[Xanth]

((Same here!))

Amusement twisted the corner of Xanth's lips ever so slightly, warring with her anger. This Skotados was clearly unaccustomed to bowing — literally or metaphorically — to anyone, and it seemed to cost her dearly to do so even to one she knew was more powerful.

As her long-standing relationship with Dazadi would prove, Xanth had a fondness for people like this. She knew their weaknesses (had she not suffered Dazadi's impetuousness and recklessness for centuries?), but she also appreciated their strength. Perhaps it reminded her of Aurora, her sister; or perhaps it was simply a trait she had envied for herself as a child. In either case, while she did not envy the stupidity that sometimes came hand in hand with such strength, Ionia's reluctance to stand down dimmed her wrath somewhat.

“I care for all creatures, Ionia.” What Ionia had thought, about her essentially playing favourites, had not escaped Xanth's notice, and nor did she deny it. There were far too many creatures running about her realms for her to interfere every time one of them came into danger, and it was true that Faroah was her favourite. Still, she did not expect Elysians to know this, or to recognise him merely by sight. He had a terrible reputation in some parts, but not everyone had heard the stories, and not everyone had the patience to deal with him.

Even knowing all that, Xanth could never quite help the rage with which she teleported to his aid. She only wished Faroah would learn his lesson.

“I apologise for his...” Xanth wafted a hand at the damage he had wrought, unable to find a suitable word. “... fecklessness.” And, because words meant nothing in the grand scheme of things, Xanth waved that same hand and, before her eyes, the tent and Ionia's equipment all mended itself.

The amusement was back, twitching at Xanth's lips, as she suggested, “Next time you encounter an imp dragon, might I suggest you simply walk away? They have a tendency to see games and play in things where others see only chores.”

[Ionia]

Nia wasn't surprised from being named, but her lips twitched from the empty words that accompanied it. If the goddess knew all, and she truly cared, then why were there deaths and calamities? Gluttons and beggars? Yeah, she'd hate the world if it were a utopia, but Nia couldn't help but disbelieve the goddess's true intentions with the world. Especially now when she knew Xanth was real and actually did meddle in the affairs of mortals. Nia didn't often brood about the anyeli wars these days--she really didn't--but seeing Xanth here and saying she cared about people--Nia thought of all the dead soldiers, and that made her resentful.

So she watched, with a carefully blank expression, as the goddess apologized on behalf of an insignificant dragon and rectified a shelter that both Nia and the dragon had destroyed. Immediately, it seemed absurd that the goddess was making amends for the red eyesore, out of so many other things in the world. But Nia remembered how readily the dragon had run to Xanth, so just perhaps, Xanth did favor those pesky things. Deities were enigmas, and the imps lucked out.

With a scoff, the hunter folded her wings and uncrossed her arms. “They do that because we let them.” Nia was still grumpy, but her anger had diffused somewhat. The dragon was gone and her tent was back. “If we walk away, they'll only be encouraged to get what they want.” This was exactly true about all the gytrash, giant scorpions, and other bounties she'd had to hunt.

Then she understood the situation, or thought she did, and she felt an eyebrow twitch. “Or are you really just talking about one imp dragon?”

((Gah, I find my writing is very sloppy. Sorry. ))

[Xanth]

Xanth's lips twitched and power flared purple in her eyes as Ionia's doubts and frustrations spiralled into suppressed bitterness. Once upon a time, she had shared the Anyela's logic, thinking that to be the goddess her Children deserved she must protect them from themselves. She had become a tyrant not unlike her father, despite her good intentions, and the very people she sought to protect had turned against her. Dimitri's army had been so large and his rebellion so successful largely because of Xanth's own behaviour. She had learned the hard way that free will, and all the ills that came with it, was vital.

