Raindrop felt something, no someone, holding her, and calling out to her.
"Young mistress, hey young mistress. Please. Wake up. Please be okay."
She groaned, aware suddenly how the skeleton guard held her. If this was right ... it was like that one scene in the animation, the sight of it where Jenny told her some people called it a 'princess carry'.
And, as he carried her, he also raced back through the forest, taking her to ... well there was the doorway, back to her place, where Nissy left her-
Nissy!
Somehow, this had to be the goddess' fault, it had to be.
Cam would not have done this; no he wouldn't. Not especially since he'd previously spent time enough to tell her all the things she needed to know to survive, and to pick a gender, and to understand ... the sex stuff.
Only, Nissy ― she had to be so ... well, like Daddy called Uncle Herb ... 'dirty minded', maybe, enough to have done this, or set it up.
But was that same goblin, was he, really, truly, was he ... Uncle Herb?
That ... if it was ... Uncle Herb ... who did the earlier 'rape'.
She felt her cheeks grow wet, and her eyes turned blurry; this day cannot get any worse. Or she hoped, she prayed, it could not.
Raindrop could not understand. In one of her last few memories, faint words she might almost remember ― she had been told by Mommy, family is not supposed to do things like that. A person is supposed to find someone to be their special one, not from their own family. It was a thing she could not understand why Mommy maybe said it; only that for some reason it might be a long time before she would see Uncle Herb, if ever again.
What had happened?
She had only asked Mommy, just one time on that day, if Uncle Herb liked her. Because Uncle Herb liked to hug her a lot, like a lot, and the time he would tell Daddy he didn't need a girlfriend right then, he had some other thing in mind. It made her head hurt now, to wonder if, from some time in the past life, if ... something had happened, between her and Uncle Herb.
She felt light, though; something was not here-
"The bags? Where are the bags with the knives?"
"Leave them be. I'm taking you to safety, young mistress."
"G, go back! We, we need them! I need them!"
Groaning from the exertion, the skeletal soldier now veered around, heading back to the water's edge, to where the goblin's pouches should have been.
"Where-"
"There. I hid them, and was going to come back for them, after seeing to your safety, young mistress."
"... oh. S, sorry."
"Pay it no mind, young mistress. I am yours to command, after all."
"B, but, I ... I'd want to know your plans and thoughts, too."
"Very well. Shall I also tell you of what planning I have for your eventual investment as a queen of the future elven nation?"
"N, n, no need for that!"
Racing off again toward the portal, with the heavier pouches in her lap, Edward carried Raindrop at full speed ― something he said now he'd found out was still in his memories, 'Acceleration'. Along with a few other of what he called 'martial skills'.
Stepping through the last of the tunnel to the rocky surface world, she did not even care for the tears still dripping to stop.
And, Cam's voice could be heard, cautiously calling out in notice of her arrival.
"Oh hey, Ben; I see her now. She's back-"
And the other god also answered Cam, to say so too.
"Oh, yes I see. Well then, shall we call her back here hmm?"
Raindrop was in no mood, to deal with the deities, all of whom probably had their own reasons for wanting or needing her attention right now.
And, she could not, would not, want to even see Nissy.
So. She did the only thing on her mind. She stayed silent, just quietly letting the tears stream out on her face.
Edward had just set her down gently, and then turned back to face the doorway or portal as he called it; but this left her free to cry as she could, unless or until Edward might need her help.
"Hey um, Ben ― do you suppose our connection is still up? Can she hear, or-"
"Hmm well, I think so. Seems to be so, anyway. I don't know, maybe she doesn't want to talk? She seems emotional."
Raindrop fumed inside, even while the silent tears and throaty inhaling and exhaling let her work through this. Call her emotional, did he? This Ben, the guy she thought of as a grandfatherly figure, he was the one to call her emotional, was he?
And so she moaned with the tears, her heart close enough to the breaking point.
