Astarte giggled softly, keeping a hand over her mouth and using the other to peek out of the bush she was hiding in. Right in front of her was a small farm, away from any civilization. She'd been observing this place for a long time now, waiting for the owners to make babies and then waiting for the babies to grow into children. Now they were a few years old, and they were at the perfect age for what Astarte wanted to do.

She heard laughing from inside the house, and then saw the door swing open and two children come out. One was a boy of around 8, and another a girl of 6. They both ran into the fields, playing in the rye fields

They didn't expect what was coming to them.

Astarte merely observed, stiffling her own laughter as much as she could.

In the blink of an eye, the children's laughter stopped and they looked around them, eyes wide and lips quivering.

The rye shifted and the sound of paws hitting the ground echoed.

No matter where the kids looked, the movement always seemed to come from somewhere else.

Eventually, the girl tugged her brother's arm, "Let's go home!" She said in a hushed voice. Her brother nodded, and they turned around... And a big wolf jumped out at them!

The kids screamed and cried and ran back into the house, tripping more than once on their way back.

[i][b]"HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!"[/b][/i] Came the thunderous laughter from Astarte, spooking all birds in a one kilometer radius. Then she abruptly stopped, [b]"Okay, it wasn't that funny, I guess. Definitely wasn't worth waiting so long. Why did I wait so long?"[/b] Astarte sighed and sat down in the bush, frowning.

[b]"I wonder where Brown is, if she was here she wouldn't let me talk to myself..."[/b] She tried to keep the frown up, but couldn't help the giggle that escaped her lips afterward.

The children, meanwhile, had swung open their parent's door to find that both Mother and Father were off in the village lifting the maypole (or else had told them that that was the case while they hurried into the woods to make more babies). The younger one looked to her brother in terror. 

The fear of wolves had very real foundations in these parts. Not only were the wild ones large and bold, but the Devil himself had come through these parts long ago, and now fabulous bandits roamed with the face and voice of a pack-minded wolf. Fortunately, big brother (who stood a whole four foot tall!) knew just what to do. For just like the frosty fairy tales that they grew up with in the long winter and lived in the summer, a hero had lately come to town.

They found her sitting on top of the maypole chewing something while an assembly of grown-ups yelled at her. (Their parents were nowhere to be seen.)

"Come down from there!" yelled the charcoal maker, putting angry hands on his hips. "The maypole is sacred, you scoundrel!"

[i]"Nah,"[/i] said the hero, tossing down an apple core.

[i]...How did she even get up there?[/i] thought the lumberjack's wife. The hero caught her gaze and winked at her.

"Wolf! Wolf!" cried the girl-child. "There's a wolf in Father's field!" added her brother. Serious attention turned to them. The children of the village were well-behaved, and would never lie about such a thing. "It was [i]this big![/i] It laughed at us!"

About three dozen eyes turned towards the hero expectantly. She hiccuped and gave a sheepish grin. The lumberjack's wife jerked her head at the field. Well, okay then. 

Tira shrugged and balanced on one heel on the maypole, put her hands to her mouth and gave a shout (she didn't know how to whistle). She somersaulted from the pole and, catching a four-winged grey thing on her wrist as she fell, landed on her feet. Her glaive rested easy across her shoulders as she marched off.

A big dog, okay. How bad could it be?

Tira marched off into the field. Her... bird... framework thing did a lap of the field and dipped when it saw something. [i]"'Eyy!"[/i] she yelled as she approached, without a care in the world.

[b]"Ow, ow! What the- A bird reptile thing!"[/b] Suddenly a shockwave of energy burst from the bush, destroying the poor plant in the process and revealing Astarte, who jumped to her feet dressed in a plain white dress, [b]"Come on, now I have to find another hiding spot!"[/b] She groaned and slouched over. Upon noticing the approaching human, she raised an eyebrow and assumed a more formal posture.

[b]"Eyy!"[/b] Astarte brought her hand up to cover her mouth and frowned, wondering if that was the correct thing to say, then she saw the pterodactyl framework thing land on the human's shoulder, [b]"That thing nearly killed me, by the way! Well, it can't kill me, but it scared me."[/b]

Tira pulled herself out of the rye field and shook the ringing noise out of her ears. looked at the pretty lady. She looked at her raptor. The raptor looked at her. They both looked at the lady.

