Chapter 34: Mourning skies 

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Year of Wrath 1231, Season of Waiting D.55: Azorez: 

     Azorez sat down on the worn tattered cushion she used day after day for her communion. Cross Legged, she adjusted her wide brimmed hat with the odd point, the strange skull skilling sweet smoke from empty sockets, and closed her eyes. Letting her eyes adjust to the darkness, she could faintly pick out the dancing flames from the hundreds of candles around her. She focused, forcing her mind away from her body, calling out beyond. 

     Her shadow was there in an instant, playfully floating around her. Twirling upside down, letting her ghostly hair swirl and dense tangles. Azorez reached out and the shadow reached back out and touched her hand. She saw her own body reach to the touch with a flinch, and smiled. 

     “Martha, the void has yet to take you.” She said flatly, years of seeing the dead, calling out to them, stripped her of most emotions in this state. She needed a clear mind, or the souls of the lost would try and drag her away from her own warm corpse. She had long ago realized as she projected her mind out like this, her body for all intents and purposes had died without her soul inside. 

     “Dear sister, must you always?” The ghost said back to her with a sigh, running her hand over her face. “So where do you wish to venture today? The night skies? The shore beyond life? The past? The future?”

     “I wanted your advice on something, actually.” Azorez, sat in the same position as her body did, more out of habit than anything else. 

     The ghost spun slowly in the air, not particularly paying much attention to her. “My advice? On what?” She stopped spinning to look at Azorez, her dead milky eyes staring through her. 

     Suppressing a shiver, she could never get used to her sister looking directly at her. She had appeared many years ago in her childhood, claiming to be her dead sister from before they were born. She had been a constant companion throughout her life, always there to comfort, advise, mentor. She had guided Azorez through the very traumatic journey of learning to commune with the dead and departed. Though she would eventually find out that Martha was in fact her sister, her mother had given birth to twins, yet one was stillborn. 

     “I had a Sightless hunter see me about some news from the Capitol. I hear from him that there was a large engagement with the Goblin tribe and the Capitol’s military. Only some very strange things happened.” Martha’s eyes appeared slightly less dead, and seemed to gain a bit of life back in them as she perked up at the topic. 

     “So many more souls to talk to these days!” She said excitedly.

     Azorez held up a hand, and continued speaking. “I’m sorry for cutting you off, but could you take me through the minds of some of those dead goblins? I’ve never tried anything that wasn’t human, or some lesser life form.” 

     The ghost thought for a few moments, resting her hand on her chin, as her phantasmic form faded in and out of existence. “It’s possible, I have already spoken to a few of them. You will find they are not lesser, as you say, quite the opposite in fact. I wonder if you can match their god’s magic though. See, it’s strange.” She waved her hand in the air, and a familiar lantern faded into existence. The tight iron work and stained glass glowed in a comforting light. 

     “Are you ever going to tell me where that thing comes from?” The Necromancer asked curious but bored of this antic.

     “I cannot, they would be displeased with me, I’ve told you this many times, dear sister.” 

     “Very well” Azorez rose, and touched a finger tip softly to the lantern's surface, summoning her power and coating her not-skin in it. She suffused it through her soul, her mind, and her resolve. She learned that she had to do this, else the spirits she was about to commune with would claw at her mind. She reasoned this effort allowed her to remain unseen in the deceased mind. 

     Her vision faded, she faintly heard her sister chant an odd prayer. “Grant us yet another day.” She typically used common phrases from the dead as she walked through into The Shores Beyond. It felt like falling through the surface of cold water, the air shocked out of her lungs, body tensing. 

     Opening her eyes, she felt an immediate sense of dread, absolute and unrelenting. This was common from the recent dead, confused about their fate, unwilling to cut the tether to their souls. The area around her was a dark desert road, her sister's lantern floating ahead of her. Bobbing back and forth, as her unseen form walked away from her. 

     A few memories of the dead flashed before her eyes. A verdant forest in the middle of summer, the humid smell of the damp soil filled her nose. His arm outstretched, reaching for the hand of a smiling woman. “Mother”, the word passed through her skull with a resonance that was reserved for a deep memory. The woman led me to the clearing where the other children were playing with sticks and wooden buckets on their heads. 

