[center][h1][color=yellow]Zenia[/color][/h1][/center] [hr] Zenia was perhaps the smartest being alive. This she was sure of, as she drifted through the sky towards the north. She had told her nascent elves that she was headed towards the moon after picking up the declaration of another from up above. Initially, she had actually meant it, too. But in departing, she had hatched a masterful scheme. Instead of leaving, she had flown to the edge of the forests surrounding her cradle of elfkind, assumed the form of one of the zenii, and simply wandered back into the valley under false pretenses. This was such a foolproof plan that Zenia had been sure no other deity would think of such a brilliant scheme, maybe ever. In the guise of one of her own creations, she had lounged around different camps, listening and making merry with the others. She spoke as little as possible, letting the stream of social interaction take her on whatever journey the mortals could think of. In the meantime, she had time to observe them in their natural state - thinking she was away, they acted very differently from when they stood expectant and reverent in her presence. Little did they know their Lady had never left! Sure, she had drawn some suspicious or confused glances a few times when she spoke out of turn or caught herself giggling with giddy mischievousness at the thought of her brilliant trickery. One man had told her she looked a lot like the Lady, and Zenia had misdirected him with a cheerful [color=yellow]“No, you look like the Lady!”[/color] which for some reason had made the group she was in coo and whistle aggressively until the man bowed his head in shame and left. Under this observation Zenia made sure to sample every activity the elves invited her to. She listened to them compose some kind of high-pitched whistling song, danced with locked arms around the warming obelisks, slept in a huge pile of zenii, just jumped around and laughed and hugged and kissed, played games and watched the others challenge each other to various feats of strength. Still, all was not well in the camp. Even though she had blessed them with natural physicality, or perhaps because of it in some cases, a few of her long-eared mortals ended up taking permanent naps. Violent outbursts elf to elf, dangerous and risky attempts. One died falling from the top of an obelisk - which Zenia had no idea how he climbed - directly into the water, and drowning. That’s what she heard anyway. Some brutal rivalries were beginning, and the food was slowly depleting. She could just make more of course, but she’d hoped that they’d get the hint and fix it on their own. To make matters worse, she’d noticed that the warmth of the obelisk attracted curious beasts at night, some of which eyed the elves with hungry eyes. It would only be a matter of time before they became brave enough to try their luck. Worse, those storm clouds she had remarked upon upon her initial landing so many days ago simply refused to clear. They had started to worry her zenii, and on particularly dark and gusty nights it disrupted all but the most passionate of social gatherings. With those issues clear in her mind, Zenia had wandered into the forest and flown off for real. She wanted to teach them to make fire, but had no real idea how it worked in practice. She knew Homura was probably off on her journey, and Voligan was Monarch-knows-where. Jiugui was probably setting up for the big party, so she wouldn’t want to disturb him with trivial matters like this. There was one deity she could rely on though, that she knew would be where she left him. With her flashback sorted in her thoughts, and her intent set to reconnect with Chailiss in his frozen north. The Monarch-of-All's words rang in her mind and she knew then she had made a good choice. Sounded like the others were being recognized for their good nature. She had barely made it over to the northern continent she had helped create when a wave of putrid bile hit her finely tuned sense of smell like a wall of garbage. Worse than the smell of dead zenii. Worse than a steaming heap of animal dung. It crawled up her nostrils, weaved cloying tendrils of pungent air around her divine brain, and threw her off balance like a master archer shooting a bird out of the sky. Zenia fell from above, sailing down across the sky spitting and scratching her tongue, all thought of her destination erased. She hit the wetlands with a sodden thud, splashing water, mud and discarded branches everywhere as she made a permanent impact crater. She lay there paralyzed, staring at a heap of dirt beside her muddy face as