[i]"...Eyy?"[/i]

The Scribe tapped its pen-like face on Tira's shoulder, and took off as if it was offended. Tira had every intention to question this stranger about who she was, how she'd done that, how she knew the Alefprian language and moreover [i]how the hell she wasn't wearing three layers of fur in this freezing cold icy frostbitten non-tropical country,[/i] but she decided to prioritise what was really important.

[i]"Hey,"[/i] she said. [i]"I like your hair!"[/i]

Astarte glared at the Scribe as it took off, then looked at Tira as she was looking her over. By the time Tira spoke, Astarte grinned, [b]"Yes? Thank you! I had it a bit straighter before, but I changed it a little bit ago, when I arrived here and started planning my evil plan! I like your furs by the way, I think I once saw one of the wolves whose skin you're wearing. It peed on my favorite tree." [/b]

Tira blinked. The lady in in the white dress spoke really fast, and didn't make all that much sense. Given that her ability to speak First was what her tutors would call 'atrocious' (which was a nice word she didn't understand at all), Tira had a feeling she'd just trip herself up if she tried to answer all that.

[i]"I still like your hair,"[/i] she replied, going back to basics. She bowed briefly in strangerly respect. [i]"I'm Tira. Also, I want dog people. Can I come see your tree?"[/i] Tira had an idea of how to track wolves, or jackals at least, and a lot of respect for favourite trees.

Astarte giggled and in the blink of an eye, was right next to Tira, with her arm around her shoulders and whispering into her ear, [b]"Oh, I see. You [i]want[/i] dog people, and you like hair a lot- Don't worry, Tiry, I know how to keep a secret."[/b] She froze for a second, [b]"wait, you're not here looking for my little wolf friend, are you? 'Cause he's married and happy with many little wolfies-"[/b]

Tira looked at her with her mouth half-open in a smiling '...what?'. She looked off into the distance. She looked into the sky. She looked into the cereal. She looked back at Astarte, still wearing the same look.

[i]"...runosh?"[/i]

Astarte looked at the confused human and nodded her approval, [b]"What indeed, Tiry! So you wanted to see my favorite tree, right?"[/b] Astarte held Tira close and in a moment they were facing an ancient-looking tree, and her Scribe had crashed into its branches. Beautiful and strong, with pink leaves and an aura that could only come from a certain Goddess of Purity. Upon seeing the tree, Astarte let go of Tira and instead went on to hug the Tree, squee-ing nearly inaudibly. [b]"This is the first tree of its kind that I've seen, I think one of my sisters made them, but it's so beautiful, and when you eat its leaves, you get all hazy and feel funny!"[/b]

Tira, unfortunately, was nowhere to be seen. In the time it took for Astarte to say these things she had already climbed the tree. [i]"Hey!"[/i] she yelled. [i]"Lyanan jin!"[/i] Her head popped out of the branches up-side down. She was already chewing some pink leaves, which at least showed that she'd been listening.

[b]"Good news is that if you were in pain before, you won't be in it anymore for a few hours. Bad news is you might feel sleepy."[/b] Tira heard the word 'sleep' and laughed rather hard. [b]"I gave these leaves to a human before and they slept like Jvan after getting attacked by the uptight-est Gods."[/b] Astarte giggled and floated her way up to Tira. The Scribe made a quick doodle of Astarte and warbled for unknown reasons.

Tira reached out to Astarte and yanked her onto a branch out of habit, eliciting a squeak out of Astarte, even though it was pretty obvious she wouldn't fall. The Astarte scribble scampered up the tree and went missing. Tira cocked her head. A lot of things were beginning to stack up. The explosions and teleportation were a dead giveaway, but the name Astarte had dropped was what caught her.