     A newer memory, spear in hand as a Cori swiped at my legs with her stick. I jumped back and landed hard, misjudging the momentum, and fell hard. Thinking only at the last second as Cori brought her stick down to jab at my chest, that cold look in her eyes as she teached, filled me with a haunting note. I parried away the stick and kicked out, unbalancing her. The crew cheered as I finally won against the Teacher, and she smiled widely at me.

     The scene changed around me, the lantern close to me now, its soft glow punctuating the mood of it. I was following a younger woman, I had known her all my life. I only now saw she had grown up from being like a younger sister to me, to something else. My breathing was smooth, controlled as she turned back to the crew, her wide smile reaching her brilliant violet eyes catching the light of the lantern. Her shoulders had grown strong, her voice commanding, swift on her feet. The best of us… the scene dissolved as Azorez sank to a knee and began drawing power from her body to fuel her soul. Breathing heavy, she realized this wasn’t going to be an easy dance. 

     She lashed a thread of power to the lantern and began speaking quickly, breathless. “What is your name?”

     An ethereal voice responded back in a language she didn’t understand. Echoing back against itself, overlapping. Like a voice heard across a valley, an endless response answering only itself. She adjusted her mind, pulling on earth bound magic of her body. “I’m sorry, could you tell me again?” She asked, catching her breath a little bit more as the bonded body fed her soul. An unfamiliar feeling entered her mind, a sound heard through a storm. 

     “My… name is… Yvet.” It sounded far off, likely in the direction the lantern was heading. “Where is the battlefield, Ilgor, Mother, they said I would be by their side. Where is the Father? Where is my burning sun?” He sounded worried, nervous.

     She didn’t understand, “Your burning sun? Please, show yourself, we can walk and talk.” She tried to sound welcoming, friendly. She got to her feet, summoning her staff, she leaned against it. The thing was an old gnarled tree root that she had found after a great tree was felled by one of the more recent monsoons. 

     A small form of what she thought was a child appeared next to the lantern. As she walked closer, she picked out a few things. She had never seen a goblin before, but he was not quite what she was expecting. He was about four feet tall and had a wickedly muscular form, a bullet hole through his chest. His skin, a pale green, blood splatter still visible across his arms and chest. A small pang of sympathy crossed her mind, but quickly dispelled it, the dead were extremely sensitive to emotions. Still something felt untimely about this soul, all the souls she had dealt with before had a sense of finality about them. This goblin, though, “felt like it had a tether somewhere, maybe to his faith, maybe to his body, possibly to someone still on Tree’s Great Branches”. She thought idly to herself. 

     She looked down at him and asked “Who is the Father?” As she waved to him to follow. The desert pathway gave way to the same forest she had seen in the dead’s memories. The soft light filtering through the leaves, though juxtaposed by the starless night sky. Memories were often odd, Azorez let her eyes wander around at the mismatched scene, pure sunlight coming from the darkest night sky, odd indeed. 

     “The Father, our Father, our Great Chief. He guides, he teaches, he welcomes us to his side for his battles when the time comes.” His voice sounded discordant, raucous. The incorporeal form that walked next to her, faded in and out. “He grants us each day to become stronger, to become more of what he needs, what we need to be.”

     “Is he your god?” She asked as the hard packed forest path started to give way to a grassland. 

     “Ilgor and Mother Kari say he is. Says we must live as above and so below. That the Father wants us strong for the next life. I guess I am ready to join his side, I died as I lived.” She looked down at him, the dead usually didn’t accept their death so quickly. “Though I would have liked to live longer, I wanted to be by her side.”

     Another series of memories floated by as the soul relived its own life. A dimly lit back alley, a group of men sitting on a few rotten wooden crates. One of them turned and a youth smiled back at me, “Back again to lose your earnings again, Yvet”. I couldn’t help but smile back at him, I had known him for years, a good friend at this point. A loyal confidant, now gone. The memory drifted away as a waft of smoke in the breeze.

     I sat next to her, her head resting against my shoulder as she dozed off. She was supposed to be learning how to do knife fighting with Ghet, but she was still a few years younger than me. She wasn’t used to the exertion, her old tattered shirt covered in dirt, muscles sore to the bone. I laughed to myself as I thought back to my first days learning how to fight from Ghet, I suppose I was just as tired. She said something in her sleep, but I didn’t catch it, I only smiled down at her. Her body leaned against my side, the warm feeling in my chest. 

