He corrects her, and she is not offended. “Ah, perhaps I misunderstood which of these new gods was being spoken of.” There had definitely been the word goddess, but then again, did gods really follow genders as humans understood the concept? Probably not, she thinks. Or maybe The Core is also a goddess, but it is very hard to tell given their names. Really, they were neither god nor goddess in the gender sense of it, but she couldn’t quite split her brain off from it anyway. “I admit my knowledge of the new gods is vastly limited.” After all, she has no real reason to know much of anything about them, having grown up with no gods and only the tales of the old gods.
He says he is glad to live without pain, and she looks at him for a moment. The look is not unkind, for he has just given her a truth of his past that she imagines it not easy to revisit, but she just cannot quite understand it. “Most of my family is dead. I know pain. But tell me, do you never feel that pain now? When someone close to you dies, do you feel no hurt? Do you have no regrets?” Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe The Voice had perfected her plan in the Ascended, she isn’t sure, and so the questions are genuine. But she is who she is because of the pain she has learned to live with. It does not diminish her, but makes her better.
He explains the festival, though her eyes return to the baskets as they speak. “Well the drinking I can get behind. I did hear that your last festival did not go well, though I did not hear the details.” She doesn’t ask him what those details are, leaving it open ended for him to share or not.
He says he is glad to live without pain, and she looks at him for a moment. The look is not unkind, for he has just given her a truth of his past that she imagines it not easy to revisit, but she just cannot quite understand it. “Most of my family is dead. I know pain. But tell me, do you never feel that pain now? When someone close to you dies, do you feel no hurt? Do you have no regrets?” Maybe he doesn’t. Maybe The Voice had perfected her plan in the Ascended, she isn’t sure, and so the questions are genuine. But she is who she is because of the pain she has learned to live with. It does not diminish her, but makes her better.
He explains the festival, though her eyes return to the baskets as they speak. “Well the drinking I can get behind. I did hear that your last festival did not go well, though I did not hear the details.” She doesn’t ask him what those details are, leaving it open ended for him to share or not.
weaver
-- ask no questions, and you'll be told no lies --
Quote by Charles Dickens