'Why am I even alive here? What use am I to those deities?'
For all her thoughts, this scared her the most. At first she could think they 'rescued' her from her past life. But now if the green goblin was really 'Uncle Herb' brought here by even just one of them ... why. What use is it to keep living, like this.
So easy. Give up. Tired. Don't do anything more. Just die.
Scary. Scary thoughts, calling to her, telling her to end it.
What if she ... just listened to the voices.
Just for once.
The words saying. Give up-
"Whoa hey Ben, see this meter, her mental state is dropping low-"
Her world changed, and she then reappeared before Camembert and Ben, and another being formerly like Nissy.
All four beings stared at each other.
Raindrop let her thoughts run wild, thinking all the things she'd thought before this, and not caring anymore. Ben might read minds, he seemed to have did it once before when she met him then; so maybe it was so good for him to feel her thoughts too, to get how desperate she must be.
Even as she ran out of emotional steam, and his own tears began fresh ― Raindrop thought back and recalled each and every thing the First One, Jay, had told her, and the things she'd told him, and the results of the day which had happened to her.
Ben did cry, openly cry, as a sympathetic Cam and a disinterested Nissy both also stood patiently by him.
At long last, Ben could only wipe away his tears, and approach Raindrop. He opened his arms, hoping for a gentle hug in return, but she could not, not just yet.
He had to earn it.
"I ... I am so, so, sorry. Raindrop. You are such a precious, young, child. Someone who I did say, we did say, all of us should say, did not deserve any of the things you experienced on Earth, or the way you have been left alone to feel so abandoned. Please. Trust me. Nissy has been punished, just before we brought you back, and she will be punished, even more so now, for her interference in this day. Please. Even if you think you cannot forgive a god, I beg of you. This god here, is asking you ― I, Ben, do not wish your harm. I do not wish for you to give up, so close to the end of the wickedness you may know. A great change is coming, a change I want you to be part of. But you have to continue, to not give up, in this time of the end now."
Ben still kept his arms open; and his words did somehow reach her. She leaned in, granting him the pained hug even she might not be too eager to give; but she did it, she met his hug and felt his warmth in front of her.
"Ben ... I hurt, why do I hurt from all these things?"
"... because of how serious it all is, and how hard it is for a young mind to deal with it all."
"Then, take it away. Take me somewhere else, if you can."
"... it's not so easy. A higher power already spoke up, in your behalf."
"Jay?"
"Cannot say."
Raindrop let go, and backed away. "Then, I don't know yet, if I should trust you. I want to ... no I need to know, what is going on, and who is messing up my life, or even who can help me. Is it Nissy that did this? Is it Jay who spoke up for me? Who?"
A mute Nissy just looked back, without any passion or eagerness to do anything. No sense of any emotion, either. Nissy was ... numb.
Raindrop could understand this, in some small bit. After the first day Chrissy came back to school after talking with a doctor, Raindrop heard one teacher talking to another, she said Chrissy was 'numb' maybe from shock of things said and done. After that, Chrissy always stayed silent and alone, only screaming the one time a bully in her class reached out to touch her at recess.
The bully in her class, he maybe tried changing, and being nice on that day; but because he'd been mean in the past, it was decided Chrissy's outbreak was instead his fault.
Raindrop did not want to even touch or talk to Nissy, now; for fear she burst out of her 'numb' state and yell at Raindrop. But Raindrop could not be nice to Nissy, either.
"Some of that," Cam spoke up now, "some of it is still under review, Raindrop ― in the hands of gods and goddesses even higher up than us. If we have any power, those who watch over us, themselves have tens of times more power than the three of us combined. Please understand, we too have a need to make things right. So. What can we do, to make it ... right."
"I don't, know."
"Please. Try to think of something, and let us try to do it."
They didn't understand her? Had she not just said, she didn't know what she wanted or needed?
"I don't know. I DON'T KNOW!"
