The Goddess Dream

I returned to the throne room, hoping my mother had recovered. It had been a long time, so Tamamo must surely be close to being finished by now. After opening one of the side doors into the main room, I walked to the bench where my mother was resting, she had returned to her original state, although she was sleeping on the bench. On the other hand, Tamamo was not there, she was a little further away working in the next room, as she had asked me to do, she was now building another temple for her. Unlike the small table decoration in our house, she was not holding anything back here this time. This time she used her magic to transform the place to her liking, she used the materials from the walls she remodeled and transformed them into whatever she needed, the design was the same as the great temples of Japan, with a Tori at the entrance and its water fountain, a few portals to hang petitions, she had already put the one of health to the family in the first one, even a donation box that would probably always be empty, what the hell? Now she's building the souvenir store?

"Hi Honey, I see you are having a lot of fun decorating the place"

"Oh Darling, this is fantastic, isn't it beautiful!"
"Look I was thinking of putting a sacred tree here!"
"Something like a tree where it is said that someone saw the Goddess of the place sitting on a full moon night!"

"A sacred tree? Just because you sat on it for a moment?"
"So what does that mean for the couch in our living room?"

"Well, I think a sacred tree sounds better than having a sacred couch"

"You're right about that"
"Hey, when is my mother going to wake up?"

"Oh, don't worry, she's quite all right."
"I  finished just a few minutes ago"
"She's a little tired and she's recovering"
"She should wake up any minute now"
"Hey, which do you think sells better, fox stuffed animals or aromatic cherry candles?"

But while she was talking a voice came from the bench, it was my mother waking up from her sleep. When I saw her move I immediately went to her to help her. Adelis yawned and looked at her watch asking for the time, she was surprised to see that it was already 3 o'clock in the afternoon, then she got up immediately and finally understood that there was something strange with the place.

"!!!!"
"Cesar?"
"Where am I?"
"Why are we in a giant church?"

"Calm down"
"Everything is fine, you are in a safe place"
"Take it easy, everything is ok"

"How do you want me to take it easy!"
"Just look! The walls are like 300 meters long!"
"Where is this!?"

"Well, right now we're a little far from home"
"...."
"Or from Earth"
"...."
"Welcome to Atlantis?"

"....."
"....."
"Oh, Atlantis, I see, that makes sense"
"....."
"....."

"You're taking it better than I thought you would"

"I just..."
"I'm just trying not to think about the fact that I'm probably on the highest floor and there must be an insane drop to the real ground"

"Oh? Are you ok Okasan?"
"You seem a little dizzy"

"She suffers from vertigo since she was born"
"So very high places like skyscrapers tend to make her dizzy easily"
"Do you think there's anything you can do?"

"Let me see, maybe a cup of tea will help her"

Tamamo who was still working in his temple stopped everything and came walking over to help. My mother turned to see that there was another voice in the room, one that she had not noticed, and looked at Tamamo stopping her magic and walking towards her. As soon as she saw her eyes opened wide and she began to shake a little.

"No! no! please don't use your magic!"
"Please don't turn me into something else!"
"Forgive me! It won't happen again! "

"!!!!"
"Mom, are you all right?"
"You're scaring me, you're acting a little weird"

Tamamo was stunned to hear my mother speak, she froze for a few seconds and then quickly ran to our side.

"No no no"
"I'm just going to make you a calming tea, don't worry, it will only take a few minutes"

Tamamo reached out his arm to take my mother's hand and calm her down, but my mother raised her arm and slapped Tamamo's hand away immediately. In Adelis' face, we could see a great face of fear, it seemed that her opinion in the gods had changed with her last experience.

" Tamamo-No-Mae is mighty Goddess"
"A mere mortal has no right to be next to such a supreme being as yourself"
"I am sorry you have to suffer my presence"

"!!!!"
"Okasan!"
"Are you feeling well? You look pretty agitated"
"Come here and rest"

"None of your Goddess tricks!"
"I don't want you to deceive me, you are the same as her!"
"You  all are a threat to humans"

"No no no"
"Don't do this to me Okasan, please"
"It's me Tamamo, remember!?"
"Your pretty Tamamo!"
"Please don't!"
"Don't let her win this way"
"Not like this"
"Please stop treating me like this"

Tamamo bent down and hugged my mother on the floor, putting her face in front of her chest, I wanted to calm her down as much as possible, but my mother kept insisting.

