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- <p><b>09: the road less traveled</b></p>
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- <p>If Selmina's sense of time was to be believed, it took them three days to encounter piles of sand. Miniature dunes, blown in during the time of the caedat explorations before the sand had engulfed everything and Lukas had woken up and breathed the first signs of life into Rennica. Starting with a simple tree, nourished- bootstrapped, in a weird kind of way- with divine attention until the ground had softened enough and the waters had returned to support life without godly intervention.</p>
- <p>Every so often, half-embedded in the ground, would be a weapon or a shield or some other mark of a long-perished warrior. Miniature vines crept up each item, strangling it, as if the land were swallowing it whole. Her mind wandered with all the potential lives their owners could have led, the fates they could have succumbed to- some fierce warrior from antiquity, fighting off the caedats? Or a villager stumbled in to take refuge from the sandstorm, only to become fodder for the underworld lapines?</p>
- <p>Or, maybe, the storm was over, and there had been people trying to contact Rennica, to let them know that their days of hiding were over. Like an otherworld book for children, a hidden city deep in the earth, dying while the world above struggled to rebuild from the apocalypse that had drove them underground in the first place.</p>
- <p>But Selmina was no prophet, and Solstice was no messenger chosen by chance.</p>
- <p>The pathways eventually started to narrow ever so slightly. The choice in paths dwindled, down to three, two, and then one.</p>
- <p>Solstice halted. They turned their heads to the ceiling above-</p>
- <p>-or lack of it, for above them was a hole as wide as Selmina was tall. Her eyes instinctively squinted- her hand flew to her face.</p>
- <p>"Is that... sunlight?" Selmina whispered.</p>
- <p>Solstice nodded.</p>
- <p>She wrapped her arms around her friend's neck. The dragon squatted, ready to pounce, and then leaped through the hole and scrambled into the tiny enclosure.</p>
- <p>Selmina slid off Solstice. Her footsteps echoed on the hard ground. She stooped down and felt the rough surface.</p>
- <p><em>Concrete, definitely. But these holes and pockmarks... Does nobody take care of this place?</em></p>
- <p>She pulled herself up again and turned all around, taking in her surroundings. The walls were filled with arcane carvings, detailing some kind of story fragmented with half of the panels missing or shattered beyond repair. Above her, a painting of the gods shone down- or, at least, she guessed that was what it was, for only a few chips of paint remained, disembodied eyes judging her from wherever nonexistent paintings went when they ceased to exist.</p>
- <p>A flush of heat through the expanse as Solstice shifted twice, then rustled through Selmina's bag until she found her change of clothes. A few minutes later, a soft hand brushed against her own, and then their fingers intertwined.</p>
- <p>"My father," Solstice whispered, "...he said that he spent a hundred years in a leithtemple like this. Alone, sealed in stone because his friends didn't know how to calm him down when he went feral for the first time."</p>
- <p>"Do you think this is the one?"</p>
- <p>"It very well could be," Solstice said, her eyes tracing the jagged crack in the roof. "Then again, it might not be. But if it is, that might explain why I haven't started freaking out yet."</p>
- <p>"Why? What's wrong?"</p>
- <p>Solstice stepped around the center platform, tugging on Selmina's hand, gesturing to the leithtemple entrance.</p>
- <p>Beyond the dome was no sandstorm, no barren desert, but a small clearing around them, tucked in a vast pine forest stretching to the horizon. The sky was bright blue, not a single cloud marring the wide-open expanse welcoming them out, seeing them through as they stepped out of the leithtemple together.</p>
- <p>Selmina's knees buckled, and she fell to her feet.</p>
- <p>"Ah!" She scrambed to her knees, brushing the dirt off her clothes like it were hordes of ants. "Gods above, there's... there's so much." She stared at her hands, at the brown crescents now under her nails. "I don't understand. This was supposed to be a wasteland! That's what your father always told us." She paused for a second, then tugged on Solstice's pant leg. "Hey, Sol. Are you alright?"</p>
- <p>Solstice shook her head. "Sorry. Drifted off there for a moment. What did you say?"</p>
- <p>"<em>I said,</em> where's the sand?"</p>
- <p>"It's not here anymore."</p>
- <p>Both of them jumped, startled. There was... some sort of woman inside the leithtemple, half-there, shimmering in the air.</p>
- <p>Solstice balled her fists. "I'm sorry, but <em>who are you?</em>"</p>