Silent looks were passed between Ben and Camembert, but not the silent Nissy.
"You seem to think I can just say something you can do for me or to me, and it will be okay for you? Well I don't know. I don't even know if I can think of anything for this problem. I hurt, because it's too big for me to think through. I hurt because I want to tell you something too but I can't. And I hurt because ... I want to see Jay. I want to have Jay help me, like he always has helped me before, like you were not able to do."
"... if we knew where he was ... we would try to ask him for help too. But we don't; only you seem to come across him like this, and it's worrying even those gods and goddesses who watch over us. Something strange is likely to happen, and you seem to be in the right place at the right time to see him. We ... messed up, so long ago. And even if we wanted to ask for forgiveness ... maybe He would not give it."
"Fine but ... I am only a scared little girl, send me home. Send me somewhere else then. Even the skeleton guard I have there can go on to something else. But I want to go somewhere else, or be someone else. Just, anything but back there."
A long minute of silence went on ... and on.
"... we can't."
"Why not!"
"Because ... Nissy-"
All eyes finally turned back to the mute girl.
"S, she, she's been ... 'censured', I guess is the correct term, or at least what Earth people would say." Cam broke through the quietness of the moment, to attempt an explanation. "Censured means we basically took her abilities, left her an empty goddess-"
"GOOD-"
"-no, not so good; not for you just now. Inside, she's fighting to even continue to exist. If she can finish her internal struggle to once again return to The Way set before all deities here, then she can continue to hold onto this world, and remain a goddess. But instead if she fails ... what little she has done may be taken apart, and the remaining souls which she has called here, may be judged silently and moved on to other places. Your existence, too."
"What's wrong with that."
"In the way they, and you, would be moved along. It might be painful, for the rest of your existence. You might never again have anything near as good a childhood as you may have had, in your following lives. You'll be subject to the whims of others, or even without free will, a virtual slave in some ways."
"So what. I'm already a scared little girl. This is all I know now. What's wrong with doing this for the rest of forever?"
"... too much of that ... weakens a soul. And with too much time facing the weakness ... you stop existing."
"So what," came out even weaker, but no less instant to Cam's words.
Cam seemed to work at forming some sentence, some simple thing to say back to her, but she broke through that.
"Who put the goblin there."
"... Nissy."
"And then is this goblin the same as me, is he from Earth too, and most important. Is he Uncle Herb. Because what I do or say next, I will mean it, if he is."
Ben took this turn. "W, we think, so; but, what does it matter-"
"OVERRIDE-"
The word came from everywhere and nowhere in the room; and in an instant, Raindrop also found herself pulled out of this same room she'd been pulled inside, and into yet another room ― one of all white glowing pretty sparkles, but Raindrop knew some sparkly things were not so nice either. But in the same instant, she felt her body again that of a six year old little girl, and she felt so small compared to what and who she saw here.
At least, Ben and Cam were not here, and neither was that Nissy.
Instead, the young woman standing here in a long very pretty red dress, slits down the sides, and hair all did up so pretty, she ... smiled calmly.
"Hello, young soul, who now calls herself Raindrop. May I call you this too? I am called Chun Fa, if you would talk to me too."
Even if so much of the bad memories and thoughts were still here in her, for the sight of this woman, she felt maybe she should be partly in awe, or at least feeling kind about this woman.
"Chun Fa, oh, well it's a name I have not heard before except to hear Jay say it. I like the sound of it. Yes, call me Raindrop, because I don't know if I even can remember my name from before. But the, well there was a goblin before, he called me a name too, and if it's my name from before-"
"So sorry, Raindrop. You should not have had any of the things happen to you, which did happen. I have been watching your case since you were left in the first place, so I wish to talk to you without some of those scary men and their scary words getting you ... afraid."
"Yeah it's scary, but not as scary as when the goblin tried this rape thing on me."
Chun Fa merely nodded without adding a thought then.
