‘The White Pantheon ever again be allowed to meddle withiernal politics of Kirinyaa, the pret set, the loss of territory with the Jungle and the loss of life with the invasion, framed uhe guise of Peacekeeping, has showance of Deities in regards to humanity. The try Of Mortals Act is not desigo punish Goddess Kassandora, nor to tear down God’s Arascus influe is written to make sure that Deities still i with our political sphere, but that never again will they be able to over-rule us as has been done before.’

  Mwai Ruku stared at the speech. This bill was necessary, and it was desigo do exactly what he said it would not. Kassandora lead the war well, no one could deny that, but Arascus himself was the issue. How he had do, Mwai did not even know. Day-by-day, he could not point to a sihing that had ged, but he pared his influenow to the influence of a year ago. Ministers would be asked for opinions and they would early and holy say they needed an opinion from Helenna or Arascus.

  Now he looked at the green armbands supp the Recmation War and he saw them not as signs of Kirinyaa, but as a show of support for Arascus. Now, he saw the mistake with the Kirinyaa Army Implementation Bill, Kassandora had been permaly ingrained into their politics. The panic of the Jungle had rushed it through, Kassandora’s own speech had infatuated even him.

  And in that mad fervour, it had passed. No discussion necessary. No eyeing over the details. No bing for mistakes. Nothing. The Army Implementation Bill had e in. And it had passed. And it carried Mwai’s own stamp of offi it.

  And what now? Her position had no cuses on it. What was evehod of succession? Was it hereditary? Was it until she died? Until she stepped down and appointed a man to dan her own strings? There was no way to vote her out, the only thing that could most likely do it was a call to a from the public, but who would stand against the Goddess who saved Kirinyaa not o twice? Even if she did step down, what difference would it make? Was there a single man who served in that Army who was not fanatical to her? In the span of a mere year, she had caused a spill that would take geions to up.

  He got a new piece of paper and started to re-draft the speech. This one was too aggressive, it wasn’t only a case of fooling the popution. He had to make sure Arascus was fortable enough to smell the poison in the meat he was being given. How did they let a deity just ingratiate themselves in Kirinyaa’s affairs this much? Mwai stopped, sighed, looked at the half-drank bottle of rum by his paper and pushed it away. He had drank enough over these past few months already, Goddess Helenna had made sure of that with all her gifts.

  Mwai turned and looked out the window. It had been easy. They needed men, Arascus said he would rally men. They needed ammunition. Helenna and Arascus ahe pahey needed artillery. Ausa would step in, at Arascus’ behest. They needed battlepns, Arascus said not to worry and that Kassandora would lead the war.

  They had won the war, and the Divines won it for them. The crisis had reared its ugly head at tiny little irrelevant Kirinyaa. Then Helenna had supplied the metal, Arascus fed it into a bde, Kassandora struck the beast down. And now tiny little Kirinyaa had to take a step by itself.

  He looked at the KAF taking off against the bright blue sky from one of Nanbasa’s airports. Painted in bd red and gold. There had been a joke before, KAF, officially Kirinyaa’s Air Force was actually Kassandora’s Air Force. It had been funny because of the fact the actual meaning of the a was never once mentioned in the dot that brought about its existenow Kassandora’s Air Force wasn’t so funny.

  They were going to the celebration at tral Requisitions. KTV was being brought in to take interviews on what would be done now. EIE was going to be there too. Most of the ministers from parliament as well. The survivors of Melukal all had been given first-css tickets. Helenna would hold interviews. The soldiers would be recorded and turned from mere heroes into legends. Arascus and Kassandora would both be holding speeches.

  He had not been invited.

  Arascus found Helenna as she was w, pnning out the anisation of the celebrations. Iniri was close by, Fer had returo keep watch over Essa. She would, unfortunately for her, have to stay there until Anassa returhen Essa could be taken on walks to get some fresh air. Kassandora was oher side of CR, practig marg with her troops. “We’re going for some twenty thousand attendants.” Arascus said as he walked past rows of tables, they were all Iniri’s work, pulled out from the wood that pstered the ground as if they were inside a giant hall and not the light blue sky.

  Bulldozers had e in quickly, they were here three hours after the battle ended. Helenna was to thank for that. The bosses of over a dozen stru firms had fallerucks were starting to arrive with food too. Fresh meats and cold deserts. Helenna did that too, although the local towns were more than happy to provide some produce for the saviours of Kirinyaa. Even a few private pnes were ing in, loaded with alcohols and expensive gifts. Those would be given out to the soldiers and the people who were evacuated from the north. Again, it was Helenna’s work. “Twenty thousand be done.” Helenna said as she looked over the tables with a proud smile.

  “Realistically, I want space for twenty-five thousand. We might have some people who just turn up.” Arascus said. “At the back preferably, out of camera view.”

  “ be done.” Helenna said, Arascus looked down at her. They were both wearing HAUPT uniforms, as almost always. Bck boots, bck coats, belts with their own insignias. Helenna had a dagger strapped t, Arascus a sword sheathed. Helenna was feeling good too, her hair was a vivid, almost golden e today. “But keep them empty at first, then if someone es send them food. To not make it look like we’re wasting food.”

  “I didn’t think of that, good idea.” Arascus said, Helenna’s hair fred red for a moment, and theled back te, slightly brighter than before.

  “Thanks.” She said.

  They walked a few more steps when a soldier in a green shirt approached the two of them. Dark, a native Kirinyaan, in a green shirt and shorts. He saluted. Arascus dismissed him with his own salute. “It’s foddess Helenna. We’re running out of ste space.”

  “What for?” Helenna asked gently. Her hair did not ge. The man scratched his head and thought for a moment.

  “Everything really.” Arascus didn’t even know why the man had e, the issue was simple.