she tried to fight the impulse to claw her nose off. Eventually, the worst of it wore off. Zenia grew more and more tolerant of the pungent scent, and with resigned disgust she pushed it farther back in her mind, accepting that it hadn't been a freak ambush of flying smelly clouds but something that physically released such a smell - and it wasn't going away. Brushing off the worst of the wet mud - a truly hopeless endeavor - the goddess pushed to her feet and took a steadying breath to accept this new reality. A tinge of familiarity washed over her as she grew accustomed to the scent. Jiugui’s breath, maybe? She reminisced happily about the funny man's fickle laughter and good mood, as she busied herself with clambering out of the pit of her own creation. No sooner had she climbed out of the crater than she found herself eye to eye with her next challenge - a wolf with eyes as big as her fists and teeth like her forearms. Though it did not recognize it's accidental mother, her strange scent and divine guise seemed enough to halt aggressive instincts. Instead, the grand wolf tilted its head and stared at her with docile curiosity. When Zenia tilted her head in turn with a warm smile, the wolf sniffed the air curiously. "Food?" it yowled with cautious optimism. [color=yellow]"Sorry!"[/color] Zenia replied swiftly and with genuine compassion. [color=yellow]"I didn't, like, bring anything to eat."[/color] "Food." The wolf insisted with a slow baring of hungry teeth, eyeing Zenia with jealous suspicion. The goddess chuckled and held out her hands to show they were empty. [color=yellow]"I don't have anything."[/color] to her surprise, the massive beast lunged forwards, closing its gargantuan jaws around both of her hands and forearms in a greedy assault to rip into her limbs. Zenia giggled happily, squirming under the violent assault. [color=yellow]"Nooo! That tickles!"[/color] The wolf gnawed on the goddess arms with as much strength as a hungry beast could muster, to no avail. Jagged, sharp teeth glanced off of her teeny arms like a bendy but firm chewing stick, and the goddess just giggled and squirmed as if it were a game. The wolf could only taste the muck and grime of the earth covering her skin. No matter the effort, there was no blood, no bite marks, nor could it pull her from her feet and devour her whole no matter how hard it tugged and ripped. Eventually the only choice left was to lose interest, and release the giggling goddess. Zenia in turn wiped her arm on her sodden dress before stroking a hand over the wolves muzzle in a friendly return of affection. "No food." The wolf grumbled and Zenia apologized again. After this had gone on for a time, including an attempted return to eating the inedible goddess and more petting, Zenia decided to move on, waddling merrily through the wetland in a random direction. The wolf followed, not entirely convinced yet that the goddess was not food. [color=yellow]"Do you, like, know what that smell is? It, uhm, it's kind of, you know, really bugging me."[/color] Zenia asked of the wolf, and it pondered this as they walked. "Tiny food. Easy find. Hard catch. Hide in sticks." the wolf remarked with a learned set of growls. "Bad hunt. Tiny food hunt tiny food, leave body for me." Zenia quirked a brow as they walked, her smile dented by momentary confusion. [color=yellow]"They hunt each other?"[/color] The wolf panted in affirmation. "Not to eat. Bite and rip for dominance." Zenia pondered this with an uncharacteristically deep frown. So deep was her worry that she did not notice time and distance passing, and the wolf followed her for what may as well be several miles. It was only when the wolf tensed by her side and stopped that she did too, and lifted her gaze to find herself looking straight at a small and wet assembly of hills made out of sticks, built to prop up a stream and create more wetlands. Small ridges dotted the landscape, and between them several brown shapes scurried down into holes. Only the closest three remained in sight, standing frozen in the middle of the makeshift village. Staring at Zenia and the wolf just as they did in turn. Bucktoothed and covered in slick fur. By all accounts, they were animals. But they stood upright, held sharpened sticks and huddled around a flickering flame. Zenia blinked in staunch confusion, refocusing her effort to scrutinize the small mammals. Fire! They knew how to make fire! They were definitely intelligent, despite being small and ugly and smelling like wet dead dog. The goddess grinned happily, and lifted her arm to wave at the staring creatures. [hider=Meanwhile, in