"So ... what was it, was I raped, or not, and-"
"A rape," Chun Fa started slowly, "is any time one being forces another to be a victim. A victim is a being who has suffered or is suffering from some act or thought of harm. As such, yes Raindrop ― I will consider this act the goblin male did to your body ― rape."
"Then. But I also wanna know, you know ― was he my Uncle Herb-"
"His own case is sealed ― or, so I must say. But in truth, I know you don't like being lied to, so I will break the rules myself, and just tell you, Yes. This was the remains of the soul who, on Earth, went by the first name Herbert. And, called forth by the same goddess who brought you to her world, he was seduced to become one of the goblin race. And, as I see it, she put this same goblin on a path to meet you. I am so sorry."
Raindrop sighed, considered crying more, but then also consider if she cried now, she might not get more answers. So the best she could do, was try her hardest to stop from crying, to just keep asking what things came to her to be asked.
"Do you know a god named Jehave? Or called Jay?"
"Yes. He was the one who trained me. I was his first ... student. I understand in time, most of the other deities began to refer to him as the 'First One'; but to me, he will always be a wonderful and generous teacher, which none of the others since could match. And, forgiving too, when I made mistakes."
"Then why did he leave, and why are some wanting him to come back, and why are some fearing him-"
Chun Fa smiled calmly, and spoke softly to this question. "We could be here a long time, just to answer these in words. But for now, maybe I could just say a brief summary of it. Jay, as you call him too, had a purpose and a plan for how the realms, the places beyond here too, should be handled. But some deities, even those trained by him, were drawn by one of us to work against Jehave's purpose. My sister goddess Setanna was the first to work against him, in trying to undo or unmake some of the things he set up. But even she drew me into her own plans, and so I was brought to work against Jehave, the one god I most respected, and still respect."
"W, was he mad, or, like me, sad and tired."
"Maybe, all of those things. I never wanted to betray him, I still don't. Now, for some reason, from what you said to Benjamin and Camembert, ... is he for some reason going to return?"
"Huh? Are you asking me? I don't know, I'm still only a scared little girl, I don't know what other people are wanting!"
Chun Fa could only take this calmly, it seemed. Raindrop saw no good in making her angry; but at the same time, Raindrop could not answer anything other than what she said now.
"Sorry, Chun Fa. I really do not know. And I don't really wanna know; because if I did know, then you and Ben and Cam ― all of you start asking me these things, and it gets ... confusing, with all the things in my head. And then I can't take any more of it."
"I understand."
"Well, I say this but ... I also do want to see him again. So if I do, I could probably only give him one message and leave it at that. Chun Fa, you aren't wanting to use me, are you? I mean if I offer to take a message to him, that's not the only reason I'm here is it?"
"No, you are correct, Raindrop. I want first to talk to you, away from the two gods who are assigned to care for you. Because in my earlier time I too felt alone and confused, and even I needed someone to talk to. It helped me. Because if I am to admit something, I hope you can keep this between us, just the two of us. When I was Nissy's age ... yes I was, I might have been so carefree too ... when at that age, this was the time Setanna pulled me into fighting against Jehave, and I and a lot of lesser gods and goddesses also fell from favor. But in his anger, Jehave just ... shut things down, and left. Disappeared. Said one last thing about all of us facing the consequences of our actions, and about our weakened morality, and to beware his ever returning to take back his rights, and then vanished. I could have quit ... everything. But things still needed to be done, the deities needed to work together somehow, and turn things back on in the systems shut down-"
"... make this simple. Too many words."
"... right. Okay, Raindrop. Simple. Jehave left, and I cried. A lot. One of the others, she helped me too, and she was another one of Jehave's students. She is actually Nissy's grandmother, if you believe it ― which is one reason why Nissy's actions shock so many other deities now; some of us thought she would follow in her grandmother's path. Well. If I did not have this other deity to calm me, I might have ended up like Nissy, in some ways. So ... it is this, I want to be it ... the one you talk to."
