into the room until the man lightly placed a hand on his shoulder. Stay close. He followed the other without comment, trying to avoid the look Ott'ou was giving them.

"I thought you were leaving?" the greying god stated while giving him a look. 

"I... changed my mind." Aika responded, lifting his chin slightly. 

"He's going to stay with me, for a bit. I'd appreciate the help in hiding his presence from the other gods." Sar'ene noted, to which the old man sighed before giving Aika a long look. Like he was examining him.

"I don't like mortals." the retired God stated with distance. 

"Neither do I, but this is your Great-Nephew so you are going to help me, aren't you? Or, should I take this as proof that I shouldn't let you see any grandchildren?" that was a threat, the two had a short stare-down before Ott'ou relented with a scoff. 

"Fine, I'll help." 

"Great. Now, I do believe I'm not receiving visitation at this time of day so you can, kindly, leave us." 

"Thank you,....Uncle."

"I would expect nothing less of Time if he were in my shoes." Sar'ene responded lightly, settling down behind his desk with a slightly smug demeanor. He wondered how long this situation would last for, at least for the moment he had somewhere to be.

Day 4

So far, Aika had mostly been just hanging out in Sar'ene's general vicinity while the Space God listened to bickering Gods, whining Healers, and incoherent Oracles, he had been asked to stay within a certain range of the Ruling God so as to 'reasonably cover ether' but he didn't really know what that meant and he hadn't cared enough to ask. It didn't really matter, the main thing was stay close to Sar'ene so the others didn't notice him and stay away from the Gods. The first two days he had mostly spent inspecting the fluid-system that ran through the edges of the room, the gold plating for seams, and other general building things, but now he was more focused on the engravings in the wall. At first, he had just taken them at face-value but when Sar'ene had noticed him brushing a hand over one of the etchings he had off-handedly mentioned them being a list of all of the Gods by name. He couldn't read it, he didn't know this language, but he was intent on figuring it out. Right now it was just beautiful, scrawling, flowing script carved into the wall but Aika was intently interested in learning some amount of it while he had the chance to. 

"You see anything interesting, Wolfy?" a voice asked, causing Aika to freeze like he was caught doing something bad before he lifted his head proudly and turned to look at the offender. He didn't know how he could tell, he just knew, but this wasn't a God that had approached him... so he should be okay. 

"Excuse me? Wolfy? I thought people around here were supposed to have manners." he responded with a deep frown, looking at the grey-haired man who had approached him without invitation. Despite his elderly-colored locks the guy looked to be around his age... not that one could really tell with these immortal types, could they? 

"Ah, yes, how dare I not approach with the utmost respect sir cursed-blood-the-third." the grey-haired man bowed sarcastically at him with this, it took some work to stop himself from smiling at the comment so he strengthed the scowl on his face. He didn't know this man and he sure hadn't asked for his sas. 

"Do you need something or are you just bothering me for no reason? I'm busy." Aika questioned with a sharp tone, tapping the gold-inked calligraphy pen he had been given by Sar'ene to the board in his hand, to which the immortal straightened and gave him a mischievous grin. Blue eyes, deep, devouring, like and younger version of the Healer's. Pale skin like he had never seen the sun a single day in his life. 

"Well, I was just wondering on if you are Sar'ene's bastard and that's why he's letting you stand around the court without purpose or if Time was the pariah." the man responded with a shark-like intensity that had Aika putting a few paces of space between them. 

"Neither, who says I'm related to anyone in that bloodline?" he almost wanted the man to disprove what he had thus far been told. 

"Why else would the Ruling God allow some random weak-ethered half-blood to wander his halls unsupervised?" that was a lot of insults all at once. Aika licked the sharp edge of his teeth, giving the immortal a pointedly intense look as he sized the other teen up. 

"Throwing around a lot of big words for someone whose unclaimed." he guessed, the way the grey-haired man's face momentarily fell told him he was right. "You hoping to impress one of the gold-bloods with all that smack talk or you just feelin' real little in this big room, mouse?" Aika continued, narrowing his eyes at the other in challenge. While the other had been the one to approach him he could feel the shift in dynamic almost immediately at his response, and now he was noticing just how much shorter this guy was. Mouse indeed, he fluster like one cornered by a cat. 

"What was that about 'manners', again?" the grey-haired man attempted, to which Aika grinned down at him, narrowing his eyes before turning to look at the wall again with a gesture of intentional disinterest. Power, he had done stuff like this a lot back in the pack. 

"You approached me, it's not really disrespectful if I'm just returning what I got. That's just fair, little bit, there's a difference." the silence the followed his words almost left him with the impression that the being had left, allowing him to focus on the lettering again, until a pale hand grabbed the golden-inked pen from his. He wanted to snap that twiggy-immortals little bird-hands for snatching like a rat. Turning to glare fire at the grey-haired man, he quickly noticed a big, amused, smile on his face, he willingly gave the pen back with a mischievous look before Aika had to cause a scene over it. 