[i]"Hey,"[/i] she asked, [i]"Who[/i] are [i]you?"[/i]

Astarte fixed her hair and awkwardly got into a proper sitting position on the branch, then shrugged, [b]"Oh, I'm Astarte,"[/b] Seeing Tira`s expression, she pursed her lips and elaborated, [b]"Goddess of Magic, so... Not that well known."[/b]

[i]"Upstarte? Astarte!"[/i] Tira nodded, committing it to memory. [i]"Okay! Uh, do you know... Belvast? Guts mom? Li-"[/i] she blinked and dragged the consonant, knowing she could never pronounce the 'fp' sound- [i]"iffff-prasil?"[/i]

[b]"I know Belvast! My Avatar, Brown, met him once, so that's that. I haven't really met him in person, though."[/b] Then Astarte heard mention of Lifprasil, [b]"I also know that one, I heard he's not in good shape these days though, is that true?"[/b]

[i]"Oh, uh..."[/i] Tira rubbed the back of her neck with a fist. [i]"Yeah. He got in a fight. He's not doing too good,"[/i] she said, her hand disappearing for a moment into her pocket, [i]"It... was a big fight."[/i]

[b]"Oh..."[/b] Astarte sighed and looked away, unsure of how to continue,[b] "... How do you know about the fight and its outcome? Are you one of Lifprasil's followers, like Lakshmi? [i]I'm Lakshmi's biggest fan, by the way.[/i]"[/b]

Tira's face lit, and she saluted. [i]"I'm her kid!"[/i] Needless to say, there was absolutely no resemblance, in species or otherwise. Still, the sheer enthusiasm of Tira's grin made it impossible to be untrue. [i]"Lakshmi's my mom! Maybe even my[/i] best [i]mom."[/i] She didn't answer the other questions.

[b]"Wait!"[/b] Astarte narrowed her eyes at her and spoke slowly, [b]"You... Are... Her daughter?"[/b] She pursed her lips and sniffed Tira lightly, [b]"But, you don't smell like her! Okay, that isn't the weirdest thing I've seen, so I'll believe you. I don't know if she tells everyone this, but I'll tell you, she once had a legion of naked soldiers in battle, and it was great."[/b] Astarte grinned.

Tira's interest peaked. She nodded encouragingly at Astarte, covering her smile with her hand as she waited for the details.

Astarte just kept grinning. Slowly, the grin turned into a smile, then into a smirk. Finally, she slouched and frowned, [b]"I'm bored, what do we do?"[/b] While not hearing about her adoptive mother's nude legions disappointed her, Tira gave the question some thought.

In the branches, Tira's Scribe got into a fight with invert-Astarte, who was hanging from a twig by the teeth. The Scribe pecked at her nose and Invert-Astarte squeaked and let go, falling. Astarte saw her lose the battle and chuckled, then blew some air her way and saw her scream silently and try to escape her fate. How terrifying it must be to be forced to follow the whims of the wind.

[i]"There's only one who can look like me, and that is Brown, little beauty."[/i] She muttered.

"Hey!" Tira snapped her fingers at Astarte's face a few times, just to make sure she was still getting the attention she deserved. "I gotta get that dog person. Come with!"

Astarte blinked each time Tira snapped her fingers, and then looked at her while squinting her eyes, [b]"The dog person, right, you're looking for a wolf... Maybe because of the children crying and all that? That was a good laugh, heh. I give them a good scare once every couple years."[/b]

[i]"Well don't,"[/i] said Tira sternly, not quite catching the drift of the sentence. [i]"They already got wolfs to be scary. Gotta catch a wolf. Gotta get to work."[/i] She was, after all, a big hero now, and had to act like it eventually. [i]"C'mon, time to go!"[/i]

Astarte rolled her eyes at the human, [b]"By Vestec's shiny face, I love you humans, but you can be really petty sometimes-"[/b] Astarte waved her hand towards the bottom of the tree and a wolf appeared out of thin air. Then she snapped her fingers.

[i]CRACK.[/i]

Tira jolted. The wolf howled in pain and collapsed under its weight. In a split moment it was rendered from a proud beast to a whimpering wreck. If one watched closely, they would be able to see the wolf's hind legs bending at unnatural places with bones threatening to break the skin from the inside.