But Ionia was far too young to understand something like that. Instead of answering her question about dragons, Xanth arched an eyebrow as she shuffled the faint almost-illusion of her wings, and murmured: “I meddled in Anyeli affairs once.” More than once, if she were to be accurate, and in truth she still continued to this day — behind the scenes, subtley, so they were usually none the wiser. “Your palace was the result.” She was disappointed that the epic undertaking had not brought a lasting peace as she had hoped, but that was one of the lessons she had learned. Buildings, even ones as monumental as the Cloud Palace, meant nothing to a people set on war.

[Ionia]

Surprised by the sudden change of topic, though she'd been thinking of it all along, Nia raised an eyebrow and crossed her arms again. “It's a pretty distraction,” she commented neutrally, though the corners of her lips strayed toward gravity. However strange it was for the Xanth to answer one of Nia's unspoken frustrations, Nia had not realized that her thoughts were being read. She didn't often chat with mind-readers, let alone deities.

Without doubt, the cloud palace was one of the more elegant structures in anyeli history. Perhaps there were prettier monuments before that, but they crumbled quickly: the factions oft targeted such pretty things with the notion of handicapping the other side's morale. The palace might have been constructed with the idea of peace, but considering how it was still attuned to the theme of war, Nia had to wonder how long that peace would last.

Hel's fire, the school still taught swordplay, and the halls were littered with glorious battlefield images. How was it different from any other fortress, except, oh, there's a better chance of an apali accidentally poking a skotadi with a stick, so hey that's an invitation to fight again, right!?

After the war ended, Nia had only gone to the palace twice, and she did not plan to return. She might give the government her benefit of doubt, but the way Nia saw it, the palace was a cesspit of suspense and hostility, and the peace was a sham. Hel, it has been decades, and she still had the urge to fight whenever she saw white wings. As her own wings flared and resettled behind her back, Nia placed a hand on her hip and gestured toward the air. She was becoming restless again, and her groggy mind failed to dull her boldness. “Xanth, you tried, but the skotadi are very different from the apali. You can't expect us to live together forever...” With a huff, she strode to her tent, but turned to glance at the goddess again. “It's like giving a toy to two fighting children. Sooner or later, one of us is going to think that sharing's for imbeciles.”

[Xanth]

Xanth's peal of laughter would probably have been unwise for anyone else. Ionia Essytia did not strike her as the type of woman to take such an insult lightly, but at this point in the game, nothing would change her opinion of her "absent goddess". Her boldness, on the other hand, appealed to Xanth in the same manner that Dazadi's had all those years before, though the reasons for that boldness differed greatly. Where Dazadi simply had not cared what the consequences of her recklessness were, Ionia did — and still had the audacity to march forth nonetheless.

She was like many other Skotadi, and despite her protestations to the contrary, she was also like many Apali. Brash, and forthright, and Hel-bent on not only proving their differences but their own superiority. It seemed that such was bred into their bones the same way as their wings, and it made the Anyeli people who they were. Sadly, it also proved Ionia's words: Anyeli peace would never, and could never, last for long.

“You have a point.” Xanth would always in a discussion like this. Ionia understood herself and her people better than most. Yet wisdom countered her words. “Should you and yours give up all hope, then, of ever finding peace with one another? Or, despite the odds, is it not more important to maintain hope for the betterment of your species?” For Xanth, who had watched the Anyeli battle for millennia, hope was everything. Otherwise, she might have ended their conflict in her own way centuries ago — and in doing so, wiped out an entire species.

[Ionia]

After realizing that, yes, the goddess was laughing, Nia frowned. Did the skotadi's situation amuse the goddess? Shaking her head, Nia responded almost immediately. As she glanced toward Xanth, her eyes glittered with conviction. “No, I will never be at peace with the apali. I cannot bring myself to look at them, even now.” The skotadi has been with war with the apali since Nia's birth, and the apali have taken far too much from her. They were tactless, and she still remembered the week they'd captured her captain, and then executed him--publicly--like he was some form of entertainment. So many of her friends had died because of the apali. No, she would never forgive and forget.