"Why me."
Chun Fa waited a few seconds before answering; but when she did, Raindrop knew it would have to be the truth, or she would want to leave here, for good.
"Part of it might be because I hope you can be the one to see if Jehave's anger at us is still so strong, or if he can forgive some of us still. But even if not this, another part is because, somehow you are being put in the middle of issues that started way back then, and are still a problem today. Mostly, if we need Jehave's help ... even if it costs some of us our godly powers ... we mostly want the problems done, and over with. So we can move on to better times."
"Oh so, you want things to improve."
"Yes. Because if it continues without being taken care of ... more young souls like you, will also be hurt. And like Jehave was ... I think I have learned the lesson he last wanted to teach me; I want to now do the right thing. For him, for you, for any of us who hope to redeem ourselves."
"I heard that word before, but I don't know what it means. Daddy said Uncle Herb could not be redeemed, for some of the intentional things he said or did. But then too, Mommy said some things back, like, even if a person does something bad, then maybe, sometimes a person had a chance of redemption. And maybe sometimes redemption had to start in a family first. I think they were talking about something I was not meant to hear. But ... I don't understand. Help me."
"I will explain, with an illustration. But first, come here, let's have a cup of tea. Do you like peppermint tea? It's my own blend, sip at it slowly, as it's still hot."
The table which appeared was set just perfect, to Raindrop's eyes. Even Grandma Edna could not set it so well-
She sat, and slowly put a finger on the handle of the cup. Mommy had told her, this is how you know if the coffee or tea in a cup is too hot, by how much of the temperature went through into the handle. It was hot, but she could hold it carefully, and ... well, not sip it yet, it's still too hot, but blow and stir with a spoon. And then, when she set the cup down, her fingers still felt hot-
Chun Fa only smiled at this, maybe she remembered her own time some many days ago when she was this young. Or at least, Raindrop could assume it was many days ago.
"So ... about redemption, and being redeemed. Chun Fa, what are they. All the things Mommy and Daddy yelled about, with these words. And somehow, does it have some meaning to say if Uncle Herb was a good or bad person?"
Chun Fa nodded, so slow this time, but Raindrop could not understand it. If a word or words had some definition, then why could it be hard to say it?
"The thing is, it is like what Camembert said to you, the times he discussed sex and ... morality. I saw him telling you, and I wished he did not do that ― but what he said will help this talk here, so I cannot complain, too much. He did say, on separate occasions, the same thing but with different words. Together it means, a cultural aspect of morality."
"Yeah so I heard Mommy and Daddy also yell this, too. What was moral, or immoral-"
"The first time you asked Cam, was it wrong if your sister did the private thing herself ― is part of morality. Another time was in describing if it is right or wrong to have sex without the love or romance part, or even for only the enjoyment of the act, instead of for making a baby. And yet another time he mentioned something like this, is when saying how the girl's hymen breaks, and the virginity is lost. If a girl lost her virginity without being in a legally recognized marriage ― in some places, in some cultures, the girl and sometimes the guy too can be put to death."
"Whoa, really? I am so glad I did not have to face this when the goblin raped me!"
"Oh, but in this instance, a girl who is raped is excused from being put to death, assuming it can be proved the act was a rape and not just her saying it, to get out of being killed. Many cultures do have lots of little laws or 'commandments' which defines these moral laws. A god or goddess ― such as myself ― does have one or more worlds, and often will have one or more favored people, if not all people worship the same way. Sometimes we put forth these commandments, to keep our people following the moral code of conduct. Aah ... simple, okay. It means, 'this is the way you should act, because it is something I say will benefit you, if you just follow this way'. But then if we are gods or goddesses, we too cannot force our people to obey; the people have to want to obey, and then also do the things required of them, to obey."