[b]"There's your wolf. He's my favorite one, the one I mentioned earlier. You can get his fur or whatever it is you want, since you're not interested in my stories about clever use of illusions to laugh in the face of children."[/b]

Somewhere down the tree, Tira set herself down on her haunches and drew her knife, making a quick kill. She was listening, still, and the message clicked, but it was bad to make an animal suffer. Astarte received a look of some sternness when she stood up with the beast around her shoulders, but most of it went unspoken.

[i]"...This ain't gonna happen to the village again, huh."[/i] Tira wasn't above lying, but her scattered attention had a sharp edge when it was focused. [i]"Okay? Let's go back, then."[/i]

Astarte shrugged, [b]"Eh, I've spent too much time around here already,"[/b] She said as she floated down from the branch. [b]"Want me to take us back to the v-"[/b] She choked and fell from the air, landing on her hands and knees on the ground. Her vibrant aura fizzled out, long enough for Tira to notice that her previously impeccable dress was now somewhat ragged along the knees and her form seemed anchored to reality, unlike when she was floating around and making things appear out of thin air.

After a few seconds of wheezing, She slowly regained her aura and the ragged dress repaired itself. Still, she only sat back and looked at herself with wide eyes, [i]'Just what are you doing, Brown...'[/i] She muttered, rubbing her knees.

Tira moved to pick her up and put her on her shoulders, realised there was a dead wolf already there, and sat down beside her. [i]"...God things?"[/i]

Astarte sighed, avoiding eye contact, [b]"My avatar's been actively ignoring me for the last decade. Just now, I felt her take a great deal of my power, and I managed to feel where she is..."[/b] She scrunched up her nose and looked at Tira, [b]"... Yes, God things."[/b]

[i]"God things,"[/i] she repeated, but solemnly.

Astarte smiled sadly and gave Tira a quick hug, not caring that her face ended up pressed against the wolf's broken legs. It was a good hug. Hugs with Tira always were. Then she stood up and offered Tira a hand, [b]"Take my hand, mini-Lakshmi. I'll take us back to the Village."[/b]

Tira nodded, and offered a small palm. The instant their hands touched, they were back in the village center, where a sparse handful of men and women looked at the suddenly appeared Tira wide eyed. None of them seemed to be able to see Astarte.

Tira hefted the wolf on her back and turned it over, set it down on the ground. She snapped her fingers at the girl-child, who looked at the dead wolf with fright and wonder, and picked up her glaive. Then she winked at the lumberjack's wife, saluted the charcoal maker, and all the while walked backwards out of the village without a word. The tail of a voidsketcher was the last they saw of Tira.

[i]"'kay let's go,"[/i] she motioned to Astarte from behind a cobbled house. [i]"C'mon, quick! More fun like this."[/i]

Astarte cocked her head at Tira, but quickly a grin seeped onto her face, [b]"Oh! Nice, nice!"[/b] She chuckled and grabbed Tira's wrist, making the both of them disappear in the wink of an eye.

When the girl turned the corner looking for Tira and found instead that there was no one in sight, she gasped. And that was how another story of the mischievous hero came to be.

In the new place, something like a rippled bubble covered the sky, glowing faintly from its gnarls. When Tira looked around, she recognised the foothills of a mountain, but she had never seen this particular one. Looking up, it outsized every other mountain she had ever seen- no mean feat- and yet it was also visibly unwhole, as if decapitated at the peak. Her Scribe whisked off to look around.

[b]"Couldn't think of any other place. Hope you like the cold, because this is much worse than the village we just left."[/b] Astarte said with a shrug. A chill breeze shivered her and she looked miserably up at the goddess from under her furs.

Astarte squinted her eyes as she decoded the look on Tira's face, [b]"You... Have never heard of this place, Lakshmini?"[/b]

[i]"Nuh. Where?"[/i]

[B]"Hmph... I thought you'd know. Your mother was Lifprasil's friend I think, and he should definitely know..."[/B] Astarte scrunched up her lips and began floating, going behind Tira and whispering in her ear, [b]"If my memory doesn't fail me, one of my favorite sisters fought one of my brothers here. It was... Rather flashy and break-y."[/b] Astarte then rested her chin on Tira's shoulder, lightly rubbing her face against the soft furs. Tira blinked and then made faintly jittery sounds.

