Kalaya and the N'yari are both frozen in shock as the Sapphire Mother emerges. 

And emerges. 

And keeps emerging.

[i]Woah ... Big Goddess.[/i]

It's not the most erudite thought ever, and probably borderline blasphemous, but it's all she can process right now. After all, Kalaya has had [i]some [/i]religious education in her upbringing. Okay, maybe she skipped some classes ([i]oh dear, does She know that?[/i]) but she'd gotten a priestess, and was ready to get the offering and the ritual and everything and [i]why is the Goddess just [b]here [/b]right now??[/i]

She's not alone either, she's brought what looks like a chunk of her entourage with her. Demigoddesses and Knights and both at once. Daughters of the River, burnished breastplates shining and banners flying. Cranes and Foxes surround them. It's a truly majestic sight to behold, one that leaves her in awe, and it is at this point that Kalaya realises she is currently standing ankle deep in very slippery mud while hoisting a large, wet, cat above her head.

About five seconds later is when she realises that the Goddess is [i]talking[/i] to her. About five seconds [i]after that[/i] is when [i]what[/i] she is saying starts to register and at that point...

...

[b]"HOLY F--"[/b]

... at that point, physics decides to remind people that it exists.

*Slip* *[i]SPLAT[/i]*

---====---

A short while later, Kalaya is out from under the N'yari, who appears chastised into behaving for now - although weather from her speech, or the Goddess' appearance, it's hard to say. She's brushed the mud off her face and clothes as best as she can, and kneels alongside Sagacious.

To say that she is full of emotion is an understatement. For years, she'd felt abandoned by the Gods and Goddesses. Ignored. Her prayers unanswered as she had to strive by herself to be anything other than a Princess of Lilly. To become what she wanted to be, a Knight. 

And then it was about proving herself. And then it became about finding Ven. About [i]saving [/i]Ven. And in all those challenges, from Turtlehead, to Kingeater, to Cathak's Barge, it had always felt like she'd had to fight this alone. Too small. Her pleas ignored by the divine, even as she'd been cursed with rejection from her homeland.

But.

[i]You love when it is foolish and you love when it is hopeless[/i]

In those few words, she realised that she had been [i]watched [/i]the whole time. In those few words, she felt [i]seen.[/i] In a way her own parents had struggled with. Yes. She loved. She loved Vee. She loved the Kingdoms. She loved adventure and helping people. She loved all of this, even when her world had told her that it was a dumb idea. That she'd get hurt, or that she couldn't change things. 

In another story, maybe she might have listened to those voices. Perhaps tempered her expectations and the dreams that drove her. Maybe she might have seen Ven as a poisonous influence, best left behind. Maybe she might have been content to reside in a tower, reading poetry and making embroidery for her life. Maybe she might have given up and let the despair take her, when she was betrayed and left alone in the rain - lashing out at a reality that seemed stacked against her, an ungrateful kingdom that refused to be saved and a witch that cursed her when she'd thought her a friend.

The Kalaya in those stories might have existed. But they would not have been [i]her[/i]. She simply loved too much to just give up, even at the blackest. She loved too much to turn her back on a childhood friend. Heck, she probably loved too much to hold a grudge against Giriel too. Maybe one day she'd find her and be able to test that.

And so it is, by the bank of the River, that a Knight kneels before a Goddess.

And the Goddess speaks.

"[b]You will need a new Sword.[/b]"

And when she says it, it means [i]weapon[/i], and [i]symbol [/i]and [i]hope [/i]- all at once.