Eyes upon Xanth, Nia stubbornly set her jaw and looked for the sign of anger or disapproval. “I am only speaking for myself,” she acknowledged quietly, “The skotadi still have their dreamers. They hope, and they build bridges. Maybe they will succeed.” The bitter smile on Nia's face, however, showed what she thought of her peers' optimism. These days, there were actually adults among the anyeli population who have never seen war, so they still believed. They were naiive, and sooner or later they would be hurt or offended by the apali again. As she untied the flap of the tent and reached inside to pull out her backpack and supplies, she tried to sound nonchalant as she asked, “So what do you see in the anyeli's future?”

[Xanth]

Xanth's laughter had faded but there was still the smudge of a smile on her lips. It held some sadness that Ionia, like many of her people, was incapable of putting the past aside and hoping for a better future, but in truth, Xanth would be surprised if more of them were among the "dreamers" she mentioned. After so much violence and antagonism, it was difficult for even she to foresee anything but more of the same.

“Ah, my child, what I see is not for your eyes.” Her voice was gentle, however, for she did not intend it meanly. While Xanth did not have the ability to see into the future literally, as some of her kind could, she liked to think she had grown wise enough to predict most outcomes. This was the reason she interfered so often, to avoid the dangers and pitfalls of the road her Children had set themselves upon. Of course, she had also learned the hard way that her interference could have the opposite effect — and that was the reason she kept such things to herself. Often, in attempting to prevent something bad from happening, one set down the road that would make it happen.

Still, she felt she must say, at least, “I have watched your people fight amongst themselves far longer than you could even hope to comprehend, yet I still have hope. I will always have hope.” Her smile this time was a little bittersweet, though, and she was sure Ionia would not understand her point.

During the entirety of their conversation, Xanth had meandered bare foot around Ionia's camp, her wings fading completely from view now that her emotions were under control. Serenity governed her features, and as a pale blue butterfly fluttered closer, she lifted a slender finger to act as a perch. Even as her gaze rested firmly on the butterfly as it tickled her fingertips with its proboscis in search of food, she was aware of Ionia's own movements. The Anyela was apparently restless, her movements telling Xanth that she wanted to move on but was perhaps reluctant to end the conversation herself. Few Elysians dismissed her, rather accepting that it should be the other way around even when they did not... appreciate her.

Fortunately for Ionia, Xanth was willing to consider their encounter over. “Alas, I must return to my temple. Even I cannot conquer the wheel of time,” though in truth she could run her great "empire" from almost anywhere.

[Ionia]

What had she expected to hear? That the anyeli race would die out under each other's hands? Or that skotadi and apali would mend their relations very soon? She would not have believed either. Just as well that Xanth had not revealed anything. With a curt nod, Nia knelt on one knee and pushed her supplies away from the tent. But as Xanth continued talking, Nia paused her work and turned toward the goddess with disbelief. Lips thinning, she saw no deceit in the goddess's expression. Fledglings could hope, since they haven't seen much, and have never been in a war. They knew little, whereas Xanth knew much. Or was she too distant to understand the nature of mortals, despite having watched over them for so many years?

History told that the anyelis have fought ever since the two factions were born. War was all they knew, so Nia could not begin to comprehend the goddess's logic in having such hope. Frowning slightly, Nia placed a palm into the damp grass without a care about dirtying herself. As she reached for the closest tent peg, Nia chuckled bitterly and shook her head. “Perhaps, when all of us old war horses have died out.” The younger generations were so alien to Nia, so something might happen, but Nia doubted it.

It seemed as if both of them were ready to leave the river by now. Closing a hand, Nia held it to her own shoulder and nodded in an informal soldier's salute. She had done it without thinking. “Goodbye then.”

[Xanth]

Xanth was flattered that Ionia would salute her so. It was unintentional, perhaps, but it showed that deep in her heart, the Anyelos had at least some semblance of respect for her Creator.

Or perhaps it was merely wishful thinking on Xanth's part. She never did like it when her Children drew away from her.

Feeling dismissed despite herself, Xanth's lips twitched again. She could not resist a parting shot, however, as she faded from view, a chuckle hidden in her words. “Even old war horses have their purpose.”

((Xanth has left the thread. Poor Nia! ))