"... like when Mommy and Daddy would take us all to a temple, and we would pray together, and-"
"Yes. I have two such religions, who also do this because I ask them to do it. But even so, in one more world I keep going, they also had done this in the past ... but do not do it, today. The children and grandchildren and great grandchildren of those faithful ones of earlier days ... today they only seek their own pleasure, and have made even their temple a place where ... they act like Nissy does, in public. As you saw Nissy do. And as people like your Uncle Herb did, and as a goblin he also did too. And this, all of this, is morality, not just knowing a difference from what is right to do or wrong to do, but also doing the right thing even without it being required. Because doing the wrong thing for selfish reason will lead to bad things happening."
"... uh huh. Then Chun Fa, does it make you sad, the people who do not follow that way any more?"
"Yes, it does; it can only be so for a god or goddess who rules their world. So this will lead into how I define 'redemption' and 'redeeming'. On one world I have heard of, the main god had a people who he had called his chosen people, yet they grew haughty, or ... well, maybe I can say their religious leaders became arrogant, angry, or did not lead the people so well any more. So this god also sent his own son into the land, to the people for his own purpose to draw them back to the way he had made before them. For His purpose of 'redeeming' his people, even of other races or cultures; buying them out of a sinful nation, or their sinful ways. It's this ― to define redeeming as, maybe, 'buying out' a person from their mortal, sinful state."
Raindrop's eyes grew, slightly larger, as she considered another thought.
"I know! Um. Well then is it like ― Daddy cleared out a box of what he called junk, and sold some things on a garage sale, and but some of it was Mommy's from a long time ago so she got sad; but then Daddy went to the person who bought the things and wanted to buy it back, but because it was so valuable the other person first sold it to someone else for more money ― suddenly Daddy had to pay more than what he got in the first place? And how it made both him and Mommy sad for part of it but they were glad on another part, because he was successful in buying it back?"
"Yes! Exactly, Raindrop. In a way, this is 'redemption'. A man who sells off or gives away something without considering its value, then later must get it back at a larger cost, or get someone to buy it back for him somehow might be said to be looking for redemption, or wanting to be redeemed. Yes, sometimes a search to buy something back can be troubling, or come at great expense; like for how this other god I mentioned, the cost of 'redeeming' his mortal beings came at the cost of the life of his own son ― the son gave his own life in a mortal world, to 'buy off' the debt of sin upon all people. This is a great cost, but was paid so the first purpose could again be true."
"... but, is this just half of it, isn't it ― what of after the buying, or redeeming."
"Well," Chun Fa went on, taking a small sip first of her tea, with Raindrop doing it too, "It is one half, or maybe just one part, I do not care to divide it into percents or proportions just yet. In this same other world, it could be said, any of the ones after this time, if they have faith in behalf of the son who gave his life for the way to 'buy out' sin for this god's people ― they can then be like your father, after buying back your mother's things. Like he and your mother was, they can be glad to show their own faith that the cost was paid in behalf of the value they held for what they wanted to keep, that the matter was resolved."
"... but for ... Uncle Herb-"
Chun Fa dropped the smile, as she maybe had some things she thought, but yet could not tell Raindrop.
"Raindrop, dear little girl. Some things about this uncle from your past life, maybe it would be better to forget?"
"Is that why I cannot remember so much, because someone is intentionally keeping me from remembering!"
"... yes."
"But wait, I am just a scared little girl here, and that's why I think I want to know. Or at least I do not know if I can continue not knowing all of the things I keep forgetting I knew!"
"I do have a solution, if you agree to it. False memories. This means, memories which did not really happen can be created, and inserted into your own memories. You will not need to know what is a true memory or not, but for a certainty these false ones will replace for good any of the bad memories which are the problem for you now. So you won't then have a worry over what you cannot remember. Since the problem is only in the context of what you are trying to remember from Earth, those memories of you yourself as a six year old girl and younger, are the only memories I can replace."
Raindrop thought about this. Until-
"Hey wait a minute, then I will still remember the goblin who raped me, and that whole day!"