     An old cavern, musty smelling, hasn’t seen fresh air in years. Chief threw a torch down the darkened pit, and we watched it quickly go out. “See now Yvet, this cave isn’t good. We won’t be able to breathe down there, no fresh air.” Chief had taken me out on a hunting trip with Knoll, we had a deer with us, and we were looking for a safe place to clean it, without the Nasties coming out to the forest. Chief only patted me on the shoulder and told me that I had sharp eyes for spotting the hidden entrance. Told me that was something we needed for the Family, a warm feeling spreading across my chest as he said he was proud of me. Turning back I saw Knoll nod his head at us, crossing his arms. As much praise as I’d ever received from the old Veteran.

     The flame in the middle of the tavern had grown low. Cori had fallen asleep, snoring softly. Knoll was cleaning a glass behind the bartop, putting bottles away. Ghet was reading a book Illy had given him, he really was getting better at it, able to read smaller books without Illy’s help. There she sat, a small candle illuminating her face, Her face still a little flush from the drinking. The sweet smoke drifted gracefully around her hair as she shifted her position. Looking up, violet eyes the image of the night sky, she asked me. “What is it, Yvet?” I noticed how soft her lips looked. 

     “It’s nothing, wasn’t paying attention.” I turned, hiding my reddening cheeks. 

     The memories faded from view, Azorez shook her head to clear the potent magics that were trying to envelop her. This soul next to her, not malicious. It felt cold, like all it wanted was to feel warm again. “Who is Ilgor? Was she special to you?” She asked him. Trying to keep his mind engaged, she had seen before that souls that wandered from memories tended to talk more, she could see the inner workings of the dead more. But the ones who were quiet, they turned to something more harmful, Ghasts, Phantoms, and Banshees. 

     “Our new Mother, but she's different from Chief and Mother. She’s kinder, she's unwilling to put us in harm's way for glory like Chief was.” A few fires had started as the dead's mind filled with anger. 

     “So the Chief was the source of this anger” she thought to herself, the grassland had begun to burn. The smoke filled the starless skies. 

     “I wished I had acted, asked her to marry me.” A laugh mixed with a sob escaped his lips. “I guess I really didn’t have enough time.”

     Another memory flooded the scene. The group of Foxes in the abandoned warehouse section of Willowbrook. The feeling of camaraderie palpable in the air. Peter shoving me, laughing. “So long lover boy, go get a present for your girlfriend!” The others laughed. Smirking, I gave them the finger before slipping out of the window to head down to the dredge piles. 

     “Yvet, tell me about Ilgor.” The fires died away almost instantly. “She must be someone important to you, your fury is gone.”

     “I loved her, though I never got the chance to tell her.” Another memory faded into life, Ilgor sauntering up to him. Walking with her hips, just driving the point home. Her eyes said much more as she reached up to cup my cheeks. Pulling me down from behind the anvil I was resting my elbows on, and planting a kiss on my lips. 

     “For you, I'll come back from the dead.” Those words from her lips, they were all I needed. Everything I needed, I had a Family waiting for me after this battle, a Family that Ilgor and I could make. It filled my chest with pride, I wanted nothing more than to stay there in that moment forever. She gave me one last look before reaching up and hooking her arm through that Harpy’s talons. She shot from the ground with a speed I didn’t quite know. 

     “I suppose she would come back from the dead for me, but somehow I don’t think I’m making it out of it this time.” Yvet chuckled darkly. 

     A strange force filled the space between the souls, a push and pull. Azorez knew something was intervening, something was grabbing her own magic and forcing it to enter another mind. She was horrified, she had thought only another Necromancer could do this. Even then only one that knew the method she was using, this force was far more potent than her own. A memory played out for Yvet, vivid, lucid. A far from Euclid affair. Azorez was there for the journey, she had no control. Though somewhere in the back of her mind, she thought she heard a voice tell her thank you.

     I stood before their graves, that fool had gotten them killed. He had finally done it, he refused to listen to me, and now they are gone. The hot tears stung my eyes as I laid my hand on the cairn of stones just outside the village. The breeze on my skin felt like a cold reminder of the loss, echoing out against my mind. 

     The weight of my eyes only made me feel more exhausted than I was. It felt as if there was no warmth in my heart, only a cold fury. “How could he have blundered so horribly?” My voice was tight, struggling to keep my composure with the rest of the Clan watching me. “If only he’d listened to me when I advised him to hunt for more information before attacking.” They were moving so slowly, we knew about them for days, and he did nothing but drool at the prospect of easy glory. Glory for Bhal, and his glory in his realm.

