Isuma was delighted at Melinoe's attention, wriggling with feline delight as she was scritched and scratched and petted, her purring occasionally interrupted by happy little peeps as the witch found a particularly itchy spot. A quiet thought from her companion reminded her not to knead her talons against a scarred leg, so her long fluffy tail lashed instead to show her approval of the treatment she was receiving.
Jigano watched his guest as he spoke, trying to discern where she might have questions or misunderstandings - or moments of recognition, clarity of things that reminded her of her own world. Her flush might have been anything, though; excitement or fear or anger at the mention of a mortal ascending, and she seemed to become distracted after that, at least until he came to the end of that particular chapter of the story. Her question was unexpected and he tilted his head thoughtfully. "Curse? I do not think there is a 'curse' if we mean the same thing by that word," he offered cautiously, shifting to pour the tea into two cups and setting one on a little table at her elbow that had been placed there for just such use. "Aside from the barrier itself, I suppose. Do you mean the loss of vitality in the earth? I think that is just a result of it being cut off from the world. No new seeds or animals were brought in... no new people. The fields grew tired of the same crops, the land itself grew weak from being cut off from the rest of the world and the greater Gods of life and nature outside the barrier as well. Things should begin to change now, but it will take years... and we may have released more than just a dangerous goddess," he admitted, blowing on his own tea with a faint grimace. "There is a new disease in the Greatwood, the forest to the north where the Fae live, that is unnatural... and began after the barrier fell. That might be a curse," he admitted soberly. "But it doesn't merely weaken, it kills, and swiftly. And it is spreading."
Jigano watched his guest as he spoke, trying to discern where she might have questions or misunderstandings - or moments of recognition, clarity of things that reminded her of her own world. Her flush might have been anything, though; excitement or fear or anger at the mention of a mortal ascending, and she seemed to become distracted after that, at least until he came to the end of that particular chapter of the story. Her question was unexpected and he tilted his head thoughtfully. "Curse? I do not think there is a 'curse' if we mean the same thing by that word," he offered cautiously, shifting to pour the tea into two cups and setting one on a little table at her elbow that had been placed there for just such use. "Aside from the barrier itself, I suppose. Do you mean the loss of vitality in the earth? I think that is just a result of it being cut off from the world. No new seeds or animals were brought in... no new people. The fields grew tired of the same crops, the land itself grew weak from being cut off from the rest of the world and the greater Gods of life and nature outside the barrier as well. Things should begin to change now, but it will take years... and we may have released more than just a dangerous goddess," he admitted, blowing on his own tea with a faint grimace. "There is a new disease in the Greatwood, the forest to the north where the Fae live, that is unnatural... and began after the barrier fell. That might be a curse," he admitted soberly. "But it doesn't merely weaken, it kills, and swiftly. And it is spreading."