- <p>The woman rolled her shoulders. Two thick braids flopped around, dark green from what Solstice could tell- although maybe the light was starting to make her eyes go wonky.</p>
- <p>"It's been a century in human time since Father swept away the sand," the woman continued. She stepped forward, feet right up against the leithtemple entrance, not an inch outside. She was sporting a dress the same shade as the sky, some kind of threads stitched throughout the bold fabric- but what the swirls said, Solstice couldn't say. "There are a few pockets of humans scattered around the realm, but they're nomadic, and I doubt any of them will come this way soon."</p>
- <p>"That's cool and all, but... <em>Father?</em>"</p>
- <p>The woman's face fell. "Did your mother not inform you of your lineage, Solstice?"</p>
- <p>"<em>How do you know my name?</em>" she yelled. "Did my father bang someone on the side and not tell anyone? Or-"</p>
- <p>A blue wisp around her wrist. Solstice hissed and drew back, jaw clamped until the wisp dissolved into the air.</p>
- <p>"Forgive me. I should have introduced myself." The woman bowed. "My name is Arkensia Talos. Daughter of Chronos, sister of dear Ceuta. I believe I'm your aunt, Solstice." A lopsided smile blossomed on her face. "Some aunt I am, huh?"</p>
- <p>Solstice and Selmina exchanged looks.</p>
- <p>"If you like," Arkensia piped up, "I can take you to Chronos right now. I'm sure Caelin and Rikella and all the others would be overjoyed to hear they've got a niece, even if she is... physically older than them."</p>
- <p>"Sure. Alright. Take me to Chronos."</p>
- <p>"Hold out your hand."</p>
- <p>Solstice offered her hand to Arkensia, who took it. A silver string tied around their pointer fingers.</p>
- <p>Selmina jumped to Solstice's side and offered her hand as well. "We go together."</p>
- <p>Arkensia shook her head. "I'm sorry. Mortals can't pass through leithtemples. To try would be to kill you instantly."</p>
- <p>"But Solstice's half-mortal! Are you going to kill her halfway?"</p>
- <p>The two goddesses winced. "Solstice will be fine."</p>
- <p>Pleading with her eyes, Solstice added, "I'll be fine, Salmonella."</p>
- <p>"So, what? Am I just a useless mortal to you? You're going to abandon me here in the middle of the wilderness as soon as any old spirit shows up and claims to be your family? I love you, Solstice, but you're making a big mistake."</p>
- <p>"I'm sorry, do you have a better option?"</p>
- <p>"No- but-" Selmina stomped her foot. "Fine. I guess here's where we split. Have fun with your divine family. I'm done playing second fiddle in my own story."</p>
- <p>Selmina swept her sack onto her shoulders and took off running.</p>
- <p>"Wait-"</p>
- <p>Arkensia pulled Solstice into the leithtemple. She wrapped her arms around the squirming girl, and together, a bundle of strands of light wrapped around them, bright and disintegrating into the sky in shreds until it was like they'd never been there at all.</p>
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- <p>She woke up in some kind of pool. It wasn't a very good one, because the floor under her fingertips was a bunch of stained glass tiles- not very forgiving to missteps- and it was only about an inch deep, which meant that there wasn't a whole lot of swimming one could do anyway. She cracked her eyes open- several people were hovering over her, Arkensia the only one she recognized.</p>
- <p>The green-haired girl held out a hand. Solstice took it, and she helped her up to her feet and reached over to brush the wrinkles out of Solstice's plain white dress.</p>
- <p>Solstice pushed her hand away. "I'm good, thank you."</p>
- <p>"Alright then." Arkensia's eyes went distant. She sighed. "You know, I welcomed your mother to the afterworld the same exact way. Through the pool."</p>
- <p>"And she wasn't fully divine either," another voice cut in- a boy clearly a few years younger, brown hair almost shiny in the relentless sun. "I'm Caelin, by the way. Is Ceuta doing well?"</p>
- <p>"Who's Ceuta?"</p>
- <p>Caelin cringed. "I-I don't think I'm allowed to say her other name." He glanced to Arkensia. "Father's not going to ground me again if I say the L-word, right?"</p>
- <p>"<em>Just whisper it,</em>" Arkensia said.</p>
- <p>"The L- <em>oh,</em> you mean Lukas."</p>
- <p>"Y-yeah, that one." Caelin shivered. "We're still... getting used to it. Or trying, anyway. Father doesn't like it one bit, and Mother doesn't want him getting any angrier than he has to be after the wipe, so we've got to stay hush about... it."</p>
- <p>"Is Chronos always this assholish?"</p>
- <p>Arkensia and Caelin glared at Solstice. She glared back. A breeze blew in, ruffling the skirt of her dress, coming to a neat stop at her knees.</p>
- <p>"If I were you," Arkensia said, every word deliberate, "I wouldn't badmouth Father like that again."</p>
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