     The grassland around them burned at the scorned god’s name. Twisters of heat and flame dancing across the plain, a grim reminder of his realm. I had to remind myself, hold back the sadness, tears would do nothing to bring back Yvet and Til. They never would, their souls far out of my reach. The cloudless day lied as I turned my eyes skyward. This was not a pleasant day, the warm sunlight on my back felt colder than the bitter winter breeze wafting through the valleys. 

     As she watched her own sword sink deep into Yorm’s chest. The bastard smiled at her, and told her she was proud of her, he always knew how to touch my nerves. As the innumerable souls flashed through her mind of those that fell that day, it hurt even more so to have to lay Yvet’s body to rest. She wasn’t sober for that ceremony, a few of the other women of the Clan assisting with the burials the way their people demanded. 

     The memory faded quickly from both their eyes, placing them back on the dusty grassland they had started their walk. “So she did it…” Yvet spoke softly. He sat down, pulling his legs up to his chest. “She did it.”

     Azorez knelt down next to him, bringing the lantern close to him, enveloping him in a soft glow. “She did what? Was that Ilgor?” She asked him.

     He looked up at her, a beaming smile on his face, his phantasmic form pulsing with pride. “She did what she set out to do! She will bring the family into a golden age!” He jumped to his feet, smile never having left his face. “She did it! I… I… I need to see her again! I have to hold her again! I need to tell her how proud I am!”

     A sad smile crossed my lips as I watched him revert. He didn’t completely understand the loss. I had to calm my own feelings again, he would feel them tenfold otherwise. The appalling irony of that memory and the effect it had on him.

     A soft breeze washed over the grasslands, swaying to and fro. Waves on an endless sea, the sky suddenly burst with stars. Dazzling constellations, stunning arrays of colors as the shapes of myths of the world made real in the stars. A calm settling inside the soul, a peace that Azorez had not known. The Necromancer felt like she herself was home, the hearth warm with comfort. The soul beside her, felt solid, whole, born anew. He smiled finally, a sweet thing. 

     The bloodstains on his skin washing away with the breeze, his skin growing with color. His being glowing with a sense of pride and belonging. The tether holding him to the mortal plane clearly had been broken, though the Necromancer felt something else. Something else sinking its teeth into him, for some reason she had no notion of this. When this typically happened, one of the gods auras would permeate the area, though she had never felt this. A comfort, a hope, a sense of belonging. She did not know this god’s presence, the thought of never wanting to leave here filled her mind, and she had to dispel it. 

     This did not feel like a god’s presence, far from it. There was no superiority to it, no overbearing overseer. No primal command. This felt like coming home, from a long hard journey. The anticipation of a soft bed and warm fire. An embrace she did not understand, this was a soft touch, subtle. Something far older than the god’s Azorez knew. She had no name for this, Azorez felt she needed to pursue this after her communion with this soul, she needed to speak with these goblins more. There was something she wasn’t understanding, this soul, she felt, was different from those of the mortals she was used to.

     “She spoke about things needing to change. She didn’t want to live as **** wanted.” He must have used a real name for their god, her mind didn’t even register the name, only a skip in time.  “She wanted to change things so that we didn’t have to keep raiding to survive.” He pulled on Azorez’s arm, and a strange magic filled her mind as her attention snapped to him immediately.

     “We would follow her to the end. To the gates at the end or to the bright future she wanted. We would live to see that she accomplished her goal. I want you to understand that, Azorez.” She was taken aback, no spirit had ever been able to use magic in death, nor had they ever said her name. 

     “They aren’t human,” She thought to herself. “Maybe their deaths don’t follow the same rules?” Yvet let her arm go, and walked ahead of her, the sky filling with stars and constellations, draining into his skin like it had belonged there all along. Something felt wrong, like the still air before a lightning strike. 

     “Yvet” Martha said to him.

     “I was wondering when you were going to show yourself, you are the twin to her soul, yes?” A strange power filled the air, a small bonfire with two stumps in front of it appeared in the distance. Azorez had noticed finally that the grassland was endless, a constant breeze making the fields sway like a vast ocean. Yvet turned back to them, his eyes on fire. Azorez’s eyes grew wide, she recognized that divine fire.