"So, not Sar'ene's, not Time's, not Ott'ou's, who do you belong to then, Wolfy?" why did he insist on talking so much when he had already lost?

"Nobody but myself, and stop calling me that." he said in his best impression of Sar'ene's dismissive tone. 

"Stop calling you what, Wolfy? That's what you are, isn't it? A werewolf?" he glanced at the grey-haired being for the words, wondering if he was going to get outed for being a mortal but the amused look on his face said otherwise. 

"Yeah, it is, so what? Why does it matter to you?" Aika tried not to snap but his voice was still a growl that made the shorter being smile slightly wider. 

"Frankly, it doesn't, I just loooove the fact that you managed to get the Ruling God to lie on your behalf. Such a goody-two-shoes that one, was wondering what kind of hook you had on him." 

"Maybe, be less annoying and people will be more likely to put themselves out for you." he quipped back, trying to ignore the man and go back to looking at the interesting lettering. It really was beautiful but this guy didn't seem interested in letting him focus. 

"I'm Kai-" "Didn't ask" "-a prophet. An old exile at that, I'd love to hear more about how strong-armed Sar'ene into letting you stay." oh, he wanted to know so he could do the same. He was going to be disappointed when he found out it was almost-family bonds. 

"If you are an exile than why are you here, shouldn't you be outside of the barrier?" he asked, giving the 'prophet' a long look. 

"Well, I did say 'old' exile. Sar'ene reinstated me as one a year or three back."

"Well, hate to break it to you but the reason isn't interesting. He considers me his nephew, that's it. There's no grand scheme to this." he attempted to shoo the immortal away but they merely grabbed his hand with their clawed, pale, one the cold sensation making him shudder compulsively and yank his hand back. Ew, why had that felt so disgusting? Did this guy have lizard blood or something? 

"I could find other things to interest me.... I could also teach you the writings they put on the wall here." Aika was conflicted between his desire to learn and his spite.

"I don't need your help, I can figure it out without cold fish people." a short laugh in response to his words.

"Fair, but I think you'll find that you won't be rid of me regardless so might as well learn faster, right?"

"No, I think I rather not feed your ego. Fuck off." he was really starting to hate this guy, how much more could he spell it out before he was shouting?

"Maybe later, I think I'll stay right here while I wait for an audience with the Rule God, if it's all the same to you." Aika groaned loudly in response, rubbing a still chilled hand over his face and doing his best to focus on the sprawling script... a nearly impossible task with the piercing sapphire blue eyes that were watching his every move. Mice should hide, he wished this one knew better than to tempt a dog...  he would have to wait until the panther noticed his new grey-coded shadow. 

Aika had mostly forgotten this 'Prophet's presence by this point, mind now shifting to try to figure out a letter or two of the language on the wall. At first the grey-haired immortal had annoyed him with his fidgeting and humming but at this point, it was purely background noise... just like the sound of the rose-scented water flowing through the room, or the voices of the Godly being whining like entitled children to Sar'ene. Attempting to recreate the flowing script was difficult, and he wondered what means had been used to carve the names out of the wall... the sound of intentional steps toward him made the werewolf bristle, slightly.

"Kai, are you harassing my nephew?"  the Space God's voice was one of vaguely hidden warning, Aika glanced at the prophet who had been leaning again one of the golden-seamed columns and was waving his feet back and forth through the scented water... was it cold? The mystic sat bolt up when he was addressed, going from looking like a lazy, mischievous, rat to a docile little mouse in less than four seconds. 

"Wouldn't dream of it, Sir." the grey-haired man responded in a slightly higher-pitched tone that had Aika giving him a strange look. 

"Aika?" the ember eyes of the God turned to him, the werewolf stretched before getting to his feet. As he glanced around the room he found that it was now empty save for himself, Kai, the Space God, and a few of those helper fellows running around to make sure everything was just right. Those were the hollowed, as he understood it, and Sar'ene seemed to do his best to ignore them. 

"It's fine, he's not harassing me just being annoying." 

"Ouch, why'd you have to say it like that for?" Kai whined at his critical words, seriously this felt like interacting with a different person. Was the mischief a mask to bother him? Or was the submissive, down-cast, eyes an act for Sar'ene's sake? His uncle glared down at the prophet before dismissing his presence with an eye-roll. 

"Well, if he gets too bothersome let me know." Sar'ene crossed the courtyard again and gracefully sat down at his now paper infested desk... he hadn't asked for help but the teen followed him and settled down a few feet away on a plush pillow that stopped the hard platform from hurting his legs... he didn't know how the God sat like that all day without going numb. Kai followed him like a rat scurrying after him, sitting down on the edge of the platform. Aika watched his uncle carefully rip into small paper cases with a porcelain knife for some time, occasionally resealing ones that were handed to him, Sar'ene moved so methodically fast that he couldn't really see the details on the knife very well. The God sighed as he unrolled a long, multi-page, request and Aika carefully reached for the porcelain knife. To his surprise, Sar'enes initial response was pulling away and holding the object to his chest while giving Aika an almost defensive look. 