"Sorry, I'm sorry"
"I didn't mean to...."
"...."
"It's just that you're just like her, aren't you? A Goddess"
"You could also turn people into objects if you wanted to"
"I'm sure I'm nothing but a bug to you from your point of view"
"I'm so sorry you have to take care of a bug like me"

"Mom?"
"Come on, this isn't funny"
"This is Tamamo we're talking about, remember?"

"It must be really humiliating for something as amazing and abstract as a goddess."
"Please, I know I'm nothing next to you"
"You don't have to stoop so low"
"Just leave me behind and don't worry about me, you're much more important"
"The truth is I'm a disgrace for forcing you to be by my side"

My mother kept talking and talking, she was really afraid of Tamamo's presence. It seemed that the short time she spent with Nediadis did affect her in the end. She showed her what the Gods were really capable of and the difference between them and humans. How they could manipulate everything if they really wanted to, the Tamamo temple on one side only proved it. She was really terrified to think that she was worthless to her now that she experience its power.

"Please stop"
"This is not what I want"
"I don't want you to treat me this way because I'm a Goddess"
"Please don't think of me this way Okasan"

"A Goddess deserves to be treated with respect."
"I can't just ....."

"But you are my mother!"
"My only mother!"
"Please!"
"My only dream has always been to be with a family that loves me as I am!"
"This family is my greatest treasure!"
"...."
"I just want you to treat me like  I am a daughter to you!"
"...."
"These months that we have lived together have been the happiest of all my life"
"I have never before experienced so many different emotions since I have been with you"
"Love, sadness, kindness .... even envy"
"I never had a mother, I just exist alone from the beginning."
"And seeing all of you share your lives daily is my greatest pleasure"
"So much so that I even wish I had been born with you from the beginning and that I lived all those things that all you remember from time to time "
"...."
"Sometimes I even dream about how we went go on a trip to a river and had a picnic on the grass"
"There was you and your husband, there was also Cesar and Maria, although I still don't know him I imagined Leon there too"
"And I was with you too, I was very happy, very happy"
"...."
"I know it never happened, but being with you every day is for me like believing it was real"
"...."
"The way you scolded me sometimes for burning something"
"Or when you call my attention to me in the coffee shop"
"Even the fact that you get mad at me sometimes is even a symbol of how strong our trust is"
"You know deep down that I appreciate you and I would still forgive you later because you did it to teach me to learn from my errors"
"Things like that are the rarest and most precious things a Godness could have"
"To be treated as just one more in the family"
"....."
"Please, Adelis, I implore you, please be my mother"
"It is my second-greatest wish"
"If you truly respect my love and trust that I put in you, please accept this humble Goddess as your daughter"

Tamamo knelt on the floor, put her hands together, and lowered her head to touch the ground, prostrating herself in front of my mother, a perfect demonstration of Japanese Dogeza, a symbol of reverence, deep apology, and the ultimate form of expressing desire. Tamamo was demonstrating in front of my mother how much she really cared about their relationship, and that her will would yield to nothing to keep it the same. My mother looked surprised by the gesture Tamamo was showing, she knew quite well what that meant in Japanese culture, especially coming from a lady as traditional as Tamamo, it meant that it was a matter of pride and honor. The equivalent of saying that she really valued this relationship from her heart.

"Mom, please stop this"
"Seriously, just look at our poor Tamamo"
"What more do you want from her?"
"She really appreciates you, to treat her like that after all this time is truly disrespectful"
"While you were gone she was the one who worked to get everything arranged and ready for your return"
"She was even so happy to tell me how she spent the night cleaning the whole house so that you would see the place even better when you returned"

"...."
"Oh...."
"...."
"Sorry...."
"....."
"I didn't mean ....."
"It's just that....."
"....."
"Sorry...."

Adelis had trouble expressing herself, she didn't know exactly what to say after acting so strange. But Tamamo appreciated the gesture, she knew what she really wanted to say, she got up and hugged my mother again, as a sign that she forgave her.

"Yeah, don't worry"
"I understand, you don't need to say anything else."
"After all, our relationship is stronger than this, isn't it?"
"There's no need for words to rebuild us again"
"Isn't that right? Okasan?"

"Of course, my daughter"

Adelis, too, hugged her in response. They stayed like that for several minutes without saying anything until they finally calmed down. Having finally put all that behind her, my mother looked up at the ceiling again, and remembering that she was supposed to have vertigo, Tamamo smiled and took her back to the bench to sit down. Stella arrived moments later bringing some medicine for the dizziness and with the ship, we were going back to Earth, although I took advantage of this to show them both around, even though it wasn't the same as in her best days, the views were really beautiful. Creating one of those family memories that Tamamo had always wanted to have together with her mother.