"... yes." Chun Fa nodded only a small bit. "For this, I can only be so sorry, the new memories implanted cannot include this moment. And I apologize so much for it too, I would seek a redemption of my own, in your eyes ... as I also would seek redemption from Jehave, if I ever could. I would even wish to replace the memories of Camembert telling you all about sex and reproduction, so you can remain youthful and not yet worried over what may someday happen; but I cannot even replace this. The best I can hope for, is you ― for you to live without letting the things said or done to you, to drag you down into worry or fear. And maybe this is in part, me getting a redemption, in knowing you too can live after something wrong happened."
It was all so much to think about. Like in how Nissy first brought her to her mortal world, and then abandoned her-
Oh wait. If what Chun Fa said was right, then ... oh. Maybe Raindrop also had to forgive Nissy ... or something. Give Nissy some reason for redemption too. Because Ben and Cam, they said, it was like 'censored' or something ― 'censured'. Such a hard word, right?
She sighed. Mostly because she didn't want to but also did feel she had to ask-
"About Nissy, then. I ... well what if I ... give this redemption to her, will she ... am I going to be betrayed or even left alone again? Because I'm not sure I can take much more bad."
"It is kind of you to think this through, Raindrop. It shows you are maturing quite well, though I know you are still far off from being considered an adult. Yes, you may possibly face her betraying you, but you may also face her accepting you. Her future is not yet written, because like you, she also has free will. But right now, I sense she may be struggling ― as you were, just a short time ago, left in a dark place, alone."
"I understand all about being alone, or being left alone. Is this why she seems so mean?"
"Yes, it will be a lot of what drives her actions. She has nobody to guide her, so she is now alone in her own world of fear. Like I had her grandmother as my friend and mentor, she had other gods or goddesses who might have spoke up in her behalf. But now ... she has nothing, and nobody. It might be something she will feel mad to have revealed, but ― her own mother, left being a goddess, left her too-"
"A goddess can even leave and abandon their family!"
"Yes. Her grandmother felt a pull first, from the demons in the cosmos, but she resisted; and a good thing it was. But those same demon creatures, they were not satisfied to have one so strong as this grandmother fight them and win, so next they looked for the daughter, who did not have the same strength to fight them ― in short, Nissy's mother ended being a goddess and became a demon, right as Nissy was young and so inexperienced. It was thought by the gods and goddesses watching over young Nissy that she would be strong like her grandmother, but she has a ... well maybe 'madness' in her mind. So yes, please consider if you can extend some forgiveness, and allow some madness to go away, and allow her some redemption. Because," Chun Fa grew more serious, by the look on her face, "if she refuses even you, then she will be ... ended. And life for you and thousands of others might also be so hard, all of you will die out."
"But then, if she is horny, I think is the word for her, and she tries to do those things again, or tries to make Uncle Herb go after me again-"
"Well there's another side of this, of the word 'horny' too, for which a goddess has more reason to fear and fight. You mean it in the sense of a being wanting sex so much, more than is normal; and in this sense it is correct. But also for another sense; a goddess especially in a 'literal' sense, growing horns ― it means, she has in some way, inside of her mind or heart, given in to the calls of the demons, who are like fallen gods and goddesses that then grow horns upon their head. If a deity resists the demon's calls, he or she can grow stronger; and for Nissy's grandmother Nissilani it became so. But for Nissihana, who is Nissilani's daughter and Nissibela's mother ― she fought as long as she could but then gave up, and turned demon inside and outside. Like what is happening now, for the one you know is Nissy. Nissibela's mother, Nissihana, is the one who is tempting this 'Nissy' you know."
"Her own mother is ... calling to her?"
"Yes. As well as others, the mother has with her."
Raindrop could only say something, in such a small tiny voice. "... but what if I'm afraid to face her."