[b]"I regret not being here then, you know? You can access a weird time-related place near the top, I think. Courtesy of Vowzra."[/b]

Tira clapped, gesturing for her to wait. She was looking for a word, blipping out bits of sentence without knowing what they were. [i]"Is this- uh, the, uh- The alone mountain? The, uh, solid, um."[/i] She gestured for help.

[b]"The Solitary Mount."[/b]

[i]"Yeah!"[/i] Tira nodded, pleased to have found it, until her mood settled back down into Astarte's. [i]"I thought... Belvast said it was sharp. Not this."[/i]

[b]"It used to be sharp. Now it holds what amounts to Vowzra's grave, as nothing was left after the battle. Want me to take you there, or perhaps what remains of Vowzra's plane?"[/b]

Tira nodded. [i]"This is where I'm gonna go. Take me to the top."[/i]

A shiver went down Astarte's back and she suddenly felt the urge to leave, as if her body rejected the idea of going close to the Oath once more. After a second of hesitation, she huffed and Tira began to feel weightless. She hunched over to catch her center of gravity as low as possible, touching one hand to the ground and planting her feet.

[b]"That'll only last as long as I'm close to you. Follow me to the top, it should take a little while."[/b] Astarte said with a straight tone of voice, making a head start. After a few dozen meters, she turned around and shouted, [b]"What are you waiting for, Tira?"[/b]

She tried to say something, and felt too sick. After a second she stood up, put her foot out gingerly onto the air, and taking a step onto it. [i]"...Nothing,"[/i] she yelled. [i]"Please be slow."[/i] She took another step, staring straight up.

[b]"Just will yourself into motion. Imagine you're moving, floating towards me or the peak."[/b]

Tira's gaze dropped to her with one eyebrow raised in a way that said 'um, no', then dipped back up. She took another step. Three down. Progress. [i]"'Will', huh?"[/i]

Astarte cracked a smirk when se caught the expression, [b]"Yes, Willpower is the best tool you can have in Galbar. With enough of it, you can warp reality to your advantage. Like Lifprasil's Cosmic Knights. Did you know I had a hand in making them? 'Cause I did, and that was a fun family meeting."[/b]

A tremendous display of willpower later, Tira had managed to ascend another five steps. Her Scribe flapped around her, glowing faintly. [i]"Ne owt-as yiil-di osh,"[/i] she said. Which means, 'I'm not really feeling it.' 

She tried to take another step, looking to one side to avoid thinking about how high up she was, which made her think about how high up she was. Her feet developed a wobble, and she started to doubt she could stay up, and then she fell.

Right into Astarte's arms, who appeared below her in an instant, [b]"Wouldn't want one of your tasty bones breaking in a fall, Human Lakshmi. Try again."[/b] She said as she let her regain her footing. Tira pushed her firmly aside. [i]"Yeah yeah, leave my bones alone, I'm gonna do this."[/i]

And she would. Eventually. She knew she would. There was no other way up, not before nightfall, so she kind of had to.

So, she did.

Not really thinking about anything much, and definitely not at all about flying, Tira folded her arms and decided she would go up the mountain one way or another if it killed her. And it probably would, given how hard it was to spot the rifts and crevasses among the tumbled stone. Fine then. She'd die. But not before she got up this glupping mountain. She'd crawl if she had to.

But she didn't have to at all, in the end.

Tira set her feet gently down at the top of the Solitary Mount, and immediately curled up onto her butt, sitting on raw ice with her hands pressing hard on her temples. Her breathing came hard. She knew what could have happened, though she had decided that it wouldn't.

Astarte landed gently besides Tira, the ground beneath them turning into lukewarm stone as she did so, [b]"Frostbite, humans call it. Not good to sit on ice."[/b] She said matter-of-factly, gulping as she looked around and spotted the massive shape of the Oath of Stilldeath.

[i]"Yeah, not good to stand on air neither,"[/i] Tira retorted.