  “Go to Kassandora, tell her this is my order. Use the armouries as ste for a while. Dry goods be kept outside, the freezer trucks.” He turo Helenna. “They won’t mind if we borrow them for a day?” Helenna smiled up devilishly at him.

  “They won’t.”

  “Find them a parking spot. If things get even more urgent, the Iniri to pull up warehouses.” The man nodded with every word, then saluted a.

  “That was easy.” Helenna said.

  “It usually is.” Arascus replied as they kept on the walk. The fortress behind them was starting to flain, Arascus had pns to turn it into a national heritage site soon. Something to remind Kirinyaa of how iwined with divinity it actually was. “I owe you an apology.” He didn’t, but he khat Alsaria would have never apologized to her, she sidered it humbling. Arascus though? People simply did not uand that Pride was a mountain taller than any dark clouds.

  “You do?” Helenna said out loud in shock. She actually missed a step and stumbled. Arascus caught her arm before she fell over and lifted her bato her feet.

  “Apologies for the war effort, you ran istics singlehandedly.” Helenna did not, Kavaa was the main distributor throughout the war, and Arascus matched Helenna in the amount of supply batches they sent to Kavaa. “And apologies for what I’m about to say Helenna.”

  “Oh?” She cooed, hair turning red again.

  “We have trouble on the home front.” At first, he thought Helenna would prefer the roundabout method, but after seeing her iings, he realised she preferred when things were id out bare before her. “With the try of Mortals Act.”

  “I actually was going to talk to you about this.” Helenna said. “I block it anytime.” Arascus shook his head.

  “I want it passed.” And Helenna stopped, she looked up at Arascus, hair turning bright green: fusion.

  “Excuse me?”

  “I want it passed.” Arascus repeated gently. “I want the try of Mortals Act to gh.” He turned around, took a step, and Helenna took three quies to catch up.

  “I…” She said. “Well, it’ll actually be harder to make it pass than not, it’s not popur.” Arasodded, he had thought it would be.

  “ you do it?”

  “Of course I !” Helenna half-shouted.

  “Then please do.”

  “Well I will.” Helenna said. “But why?” Arascus smiled to himself. Expnations where always good, expnations reframed and rephrased and recalcuted thoughts. An expnation was as good as a statistic, twice as good as a lie.

  “Because we want to win.” Arascus said, he looked the tables. Fer would be inside, Iniri was far away, unless Anassa stepped ience besides him, the versation would not be overheard. “Helenna, proud Goddess of Love.” She blushed at the title, hair turned redder than before. “I could give you a speech right now, I could tell you all about the grandiosities of what a good rulership looks like, all of it.”

  Helenna gazed up at him and nodded. “But I think both of us have lived long enough to know, haven’t we?” She nodded even more frantically at that. “Then there is no point no point wasting time on speeches we’ve both heard before. Helenna, I want to win, you’re not family in the way Kassandora is, but you’re not a mere subordiher.”

  And the Goddess beamed at that. “I’m not?”

  “If you were, you’d get this in writing and not words.” Arascus said. “I make no promises, no grandiose statements or even aowledge ylory because there is o. All I say is that this is not the White Pantheon.” Holy, he had to thank Alsaria. She had practically forced these three into his hands. “If you want to leave, then you’re always free to.” She wouldn’t, there was no ce of that. “But this is the same deal Kassandora and Fer got. her of them care for paces and servants because they both know a wets them both.” That much was true, Anassa had o be bribed at first to even give them a ce. Arascus sometimes wondered if she still remembered that. Most likely she did, it was Anassa. “I don’t take vows or codes of honour. I simply ask.” He put his hand forwards. “Helenna, will you the quer the world with us?”

  A Fortia or a Maisara, a woman who did not care flory like Essa would o be bought, or have the good expio them. But he had seen Helenna work, and Helenna wasn’t like that. She was cold and bitter, she hated her gifts, she gave them away to the poor and forcefully feigned smiles when she received them. So Helenna simply got the deal. The promise of quering the world, and all that came with it. The greatest of them all, but one Arascus knew she wouldn’t call in.

  And Helenna looked at his outstretched hand.

  And she took it, she didn’t even think about it. She simply took his hand. Arascus sighed and started to walk off with her. “Alsaria’s greatest issue was that she did not want the position.” Arascus began as he looked at the trucks in the distance. More cargo for tonight, the festivities would probably stret until tomorrow. “You see it in the rulership, the various Decrees to limit Divine power. She wasn’t stupid, she knew Divines in charge of nations would lead to flict, so they were glomerated in the Divine Pantheon a close.”

  “She said that too.” Helenna said.

  “There is oion she didn’t sider though.” Arascus said. “And she is correct, it is the future of Arda, because if it’s not, then Divinity will destroy this world.”

  “Not detralization, the opposite. We tralize the world around us. One Arda, One world. Not looking here, not there.” He poio random spots in the ndscape, the jungle past the fields of ash and the mountains, the ones closest had been slowly crumbling through the entire day. One of them was having another ndslide. “But up there.” He poio the sky. This is why the try of Mortals Act has to pass, because if it does, the people will cmour for Kassandora.”

  “Will they?” Helenna asked.

  “ you make them cmour?”

  “Of course I…” Helenna stopped her words. She looked up at Arascus, those eyes hardened. Her hair turned a deep dark red. She spoke again. “I will.” He looked down at her with pride. This was another Mam. Maybe eveer than the Goddess of Hatred herself. Mam had always said Helenna would be easy to vince, he had simply thought they didn’t need her back then.

  “And we will give them a Divine.” Arascus said proudly. He turned and took a step, her hand in his. “e, we have speeches to discuss.”

  There were speeches, and there was there was oer to send. But that letter, no o him would know about.