Jigano didn't bother hiding his delight at Phoebe's well-thought-out response, and he flashed an approving grin at the young woman walking at his side. "Ah, that's where it gets interesting," he said, "in how you define godhood. If two beings are equal in power, how do you decide which one qualifies as a god and which isn't?" He gave a little shrug, sending the light and shadows bobbing around them. "I think it depends on how our different worlds see things, too. On my world it is possible for a mortal to ascend to godhood - it's happened at least four times in recorded history as a celebrated event, and the existing gods accepted them as one of their own after they passed the Test of the Starstone." Technically five times, but Cassandalee was still a very young goddess, with few followers or clerics, and her path to ascension had been... unique. With him gone, only one mortal was left who had witnessed the event... a sad thought the bard tried not to dwell on.
Phoebe made it easy to be distracted, however. Jigano nodded at the girl's caution, but he tilted his head at her wording. "Bad how?" he asked, genuinely curious if the gods had imparted her with more specific warnings. If so, he might have to rethink his approach, but the lack of openness about the Voice's threat seemed strange to him. "As I understand it, the Voice was locked away in the very shrine we're headed towards for three hundred years... but in all the time she was supposedly asleep, the barrier remained, locking the innocent people of Caido in to a slow, wasting death." His lips firmed in disapproval of that, though he knew why the gods may well have made that choice. It didn't mean he liked it, though, feeling the echoes of its guilt in his own memories.
"The Spire's guardian is Ascended, or at least related to them," he told her, pausing as the tunnel split before taking the one that Remi had led him down before. "It's gone mad with age and sunlight though. It doesn't seem to be under her control anymore - if it ever was," he cautioned. "But power corrupts gods, too, or have you no fallen gods on your world? Gods of darkness as well as light?" He gave a little shake of his head, slanting a reproving glance at his companion as she belittled herself.
"Are you a 'stupid little girl'?" he asked gently. "You don't seem much younger than Remi, and he seems well enough regarded. Vervain is a woman, but no one disregards her opinion without risk. Since I've arrived here, it doesn't seem like being young or female or a combination thereof makes one less capable or less worthy of admiration. So who are these people who won't listen to what you have to say?" After all, he was taking her seriously enough to guide her - and to do so trusting in her ability to handle the risk she was taking in confronting a goddess in her own lair.
Phoebe made it easy to be distracted, however. Jigano nodded at the girl's caution, but he tilted his head at her wording. "Bad how?" he asked, genuinely curious if the gods had imparted her with more specific warnings. If so, he might have to rethink his approach, but the lack of openness about the Voice's threat seemed strange to him. "As I understand it, the Voice was locked away in the very shrine we're headed towards for three hundred years... but in all the time she was supposedly asleep, the barrier remained, locking the innocent people of Caido in to a slow, wasting death." His lips firmed in disapproval of that, though he knew why the gods may well have made that choice. It didn't mean he liked it, though, feeling the echoes of its guilt in his own memories.
"The Spire's guardian is Ascended, or at least related to them," he told her, pausing as the tunnel split before taking the one that Remi had led him down before. "It's gone mad with age and sunlight though. It doesn't seem to be under her control anymore - if it ever was," he cautioned. "But power corrupts gods, too, or have you no fallen gods on your world? Gods of darkness as well as light?" He gave a little shake of his head, slanting a reproving glance at his companion as she belittled herself.
"Are you a 'stupid little girl'?" he asked gently. "You don't seem much younger than Remi, and he seems well enough regarded. Vervain is a woman, but no one disregards her opinion without risk. Since I've arrived here, it doesn't seem like being young or female or a combination thereof makes one less capable or less worthy of admiration. So who are these people who won't listen to what you have to say?" After all, he was taking her seriously enough to guide her - and to do so trusting in her ability to handle the risk she was taking in confronting a goddess in her own lair.
