Chapter 62. The Gods

t was a lot darker than she expected.  Frowning, she squinted her eyes, stepping nervously forward with her arms wrapped around her small frame.  Vague shapes of pillars rose up from the shadows.  It was as if the world were half-formed.

“Hullo?  Anyone there?”

Lemony strode slowly up a long staircase.  Where was Grenth?  He needed a good talking to.  This was ridiculous.

“Oh ouch,” she gasped as light stung her eyes, burning her retinas and causing her to turn away, “Hullo, Dwayna.”

The towering figure drifted at her periphery, brilliant with light and so beautiful her heart ached with longing.  The air was filled with the scent of apples and lavender and perhaps sandalwood.  It was like morning at Serenity Temple before the Searing.  Lemony smiled up at the goddess that she had served for so many years and offered a deep bow.

The hall was vast, its walls twinkling with glass and crystal of every color imaginable.  She stood upon a round dais that burned with a strange sigil at its center.  Stairs led up on its five sides. Lemony saw that she was now a translucent, a creature of light floating softly before the gods.  Balthazar towered behind her and Grenth’s hooded form stood at Dwayna’s right.  She cast about for Melandru and Lyssa, finding them closing the circle at Dwayna’s left.

“Right, so… “Lemony faltered, awed by their forms.  Lyssa was smiling at her, both of them, and they were so immensely gorgeous it was hard to concentrate, “I think, on the whole, you could do a better job in the world.  I mean, look at what just happened there?”

Balthazar’s roaring laughter filled the chamber and Melandru placed a demure hand over her delicate mouth to stifle a giggle.

“It’s not funny, you know.  I didn’t really want to die.  Now I’ll miss the wedding and their kids.  And I don’t even know what happened to Pendaran.  After you told me to help him, too!” Lemony growled pointedly at Lyssa, “This just stinks.”

“Lemony, the gods must give humans free will,” Dwayna said sweetly.

“Yeah, well, I’ve heard that one before.  Kiku gets away and here I am dead.  Where’s the justice in that?”

“There will be justice,” Balthazar replied, his booming voice trembling through the air.

“When, exactly?  How many more people is she going to off?  I don’t have another life to use like that.”

Grenth chuckled wheezily.

“The little mouse reprimands the gods.  It is precious.”

Lemony sighed.

“Send her to the nether realms that she might cool off for a few centuries,” Balthazar laughed.

“Bullies,” she groaned, “I hate bullies, and that is just what you all are.  How dare you mock my grief.  And what kind of lousy gods let people get away with murder.”

Dwayna and Lyssa laughed now.

“She is too precious,” Lyssa purred in unison, “and she has been rather good at following instructions.  I have to grant her that.”

“But Lemony, beloved, your time is come.  The mists will part for you,” Dwayna soothed, “Your mother and father await you now.”

“But I don’t want to go!” Lemony cried, stamping her foot impetuously.

Melandru fluttered her swirling green wings and shrugged.

“Good servants are hard to find.”

“If that is what you wish,” Grenth rumbled, raising a skeletal hand, “Away with you then.”

Lemony rose gasping from the darkness, blinking away grime and tears as she emerged back into the world.  It was dawn, for she could hear the soft trill of birds punctuated by the heart-rending sobs of someone close by.  Someone was holding her, rocking her.  Oh gods, the pain.  Her chest was on fire and she could scarcely breathe. Gasping like a beached fish, she tried to draw breath into her heavy lungs but it was like sucking water.

“I’ve got her,” the man holding her shouted, “She is back.  Someone bring me blankets.  Xiang, I need you.”

She blinked up into the face of a fellow monk, a man with the gentlest blue eyes in a face that was lined from frequent laughter and smiles.  He was not smiling, now, however.  He was scared, and judging by the way he clutched her against him, she was the reason why.

“Don’t worry,” she whispered, but her words were silenced by her fluid-filled lungs.  It hurt to even think about talking and she closed her eyes wearily.

“Come back,” the man pleaded, “Stay with me, Sister.”

What a sweet warm voice.  So earnest.  The red tattoos were a little odd.  She gazed up at him again and he smiled weakly for her as she shuddered in pain.  At least it had not hurt this badly while she was talking to the gods.  Lemony was cold, too.  It was nice to be wrapped in blankets.  The one who held her was so gentle as she laid in his lap.

“You’re adorable,” she whispered in his ear as he and another monk pressed their energies into her.  Honestly, she must be delirious to say a thing like that. 

“Uriel, it will be alright,” the man said, “I’ll let you hold her when we finish here.  She’ll live.”

“You’re a lucky bloody monk, Nandao,” said another woman looming over them.  Lemony gazed up at the fiery-haired warrior, “At least you put it to use for something other than gambling.”

“Of course,” Nandao replied and Lemony beheld his sweet dolphin smile for the first time, “but when I’m done with you, you’re going to wish it was you who had my luck.”

Lemony smiled, weary though she was.  The pain had let up a little and she could breathe again.  There were people standing around her, gazing down with a mixture of horror and relief.  Morisedd knelt beside her and she smiled at him, her eyes welling up with tears as he stroked her face tenderly.

“Come, Uriel,” Nandao instructed, easing Lemony lightly into another lap and loving arms.  Poor thing, she was so sad.  Lemony smiled at her as her head rested upon her friend’s narrow shoulder, her black hair smelling of brimstone and blood.

“Don’t cry, sweet one,” Lemony whispered into her ear, “Murdi is safe now and the gods threw me out.”

Uriel began to laugh through her tears, rocking Lemony as she thanked the gods in succession.