It took her a moment, but Astarte managed to tear her eyes from the monument, [b]"Why not? You could stand on water too, you know. Or lava. Or keep yourself nice and warm while in the middle of a storm."[/b]

[i]"Not gonna walk on lava, thanks."[/i]

Astarte chuckled. [b]"No lava walking, then."[/b]

Tira breathed and picked herself up, looking to where Astarte's gaze had been fixed. She spotted a sigil she'd never seen before, but was familiar anyway. [i]"Hey,"[/i] she said, pointing up to the emblem in carmine. [i]"Guts mom."[/i]

[b]"Yeah... That's definitely Jvan. You may know the others already, but I'm sure that if you don't, you eventually will. Excuse me for a moment."[/b] Astarte said as she made her way around the monument, reading the inscriptions and pressing her hand against each sigil but her own, only giving hers a sideway glance.

[i][b]'...Care of yourself, Astie...'[/b][/i] The voice reverberated in her head making Astarte look around, then at Tira. 

[b]"You didn't hear that, right Tira?"[/b] Tira cocked her head.

Then she felt the emptiness. Something was missing, something that she'd had for a long time now. There was no one listening to her, and she knew deep down that if she talked, no one would answer.

[b]"She's... Gone?"[/b] Astarte covered her mouth with a hand, as if saying such things was forbidden. Slowly, her expression changed. Wild eyes gave way to a pained look, though she was in no physical pain. She closed her eyes tightly and sat down, leaning her back against the monument. Tira fell at her side and gripped her with an arm.

She wanted to cry, like she did so long ago when the Oath was made. She really wanted to, but she bit back her tears, remembering how hard Brown worked back then to cheer her up.

A few minutes passed, but they could have been years for all Astarte cared. Eventually, she calmed down enough to open her eyes again and look at the sky.

[b]"She always thought of me as a kind of dumb little sister, you know. She thought I didn't know what she wanted to do. She got into that mess because she wanted to cheer me up back then... It wasn't worth it, but I still appreciate it. She was my avatar, but to me it felt like we were real friends, like the ones you humans have. Like real family. I'm going to miss her."[/b] Astarte kept looking up for a few more moments before standing up and being promptly sat down again by Tira.

The little person's fingers fell firmly on Astarte's cheeks, and turned her head left and right with a one-sided grimace to give her a good looking at.

[i]"Real family,"[/i] she said, [i]"Is whoever you trust enough to carry your butt on their shoulders when your feet hurt a lot. Okay. And gods can have friends. Trust me."[/i] She crossed over and sat crosslegged across from Astarte. [i]"Now, where is your sister?"[/i]

Astarte pursed her lips and looked away, frowning. [b]"I can't feel her... Her essence vanished,"[/b]  She sighed and relaxed her expression, [b]"She was near the Deepwoods- Something big must have happened there, so I'll go check it out."[/b] She said before standing up.

[b]"The magic I gave you should last for a couple more hours after I leave, in case you want to get off this old mountain."[/b] She then chuckled lightly, her demeanor lightening, [b]"I bet I saved you quite a bit of walking and climbing today, didn't I, Tira?"[/b] 

"...Saved?" Tira took a brief look at the distant forests a few miles down, and covered her eyes with her fingers, shaking her head disapprovingly. It wasn't the term she would use. "Nevermind." She stood up. Flexed.

"I'll be fine here. I know where to go." Tira nodded her head to a gnarled tree standing by a dolmen just a short distance away. The tree seemed to look back at her. "...No one is dead until you say, 'goodbye'. Go to your big sis as soon as you can." She nodded again. "Prosit, Astarte."

The Goddess cocked her head, [b]"I suppose you're right. Prosit, Tira."[/b] She said before vanishing. Tira stood in the wind. The mountain seemed awfully lonely.

A few seconds later, she was gone.

The cold wind rustled in the Guardian tree.

[hider=Tira can't whistle]
Astarte, who has been hanging out near the arctic circle, pranks a couple of juvenile snow humans by turning into a wolf and giving them a big fright. Little does she know, a certain hero has lately turned up at their village [s]and eaten them out of house and home[/s]! What kind of fairy tale will arise from this, I wonder?

After meeting with Astarte, Tira and the Goddess go on a bit of a quest to find the wolf that scared the kids, which ends with the two on top of Solitary Mount. When Astarte feels something big happening near the Deepwoods, she leaves, leaving her new friend behind.

Tira embarks on a quest to New Chronos.
[/hider]