Arialla paused; it took her a moment to make sense of Sam's question. The idea of simply not worshiping the gods was completely outside her experience. Of course you worshiped the gods, however fickle or cruel they might be. They required it. "The gods can be kind, at their whims. I pleased Apollo, and he blessed me. And they can bring great misfortune to those who disrespect them, or fail to show proper reverence. We need -- well, at home we needed priests to keep the gods happy, to bring good fortune on our people. I guess you don't really have that here."
She kept herself from telling Samuel that of course he was disposable to the Voice, that he shouldn't have expected any different. Even if part of her rather believed that, it wasn't helpful. Instead she said, "I know it must hurt, to think that she didn't care about you. But ... if it helps, it's not your fault. It's not because you did anything wrong; she's just not capable of it."
Though if the Voice had once been mortal, then presumably she had once cared about people, once been able to care about people ... But what kind of mortal tried to make herself a god? Arialla couldn't answer that question.
And then there was the matter of Samuel's impending death. Arialla wasn't sure what he meant by fluid, or blood, since she didn't actually know much about the Ascended. But she understood that he would die without the Voice. And if he died -- the Voice kept the Ascended's souls, didn't she? Did that include Ascended who had displeased her? And what punishment might such an individual face in the afterlife? "Samuel, I'm so sorry. If there's anything I can do ..."
She knew he had more competent people in his corner, people like Amalia who actually knew Caido well and had the power to create real change. There wasn't much Arialla could do in comparison. But she still wanted to help. "I ... I talked to Safrin about the Voice. She wasn't as keen on the idea of fighting her as I expected, to be honest. But I want to help, however I can."
please don't take my sunshine away