     A wave of power hit the two like a wall. The feeling of divinity permeated the air in a thick cloud around the two souls. A peaceful feeling, like a mothers embrace after a long separation. Looking back at Yvet the two souls saw that a woman was standing next to him, her tail wrapped around him. She hugged him tightly, as she ran her hand down his cheek. Azorez and Martha could only watch as she changed him, his soul, his existence. He sprouted a tail like her, his skin changed color, his eyes dimmed but stayed ablaze like hers. A perfect version as a dark cloud was cleansed from his soul. Clearly the goddess, in this case, that she was sensing. But she was… perfect. Not an embodiment of mortal understanding like the gods she knew were, but something truly divine, something that needed no explanation. 

     His soul was something else, he was not a goblin, but something else. He felt whole, a darkness not seen, cleansed, a peace profound. A war drum sounded in the distance, the sky split in an angry crimson fissure. She only held his hand and smiled, as a blinding spear of light hit her, and pinned her to the ground. Azorez noticed it was a lie, truth could not be hidden in death so well. That spear was made of darkness, sheathed in a thin layer of light.

     A deafening voice rang through the grassy field. “My Son, you have returned to me. That usurper has tainted you, walk further through hardship.” Yvet, the lost soul, seemingly without thought, walked into the bonfire. The woman pinned to the ground reached her hand out to him, as if to stop him. A glowing slash appeared at her neck, and the booming voice spoke again.

     “**********, How many times have we done this? We always meet here again! You even try to undo the undone. The stars, the void, the domain of the conquered, you continue to resist. *********, you arrogant fool, perish again, and again and again until you are gone from this world!” Yvet had walked out of the fire, his previous form restored to him, only now, his soul seemed wrong. Azorez hadn’t realized it, his soul was twisted, to what end?

     The two souls saw the constellations change, and the winds shift as the woman on the ground faded away. An unfathomable sadness filling the air, an inexplicable void left in reality. Azorez jumped as a man appeared before her, a hulking brute of a man, a shining spear in his hand. His eyes ablaze, a demeanor that spoke divinity. 

     She had seen, and even spoke to, a few of the gods before. Azu was always talkative, Xelex was always the teacher, Welkford was always charitable. But, Bhal before her, was very much a god. Her nose filled with the smell of blood and smoke. He spoke to her and her twin soul, and waved a hand at them “You are dismissed” He said with an absoluteness that couldn’t be contradicted. 

     Azorez snapped her eyes open, many of the candles having burnt out. The little girl, her little girl, the Skjalich gave her, ran over to her. “Mama! Are you alright? Your nose is bleeding, I tried to keep the candles lit for you, but they kept going out! You look pale Mama, are you alright?” She chittered hurriedly, a worried expression on her face. She held a cloth to Azorez’s nose as she soaped up the blood. 

     “Talia” Azorez said.

     “Yes, Ma?” She said.

     “Please go grab my staff, a traveling pack, a parchment and quill.” Azorez croaked out, she felt her eyes go bloodshot as she spoke. Her skin felt cold, as she fell back and blacked out. 

     The next morning I started my short journey to the skullbrood clan. I needed to speak with them, my mind would not let me rest. I needed to know, I needed to speak with this Ilgor. She was quite alive, that I was certain. I pulled a dense fog layer around me as I walked, holding Talia’s hand tightly as she came with me everywhere I went. That was no discussion. 

     I felt Marth dancing alongside me, enjoying the freedom to wander past Skjalich. I knew she needed that more, she couldn’t actually go very far away from me without fading away. I didn’t want anyone to know I was coming. I wasn’t going to ask for permission, this coming war, the recent hostilities between these two people would have disallowed any intervention the Necromancer of this Age would be able to do.  

     I knew the king and the Chancellor would want to know all about what I was doing. The problems being the only living Necromancer in this generation, despite all the benefits it gave me, it still felt restrictive to try and pass through all that red tape.

     I wasn't going to fill out the paperwork, I knew I was walking potentially into a warzone. I didn’t care, I needed to know. I passed by a few of the Dwarven vanguard, the symbol on their arms, Rhojic. “So the Warlord was here then.” Deciding to pick Talia up and carry her on my hip. She was eight now, but like me, she had a small frame. She squirmed until she had somehow managed to climb on my back to ride like that. 

     Why were they all the way out to the ruins of Skjalich? What were they looking for? “Not important right now”, ignore them. Making it to the main road, the Galus military was securing the main throughways. I pulled harder on the fog, trying to hide myself more. 

