"Thank you." Arialla was a bit surprised to receive such praise from a deity. The truth was, she hadn't stopped looking for a way home; she just wasn't going to doubt a goddess to her face. If Safrin said she couldn't help, then Arialla would look elsewhere, not harp on about it to the goddess.
"Yes, I suppose they would." Arialla thought about Samuel, the only Ascended she'd actually met. Despite her initial reaction to him, she found it hard now to see him as a threat -- but she didn't doubt there were others more intimidating. "If I'm ever to even be a thorn in the Voice's side, I'll have to become more powerful. Stronger. Someone they cannot simply shut down or ignore."
She didn't know how to do that. But she'd also noticed how Safrin's approval ended when she spoke of her intentions. She'd assumed that Safrin, as a rival goddess, would want her to attack the Voice, but if that were not the case ... "If you would offer me a different path, I would be glad for it."
The words didn't commit Arialla to taking any alternate road that Safrin might lay out before her, but she was open to suggestions -- not yet fixed on sabotaging the Voice.
please don't take my sunshine away
