ÖDE

Not a queen, his thoughts agreed as she spoke, something better. He didn't speak again though, because she was the type of mare that liked to lead a conversation, or so he was learning, and he'd hate to interrupt her. He could tell he walked a knife edge with her, which he was somewhat pouty about. In all honesty he was incredibly excited to share knowledge with her, though perhaps that was because he had so little of his own. Still, he'd have thought her the same, because theirs was a rank often under-appreciated by the others. He supposed he might also have a false view of how rank exchanges ought to be. Lena met with healers often and it always went over happily; herbs were traded, information swapped, well wishes offered. Maren on the other hand, was much more guarded and specific. He hadn't quite yet determined what it was she was looking for, and he was starting to doubt he could give it to her. A story, certainly, but there was more than that.

So he kept quiet, trying to glean more about her as they whittled away time. He couldn't afford to have her even more cross with him, least of all when she was finally accepting of him and settled down for her tale. She gazed off in thought, and he followed the direction that she looked, wondering if there was something out there that he could see too. It seemed beyond him though, whatever she saw, whatever memory she plucked upon. He hadn't really thought about it until she spoke that perhaps she was not born in Helovia like she was. The names she used were like nothing he'd ever heard, and not for the first time Öde wondered what other gods existed.

He stood in silence as Maren spoke, though it took little effort on his part because her words wove his attention in easily. He felt like he could see the beings as she spoke of them, and when she finished they seemed to drift away like a morning fog, which left him blinking and hazy. It felt almost as if he'd been given something familiar, or a friend he'd never knew, but then had it pulled away. It left a sensation of cold, and he supposed that was what learning was. Ignorance was a warm bliss and with it's dissipation the grudges of life and all its lessons sat heavy and hard and icy inside you.

He turned his gaze to her. It had been there all along, but he had not been seeing her. Now he did, and at her own smile his own grew, and remained even when she clapped hers away. So she does enjoy the sharing of this work... but why hide it?
"Yes," he responded truthfully to her inquiry. "It speaks of love conquering hate. Of light finding a way amid the darkness, the way the stars and the moonlight keep the night from being empty." He tilted his head, his assessment incomplete. "Though, I think it unfair that Bastet stole Sol from Luna. It was not her place to step in the way of that love. She vilifies the moon and glories the sun, but both are necessary and neither one better or worse than the other. For her selfishness she was appropriately punished."