Time has passed. She’s not sure how long, but it definitely has. They’re both on their backs staring up at the sky, babbling about this and that and ughing raucously. The wine has been passed between them to and fro, consumed to the st drop, yet they still pass the bottle and then compin about it being empty. This is the first time she’s ever been inebriated. The feeling is pleasant, although she’d probably enjoy it less without the company.

  “And then- and then I went and… Ran up to it! And bam! Made it die! Just like that!”she’s thrusting her palm in the air over and over again. It’s a good thing that Life’s influence here seems to be counteracting Death’s, or she might be firing beams from her palms.

  … could she fire beams from her palms?

  Probably not.“Hahahaha! That’s a riot, when me and Life got started, I could only make pnts grow or make old people feel a little more spry… It sounds like Death is much more generous to her side pieces, hahahaha…”

  Callistis’s ugh is soft and gentle like velvet, and the babe in arms is currently crawling around atop him without a care in the world, occasionally tching onto his face to stretch a lip or something, which makes his speech slur and become a bit harder to understand until the child grows mored and crawls elsewhere to sp his stomach or somesuch.

  “I’m not a side-piece… I dunno what that means anyway. She loves me…”saying that feels nice. Death loves her. Someone loves her. She can just say it out loud like that.“‘n I love her, I think… I don’t think I’d be doing this sort of thing if I didn’t love her.”

  Maia holds the bottle in her hand and lifts it up to let the light hit it and make it glimmer again. The fine craftsmanship makes it reflect all around them like the bottle itself was a source of light, scant remnants of the wine at the bottom of the bottle sloshing around. Not enough to drink, but enough to make the lightshow a little imperfect.

  “I was simirly uncertain when I was being courted by Life, for what that’s worth.” Callistis draws shapes in the soil with a cwed finger, idly drawing circles and squares and overpping them with each other. “He came to the city by chance, and I happened to be there… Obviously I was charmed at first sight, and Life, well- he loves easily and quite fast, if I had to state one of his weaknesses. It’s very easy to push onto him.”

  That makes sense. Inebriated as she might be, she can still recall her parents’ many tales of Life and his dalliances with mortals.

  “I was young and stupid and thought seducing a god would be a feather in my cap, so to speak. A tale to tell the other nobility… Of course, the closer I got, the more I fell in love with him in a genuine way. And the more it became clear that the world of mortals didn’t fit me. I enjoyed showing off, but Life let me be myself. I didn’t have to try and fit into any kind of group… I think that’s one of the biggest appeals of becoming a god’s consort. You’re loved for who you are and what you believe in.”

  Would his decision have been different if the tragedy that befell his family had happened before he dallied off with life? That’d be an unfair question to ask, and even her alcohol-addled mind knows this. Instead she just rolls around in the grass instead while listening, to and fro, letting the soft, still dew-infused strands tickle her nose.

  “It’s the best decision I could’ve ever made, loving and being loved in turn, but it was scary too. And obviously there’s been downsides. Even before the burning of the estate, most of my family did not approve…” His voice takes a slightly more bitter tone. “... Nobility idealizes the gods. We must be like them, it is taught to us at a young age. And ideally we are like them, for courting a god- not for love, but for a gift of their divinity through either physical copution or through indirect gifts of it- is something all noble families strive towards.”

  Callistis rises to sit against the tree trunk, sharp eyes focused down on Maia now, looking as if the topic just sobered him up instantly. An experienced drinker as he was, he wasn’t really out for the count like she was to begin with.

  “But to uproot your life for a god is the job of priests and pilgrims. Nobility giving up their status to become ‘merely’ another lover is improper. Of course, such isn’t said out loud. It’d be heresy to imply that what I’ve gone through isn’t one of the highest honors a mortal can attain. But we’ve our pce here, the nobles insist, controlling the flock where gods cannot. So to give it all up, especially as heir… I was quite ostracized by my family. Theodora had been one of the few who understood.”

  And then the fire happened, Maia guessed. Callistis doesn’t speak on the matter further, instead focusing on the child. She still doesn’t know their retion beyond the obvious; both are deeply affected by Life’s energies. Perhaps they are reted? A big polyamorous family, maybe Callistis has become a father during the long time he’s spent here.