     A small amount of luck, a bit of backtracking and sidestepping heavy booted soldiers, I saw the wooden wall around one of the hills next to the bluffs. “That's new. Well then again it has been a few years since I was around here.” I heard some rustling to my left.

     I wasn’t quick enough, a knife at my throat. “What do you want here? We were told that the humans would stay away for a while.” The voice was familiar.

     “Cori, could you please take that away from my throat. Please?” I asked calmly, feeling that knife move with an abject amount of confusion. 

     “How did you know my name?” She sounded angry, that odd power grabbing at my attention. The same as in the dreams of the dead, only weaker. 

     “I spoke with Yvet, I think…” She cut me off, though she did take the knife away from my neck. 

     “He dead.” She sobbed the statement, walking away.

     “He gave you that pendant, he gave Ilgor a gemstone. I can help your family mourn properly. Please, I need to speak with Ilgor!” Her form faded away in the fog. “I suppose that can’t be helped” I got back up, dusting myself off. Continuing to walk toward the wooden walls. Picking up my now terrified Talia. 

     I dissipated the fog, revealing myself to be standing in the middle of a wide open field leading up to a make-shift gate house. A few goblins watching me, crossbows cocked, bolts on the strings. More than a few rifles pointed down at me. I slowly walked up to the gate house, hands raised where they could plainly see them.

     They didn’t move, their deep purple eyes watching. A figure standing just in the shadow of the gate house spoke. “Why do you want to see the Chief? She isn’t in the mood for visitors.” Cori said, her long spear resting against her shoulder. 

     The other goblins looked back at her, but didn’t say anything. “I am able to bring some closure to your people. I, like Ilgor, have a certain set of magic that can help you all.” I said.

     “Why do you speak about her with such familiarity?” Cori asked, walking back over to her, playing with a knife by her side. Eyeing the child who wasn’t much smaller than she was, the thoughts plain as day on her face. ‘Who are you to bring a child here, in the middle of all this?’

     “Like I said, I spoke with Yvet. Well, more specifically I spoke with his soul as he met Bhal.” I started, watching as her eyes grew wide. 

     “You saw the Great Father. Spoke with Yvet. And watched him join his side?” She slowly asked. 

     “I did, I also lived quite a few of his memories. Which is why I know he found that pendant for you in Willowbrook after you lost yours a few seasons back.” I heard someone else walk up to the gatehouse. Cori blocked most of vision from the rise to the gatehouse. 

     She stepped forward, a slap of silence filling the area. Potent, well practiced, I could feel my own magic still with the pressure of it. A soft hum from a woman’s voice filled the gap in the wall. She stepped forward, Cori shaking her head in warning. “Who is this? I asked the King to not allow anyone near the village while we mourn our loss.” 

     “Chief I.”

     “Please, Cori, I don’t want to be called that.” Ilgor came into view from behind her. Her twined staff tapped with the rhythm of her feet. She looked tired, the dark bags under her violet eyes, giving away her exhaustion. 

     I stepped to the side of Cori so she could see me. “Please, Ma’am. What are you doing here? This isn’t the best time, we won’t be trading with any merchants for some time yet…” She leaned on her staff, she was clearly struggling to stay on her feet. 

     The other two goblins rush over to her to steady her. “Thank you Ghet, Hob. I didn’t realize I needed that.” Her smile was sweet and endearing. Her hair bouncing lightly as they caught her. 

     “Mother,” Her eye twitched at the honorific, “Ilgor, my name is Azorez, Twin Souls, Alvarez. I am the Necromancer. I’m not here under any city business, we need to talk.”

     “‘Necro’, means the dead. ‘Mancer’, so a caster. You deal with the magic of the dead. What is it you want?” She yawned, Hob scooping her up as her legs gave out. Her face flushing with shame at needed this much help just to walk. 

     “It’s about Yvet, Til and the others your Family has lost.” Her eyes grew with clarity, her attention fully on me. 

     “You may enter our village. Hob please set me back down, I will walk of my own power, I won't be coddled like some babe.” 

     “Quit being so bullheaded, you haven’t slept well in days, if at all.” He gruffly said, carrying her into the village. 

     I smiled as I saw her flush, “Not in front of our guest, Hob…” The goblins certainly did care for each other, something clicked in my mind. Like a family, that other goddess…