"Can I see it? You've been moving too fast for me to properly see the imprints on it." he asked, the god considered this before reluctantly offering it to him. Aika carefully took the blade, bringing it close to his face so he could see all the painstakingly, hand-painted, details that had been etched and filled with now-faded brush-strokes. 

"Be careful with it, that knife is older than my entire family line's validity is." Sar'ene cautioned, giving Aika a long look as the teen nodded, before turning his eyes to read the long essay he had been sent. Aika turned his green eyes back to the small dagger; flowers in faded purple, blue, orange, and yellow were painted on in chipping delicate brushes, a dragon painted into the background of the petals like it was hiding among them, its scales taking up the majority of the hilt. Following the dragon's direction, the face of the dragon was hidden among a bunch of daisies, eyes painted a peaceful closed, and a strange mark had been placed on the dragon's forehead. One that unsettled him, but that he couldn't see the entirety of due to a nasty crack that cut across the hilt of the blade. 

"Did a God make this?" he asked, carefully, the amount of detail poured into the object feeling almost otherwordly. 

"No, a mortal made it, actually." Sar'ene responded, neutrally, eyes not leaving the written paper he was reading. 

"A mortal?" he couldn't help but feel surprised at that, mortals lived such short lives in comparison to immortals... if this knife was older than Time's family had been considered powerful then it had probably outlived the entire mortal's bloodline.

"Yes, a shapeshifter." Aika blinked at these words, the only shapeshifter he knew was a half-blood, Relis. He opened his mouth to ask but his uncle held out his hand, palm flat, to take the dagger back... he returned it with some reluctance. 

"How are you feeling, Aika?" the man suddenly asked off-handedly, causing the ten to give him a strange look before rolling his eyes.

"I'm fine, why?" Sar'ene moved to respond but didn't get the chance before the black velvet drapery was pulled aside and a gut-wrenchingly familiar face entered. Aika shifted in discomfort, looking at the walls again, as he tried to be as small as possible.

"Iniko, how nice of you to visit us all the way out here." Sar'ene greeted, neutrally. "Interesting choice of companion you bring with you, wasn't he the one keeping everything together when you left last time?"

"Enough of that, Sar'ene." his tone bitter and biting, he could feel the room temperature drop a few degrees. "You know why I'm here." 

"Yes, I suppose I do, at that." the Space God responded diplomatically but made no move to change anything. Aika normally didn't mind causing trouble but it felt uniquely dangerous this time around. The familiar blond, Relis, carefully approached him and took his arm to draw him away from Sar'ene. Like he was dangerous or something. 

"Aika, are you alright? No one has hurt you?" the shapeshifter asked quietly, to which the teen snorted and shook his head in response. While his feelings on Time might be... conflicted now at least Relis hadn't changed any. Would still always be the man who taught him how to track, how to hide, how to read. 

"Sar'ene, what is this?" Time asked his cousin, as if he thought that the Space God had some hand in Aika randomly ending up here.

"The Healer decided to teach Aika a lesson by sending him here. I had no hand in that."

"But you held him here."

"I wanted to stay, I wasn't forced to." Aika defended, something that earned him a confused look from the Time God and a fond one from his uncle. 

"Why? We were worried about you, you can't just up and disappear on us like that." Time's voice was a soft, yet disciplinary one, a voice he had heard before but now one that actually hurt now that he knew that... well Time wasn't actually his father and he hadn't even bothered to let him know that. 

"He knows now, Iniko." Sar'ene's voice was weighted, and Time looked confused at what the other was talking about for a long moment.

"He knows what? That's not helpful, Sar'ene."

"I told you that this would happen, I warned you." those words seemed to give context that Aika didn't understand and Time gave him a searching look.

"I didn't mean to mislead you, Aika, I-"

"Don't, I don't want to hear your excuses for this." he snapped back, causing the Time God to wince. A gentle hand on his arm reminded him of Relis's presence, icy blue eyes contradicting warm. 

"I know that you are upset, but you can not stay here with the Gods... you are no safer here than I."

"I don't want to go home." the teen protested. 

"Just come back with us, Aika... if you wish to leave so much we will give you the things you need to do so... just come back first. Robin's beside herself with worry for you." Time appealed to him, taking a few steps closer, the only thing stopping Aika from stepping back further was Relis standing slightly behind him. That must have been the intention. 

"Mortals have short, sudden, lives... you should leave your mother on good terms." Sar'ene spoke up, tone soft. Aika looked at the God, before sighing and nodding in response. He still didn't want to go back, but if he could leave right after he supposed he didn't have a reason to stay here anymore. 

"You will always have a place here if you need one, Aika." Sar'ene reminded him, to which the teen nodded. 

"If you are exploring the world, maybe I should come too? We could look out for eachother, you and I." He had forgotten about Kai, who was standing now. Relis was bristling like a dog, baring teeth at the man, but it seemed only to amuse the Prophet. 

"Fine. Whatever." 

"Great! You won't regret this."