  “So you think that she wishes for you to return to perform your… Noble purposes?”That was clumsily said, but wine dulls the tongue and turns it into a lead instrument in her mouth. “And not because she’s your sister, and you’re her only living family? At least to us, she just seemed lonely. No children of her own, just an empty manor and some servants.”

  Callistis’s smile becomes more wry and tilted, and she can tell she probably misspoke. But the alcohol has given her the temporary courage to look him in the eye, never looking away.

  “She’s tried year by year, and she’s always tried some new method. Her pain, her suffering, how she wishes to not be the family head, how she misses me, how I’m dodging my duty- those are her methods. Herself and my duty. But what of me and my happiness?”

  Maia bristles a little, but keeps strong.“Yet you can surely see her pain too. Just as much as you may question whether your happiness is worth sacrificing, surely you can see why she’d ask why she has to be in pain while you gallivant with divinity, right? I’m not- I don’t want to take sides, I truly don’t know whether this is an issue that can even have a ‘right’ side, and this feud has gone on for thrice the time I’ve lived, but…”

  Callistis harumphs and gently grabs the child by their scruff as they begin to crawl away, lifting them to sit on his p with some disappointed babbling providing a welcome pause in the awkward conversation.

  “... But I firmly believe you two can reconcile one day. Maybe that’s naive of me. I’m not experienced in personal conflicts, or matters reted to family- or- or much of anything, really… I’m aware of that. But I have a firm belief that you two will eventually stop this tug of war and find some middle ground. I hope you do, at least. She’s getting quite old.”

  Callistis barks a bitter ugh now, looking aside and out towards the party. She can see why he’d never want to let go of this. He is happier. He gets to express himself more, not bound to the rules of mortal nobility. He will be beautiful forever, and he gets to spend his days making merry with tens of people like himself while exploring a wondrous world that brought about the gods he used to worship. And he has found the love of his life.

  But she can also see why Theodora wants him back so desperately. While they sit here, her mind wanders to that mansion, and to that dignified old woman, sitting alone on a chair, writing letters, tending to matters of the estate, watching it all slowly crumble to dust around her…

  “I don’t want my sister to suffer, of course. But her happiness relies on sacrificing my own. Our paths cannot reconvene again. They can cross, meet each other, separate and then meet again…”

  Callistis finally lets the toddler go, watching them slowly wander towards the party crowd to be picked up by another goat legged person, this one seemingly the mother- at least based on the fact that she lifts the tot up and lets them have a drink right from her breast. Maia turns her gaze away somewhat bashfully, coughing into her fist.

  “I’ll come see her. It’s the most she’s gotten out of me in decades, considering usually she has to come to me for a short chat. I do want to try and set things right with her, and I suppose you’re the push I needed to actually start going through with it. One way or another, we’ll come to a solution this year.”

  She’s drunk, but not too drunk. She can read tone and intent; and the intent in his tone implies that Theodora might not get to visit him at all next year.

  But that’s a solution too, isn’t it? This cycle is probably unhealthy. How much of her life has Theodora spent yearning for a time that she can’t have back? How much time has Callistis spent disdaining a sister who just wants those times back?

  Nobody is happy. And she doubts nobody will be happy.But isn’t accepting the ck of a solution better than despairing over pointless squabbles? She really doesn’t know if this was the right choice either. She rolls over and feels her face against the grass. It hasn’t greyed. When they go back, grass will once more begin to wither and die if she stays in one spot for too long.

  Will this grass die as well, if she takes Death’s hand and holds her in an embrace, lip to lip? Is this the st week of her life where she gets to enjoy the feeling of fresh, green grass to her skin?

  With these thoughts, Maia falls asleep, and Homer eventually scoops her from the ground, Aymanah dozing off on his shoulder. Callistis agrees to come with them to open the gate and to go see Theodora face to face. For better or worse, their quest is complete, and once they confirm things with Theodora, all that remains is to wait for the fateful day.

  But as she dreams, Maia’s conscious fades somewhere else entirely, across this world-and to the pyramid of Death.