the Wickedtooth Clan village.] "I'm gonna wave back." Rostik murmured quietly, leaning anxiously on his spear. "Don't you dare. If you wave back, you can stay out here tonight." The bjork at his side hissed quickly, trying to be as quiet as possible. The third beside the both of them stood frozen in fear, hoping that wolves could not see them if they stood still. "Lyudmila… look, it's waving again." Rostik pleaded, fighting the urge to waddle his little arm in the air. "Are you seeing the wolf?!" "Yes, but-..." "It wouldn't be the first tricksy spirit we've heard of. Whatever it is, it brings predators to heel. And it's covered in sludge. Some kind of beast from the depths of the swamps perhaps?" The third piped up quickly, interrupting the heated but quiet debate. "Oh no! The wolf is coming this way!" [/hider] Zenia had only taken a few steps when the three creatures scattered in panic, vanishing deep into safe havens between ground and sticks that the goddess could barely make out. Perhaps they hadn't seen her wave. In the end, she ended up standing there, observing the fire up close and sighing to herself. Maybe it'd be enough to bring this to her zenii and let them study it? Learning by trial and error? Was that a thing? Zenia had no idea. She turned quizzically to the wolf, who had stopped a good distance away from the fire for safety. [color=yellow]"You said they, you know, like, hunt each other?"[/color] she asked with a frown, reaching down to scoop up the fire. It rested comfortably on her arm, greedily popping and snapping as it turned bark and small branches into smolders. "Yes." The wolf insisted. "With sticks and stones. Free food for wolves." Zenia froze then, despite the roaring fire trying to snack on her arm. What if the wolf would say the same about her zenii? She had seen firsthand that they could hurt each other, duel, scrap and fight. What if they started making a habit of it? This was a disaster waiting to happen. She turned to her wolf companion with a grim expression. [color=yellow]"I need to, like, go back. My people need me."[/color] The wolf only panted an idle appreciation at first, then released a rumbling last goodbye. "Hungry. Will see if small food comes back out. Dig into sticks." Zenia nodded firmly and tried her best to put on a brave face. A churning dread built in her gut as she considered what she'd seen during her stay with her zenii. Some actions came into new, grim context. The reality of hardships and struggle dented the implacable wall of happy festivity just a little bit. Then, she lifted into the sky and zoomed off back towards the south. The journey was swift, with storm clouds washing her clean and killing her gathered fire. She zoomed through the sky as fast as she could. She had witnessed death. If she considered it closer, she was sure they had already fought and slain each other. What kind of goddess of good would she be if she let that continue? She could already hear Homura’s voice lecturing her about keeping the mortals safe. She dove into the valley as she returned south, hovering in the sky like a looming threat over her gathered elves. More and more stood in place, pointing up at the sky and crying out in reverence and joy when they caught sight of her. Zenia stretched out her arms and declared with a booming voice that carried much farther than the valley itself. [color=yellow][b]"Never again shall zenii slay zenii."[/b][/color] She lingered there in the sky for a time, watching her zenii react and watch in awe. Chatter amongst themselves or falling on their knees in acceptance. Or prayer. Zenia was about to slide down among her herd and relax at last, pleased with the outcome of this little venture after all. That's when she realized, they'd ask what the moon was like! They'd realized she'd done a fib! Changing her mind at the last minute, when zenii could almost reach for her feet, Zenia blasted off towards the moon in the sky, this time for real. [hr] [Hider=Summary] Zenia is a tricksy gal. She's been hiding out as an elf like an early taping of Undercover Boss. She then goes north to hit up Chailiss for the secret to making fire. She is shot out of the sky by bjork anti-aircraft scents, and lands in the thousand lakes. There she meets a very big wolf, and the two go on a short journey to find a bjork village. Zenia sees they have fire and takes it, but soon realizes that she's let her elves war among themselves. She hurries home, losing the fire, but releases a decree of non-violence between elves. Then she heads for the moon, like she was supposed to in the first place. No vigor spent. [/hider]