under empty skies

Arialla nodded. [say]"Yes, that's a good way to put it. Gods and mortals simply operate on different levels of existence. We can't truly understand them, and there are parts of being human that they will never really comprehend, either."[/say]

Had Sam asked out loud, Arialla would have been a bit baffled by the question of divine morality. Gods didn't have morals; they created morals -- and felt no need to comply with those humans came up with on their own. But since Sam kept the question to himself, Arialla had no way to weigh in -- not that he really seemed to need her input, anyway.

Arialla smiled back, glad to hear that Sam had help, even if part of her wished she could be more useful. Then he asked about her, a bit to her surprise. [say]"Oh, I'm doing ... all right. I ... After talking to Safrin, I'm really trying to accept that I won't be going home. Ever. It's quite difficult, honestly. And I just ... don't really know what to do with myself."[/say]

[say]"...Hmm...seems li-like it might be b...best if we all just left each other a-alone."[/say] Sam mumbled, though admittedly this was something he was very biased on at the moment. Sighing, he shook his head, deciding to leave this for another day: he'd never been a theologian anyway and no matter what he thought about it, the Voice and all the other Gods would still interfere with their lives.

Focusing on Arialla's problem was a bit of a relief, as horrible as it was; it was one many Outlanders struggled with. Sam nodded, unsure of quite what to say. He'd dealt with a lot in his life, but being displaced from his world wasn't one of his particular problems. [say]"Well, you said you were a pr-priestess before...what did y...you have to do for that? Maybe you could ca-carry across some skills."[/say]

[say]"Maybe,"[/say] Arialla said, ruefully. [say]"But it's the gods' world. We just live in it. And as long as we have to live in it, it's hard to not deal with them."[/say]

He'd probably think that was unfair, Arialla knew. And she could kind of see his perspective, even if she found it strange. It was unfair that gods held so much power over mortals. But it was also unfair that some men were born as kings and some as paupers. The world was unfair -- as trite and unsatisfying an answer as that might be, Arialla didn't know how to get past that point.

But they'd talked about gods long enough to rather exhaust the options -- Arialla didn't mind shifting the subject to her own problems. [say]"I sang hymns, decorated and maintained altars -- and performed sacrifices. I was thinking of joining the Loreseekers, actually, but Safrin recommended against it ... And it's not as if I have a lot of qualifications for that work, beyond basic literacy."[/say]

[say]"Mmm.."[/say] Sam agreed, nodding his head, though he wished Arialla wasn't right: some Outlanders had told him they came from worlds without any Gods, where belief was a personal matter and not something integrated into daily life. He could hardly imagine it.

More than most people, Sam knew that life could be unfair, horribly so - yet he still found that something inside himself pushed out against it. Hope maybe, or naivety; whatever it was, he often wanted to interrogate the more difficult parts of life rather than just accept them (though this was never very productive, he knew). Sighing, he picked at the table as Arialla talked, trying to shift his mind to listening to her talk on another topic.

[say]"Safrin did...?"[/say] He asked, frowning as he sat up, confused by that: as far as Sam knew, Jigano was on alright terms with the Goddess. Whatever the answer, it was enough to rouse him from his own issues for a while and he found talking to Arialla a welcome reprieve from his own miserable life for a while. When she finally left he waved and wished her well, letting her know she was welcome to come back any time...he hoped under better circumstances.

[FIN]