What did you just agree to?

After some awkward greetings and congratulation, introductions and extroductions, you stammer to Isopia that you need to leave and collect some things (what?) and flee the Falls as fast as your awkward legs will take you. The half-grin of boyish bewilderment hasn't left your face, but let's be real - beneath that cheerful veneer you're an absolute mess. You open your mouth and words come out, but the only thing you hear yourself think is oh shit oh shit oh shit oh shit. Didn't you just promise Ma and Grusha and Tae and Iskra that you'd always be there for them? How on earth did you then manage to immediately go and promise Iso you'd move to the throat? What kind of inconsistent moron are you?

Okay, kid, calm down. This isn't an impossible situation. You just... need some time to think. And maybe the advice of someone who knows a lot more than you.

You've never visited the Veins with the intent of actually talking to a god before. But after everything with Ma, and Gaucho, and Isopia and oh my god does the Earth God know?! - you just feel like, maybe, you could use some otherworldly advice.

It's twilight when you finally reach the Veins. The fall day is fading into a brilliant sunset; something in your chest tightens at the thought that this might be the very last time you see a sunset over the sea (hyperbolic, yes). You approach the ruined shrines carefully, Squishy following dutifully behind. You brought a gift, a particularly nice piece of obsidian which you carefully crafted with your new magic into something resembling Isopia. In your childish mind, you think that maybe the Earth God will like this memento of his daughter - the daughter whose influence in your life, ultimately, caused you to make this trek. For a minute you stand, fidgeting, uncertain, your ears and eyes alert for any sign of Godlike Presence. Moments pass, and you grow uneasy with the silence.

So, as usual, you speak.

"Excuse me, Mr. Earth God, sir," you begin carefully, your voice as uncertain as your eyes, "But I need help an'- an' I didn't know who to ask. 'Cause it's kinda 'bout Iso, see, an', well, I'm real worried 'bout her, 'cause, well... you know." You whisper it into the ether, confident that he does, in fact, know. He's Isopia's Da, after all. To be honest, you've been compartmentalizing your knowledge of that thing, unable to really think about what it means, about how you feel knowing that your friend could do something so terrible. You want to be there for her, but at the same time... it's a lot more than you signed up for.

"I wanna be there for her, an' I know movin' to the Falls will help her, 'cept I just wonder if when you decided who'd be friends with who in the world, an' who would be strong or weak or brave, if maybe..."

You look at the ground, deeply flushed, suddenly aware of the absurdity of what you're about to say. The Earth God is a god, after all. There's no way he could have gotten something like this wrong.

But still, what if he did?

Your voice is a whisper, an exhalation, barely audible above the crashing waves. "...Maybe you made a mistake. I want to help Iso, but.. I dunno how. I'm just a crippled little kid. An' maybe if she told me before" you use your solitary wing to gesture to your wounds "I coulda done something, but now..."

You look carefully at the place where you anticipate he might appear, sadness clouding your sunbeam eyes. When did the world go so wrong? "I love Isopia, Mr. Earth God, but I dunno if I can be strong enough for her. For anyone, really."