"Grow less afraid." A grin returned to Chun Fa's face, which felt warm and kind to Raindrop. "And by less afraid, no I do not mean angry like she is; I mean, be the one leading, the one showing love for your fellow being. That is the way we deities do it, or are supposed to do it."
"B, but I'm no deity!"
"... maybe not, but you have a chance to get through to Nissy, a chance I do not think any other deity known to us has. Well ... maybe except for Jehave ... who you know is gone from us, for now-"
"Oh. Yeah. Right." Raindrop took one more sip, feeling grateful for the cooling tea, and then set the cup down. "So then ... what should I do. I mean if I wanted to ... well maybe, try to help Nissy-"
"You have an inventory system now, just opened up for you. It is much like the one your skeleton guard has, only almost infinite in size now. Here, take this and put it in your inventory space." Chun Fa slid a small paper disc with an intricate pattern across the table, to Raindrop. "It is a prepared item, which you should place in your palm so it sticks there, and then grab her hand too so you both are touching the paper. Call out the word 'Release' if you want Nissy to be free of her state, so she can go on as she was before, 'horny'. Or call out the word 'Convict' if you wish an instant judgement to be called on her. Or still, call out 'Confront' for the hard part, going inside her mind, and challenging her inner thoughts. To be precise, dear Raindrop, she is in so much confusion and turmoil, she will have no power against even a fellow deity, much less a mortal such as yourself. So you will have no problem being the one to direct an inner exploration of what drives her mind to be like it is. Only, for this to work, you cannot give up half way, you must finish it to the end, before you can leave. In a 'Confront' scenario, either she will have cleansed her conscience and soul, or she will be considered ... not redeemable, and will automatically lead to a 'Convict' ending."
"... I don't want to be responsible, for judging her."
"Ultimately, you won't. It's all her ― Nissibela fighting against herself on the inside, in her own memories and thoughts. But you will provide a context and questions for her, through which she will have to face herself. I wish I could say this would be easy ... but it's just one way we deities can 'redeem' a lost or wayward deity, from being destroyed. But maybe another good thing is, when it's all done, you can finally say you will have an understanding of Nissy."
"C, can you ... tell me about Nissy, or her grandma, something to start this 'Confront' with?"
Chun Fa nodded, glad to serve as a way to help a fellow deity in trouble.
"Her grandmother, Nissilani the Goddess of Empathy first appeared eight centuries ago, with a power potential of over nine thousand-"
Raindrop kept listening to Chun Fa, kept sipping at a cup of tea which never ran empty, and kept in mind how the end of her problems might come from handling Nissy with kindness instead of fear or anger.
Thanks to Chun Fa's cups which never ran dry, this might go on for a while-
Nissibela fought within herself, for even a breath of air, in her inner soul world. Even in her numbed state, she had a moment to think, to wonder, how all this would have started.
And, where she could go, after this.
'Maybe, this can be over with, and I can just ... disappear.'
The voices, so like her mother's, hinted she would be fine, she would have a place in the cosmos, with more like her.
She really did not want to be here; not at all. Why?
Because she had this desire, this lust, to be with the boy gods, female goddesses, and even random mortals of any gender ... or even the genderless piles of goop.
"Nissibela, come to Mommy-"
Nissy could not stand it ― other deities had said her mother was so bad, but Nissy remembered as a child how her mother still held her so many times, comforting her when another goddess' child taunted her. Why did this comfort make a mommy bad ... or did the other deities not know her mother like she did?
And ... well then, this little girl, Raindrop. She sorta didn't mean to leave her behind; but she really did have a place to be, a young god in training too to spend time with. Mommy had been calling out to her, and telling her to go experience the joys of existence already, by this time.
What is left, for Nissy ― she felt so much like something she'd just heard this girl ... Raindrop ... say.
'I am only a scared little girl, send me home-'
Only the faintest beginning of a tear could start forming, in the tear ducts of a young goddess ... only within her own mind's eye.
