For the first time since Izenakee had met Them, the Sisters were not wearing Their regalia. Instead, They were dressed in the traditional five-color striped robes worn by Academy master mages at the funerals of fellow masters, with a white hood reflecting the color of the deceased.

Torezia, Their very first pupil, had died at 78.

She was ancestor and activator to half of all living white mages, excluding Salvation Herself, and a teacher of most of the rest. A girl born into slavery had become founding matriarch of the leading mage lineage of the modern world, and an icon of Ezenta. The city had stopped to mourn.

Izenakee knew that Izena and Menelyn had been struggling in the last few months. It was within Salvation's power to stall degeneration indefinitely, so long as She stayed nearby, but the Sisters had resolved not to go down that path, not to appoint Themselves arbiters of who gets to live indefinitely and who doesn't. Torezia had agreed, and would accept only hospice care.

"Not just anyone gets nursed by the Goddess of Salvation on her deathbed," she had joked.

Now, everyone of significance to Salvation during Her Return was gone.

"Many have died, and as soon as I became immortal, I anticipated...this part of it," Menelyn had confessed to Izenakee. "But it has been different with Torezia. The passings of those who were adults when We met them do not sting nearly so much. It's watching the full cycle, starting from childhood, that really hurts. They grow up partly or wholly under Our care, reach Our apparent age, and then slowly fade while We remain unchanged. Torezia is just the first. More whom We met slightly later will follow soon, and it will never stop."

She had looked very glum, none of Her usual gentle smiles or amused grins. It had not been lost on Izenakee that she herself fit into this group.

Izenakee understood why the Sisters maintained a careful detachment with almost everyone. Only with her, the Goddesses' constant companion due to her role as 'The Listener,' as everyone called her, did They allow Themselves to maintain anything resembling a genuine close relationship. In the last few weeks, Izenakee could feel the anxiety rolling off her mentors whenever They looked at her. She didn't need to use her abilities, now well on the way to mastery, to perceive it, and know the cause. Izenakee and the Sisters now appeared to be about the same age. They were upset that Izenakee was about to age past Them.

The pair were given a wide berth by the public at the ceremony. Even those who didn't immediately recognize the Goddesses due to Their non-standard hooded outfit could not miss Izenakee's now-famous Sun-and-flame-embroidered red tunic, and thus infer Who must be next to her. It seemed to Izenakee like a cruel reinforcement of the sense of isolation that Izena and Menelyn were currently feeling.

Izenakee had not really known Torezia; she was here for her mentors. Her friends. After using the Goddesses for red magic practice more times than she could count, not to mention living in Their Sanctuaries for fifteen years, she knew that They still had the same human emotions as anyone else.

Looking at the hooded figure next to her, Izenakee leeched some of the courage of her predecessors from the amulet worn on her belt. She was going to do the bravest thing that she had ever done.

She turned and gave the Goddesses of Justice and Salvation the hug They badly needed, in full view of the entire population of Ezenta and many visitors besides.

The Goddesses choked out a single quiet sob.

"Thank you," Menelyn said softly.

"Mmmm," Izenakee replied.

She already received from the public a version of the same hushed treatment as the Goddesses. She's the one who hears prayers, the only one in the world who can! This display of familiarity wouldn't really change that much.

Later that day, back in the Sanctuary of the Temple on the former site of the Academy, Izenakee went through her standard pre-bed routine, checking that the statues now located in every city and large town in the world were properly on standby, where they were supposed to be. Satisfied, she slept.

One of her dreams was interrupted by a sudden, desperate need for Justice and Salvation. She knew exactly what this meant, and awakened immediately.

"Where...where...Esto," she mumbled to herself.

She connected to the now-active statue in the city of Esto, just south of the equator on the eastern coast. More accurately, she connected to the person using it and thereby simulating a distant fellow red mage.

<I am red mage Izenakee. Pardon me, but I must access your thoughts to know the reason for your call.>

The person holding the statue was an elderly man. She rifled through the thoughts foremost in his mind.

Shaking, buildings collapsing, terror, fire, screaming, desperation, cries for help, dust clouds, rubble everywhere.

Izenakee would need to wake Them.

<Expect the Goddesses tomorrow.>

She moved to the Goddesses' bed immediately. What a day for this kind of thing. Or maybe, it would be a needed distraction in a way.

"Quake, Esto, it's bad," Izenakee said after shaking Them awake.

They sprang out of bed.

"What a truly wonderful day..." Izena grouched. "Right after people started to become optimistic enough to move south, too."

They rushed out the door. The Guards outside had heard the commotion inside, and were grimacing. They had seen this before, and it never meant good news.

Fourteen hours later, and they landed in a devastated city.

While Salvation earned Her title, Izenakee wandered the city, equipped with a shield that seemed rather more formidable today than normal. Red mage survivor locating was unmatched, and she could radiate a sense of peace, security, and hope through her spells. And also, through her presence.

"The Listener! It's her!" a woman cried.

"That's really her!?" Then the man sobbed in relief.

"Thank the Goddesses!"

"Salvation knows!"

"I told you that's what that Light was!"

Over and over and over, from thousands of people directly, with the word spreading through word of mouth to those she couldn't see or hear. Izenakee had learned to take pride in it. This was why she always wore her same, signature uniform, why the Goddesses had suggested that she copy Their embroidery pattern as closely as possible. Just walking around as The Listener counted as Helping.

Izenakee directed those who were able to walk towards Salvation's current position, and strained herself to send a mental note to Menelyn--a fraction of the way across a large city was the limit of her range--when there were people who needed Her to come to them.

She returned to the Sisters when she reached critical mana exhaustion, trying to conceal her severe fatigue as much as possible so as not to hurt public morale.

What wouldn't she give for Menelyn's mana pool? When Izenakee had learned how to observe the pools of other mages, she'd...To stare into Justice's pool was to appreciate the vastness of the ocean. To stare into Salvation's pool--the immaterial one, not the Dome features--was to learn the nature of infinity. It had made her feel very small and insignificant, but at the same time very safe and protected. It still did. That pool was shielding her, right now.

After completing two weeks of relief efforts, it was time for a visit to Rokesha.

On the way there, Izenakee had the sense that Izena and Menelyn had something to say, but were hesitating.

<If You wish to talk, I will listen.>

They smiled.

"We have been thinking," Izena said after a while, speaking uncharacteristically slowly, "About...making an exception. We think people would approve."

Izenakee could see where this was going.

"But We hesitate, because...it is unfair to ask it of you."

Izenakee decided that it was time for The Listener to speak the things that They were having trouble saying aloud.

<You wish to stop my aging, so I can stay the same apparent age as You. You don't want me to become another Torezia, slowly, over the next sixty years or so. You are afraid of facing countless millennia to come while watching a rotating cast of not-really-friends live and die while You remain. You find it draining that literally everyone else keeps their distance from You, but at the same time You are reluctant to get close to anyone because it will mean more funerals. You worry that You will never find another person who understands that You were born human, and is willing to give You a hug when You need it--You can't hug each other properly, sharing the same body. You worry that there will often be many generations separating similarly dedicated and competent red mages, if You ever find one. You worry that I will either not fully understand the burdens that immortality creates, like being unable to have a normal family experience or the pervasive sense of isolation, or that I will feel obligated to accept because You are Goddesses making a request, or that You've indoctrinated me from childhood and it wouldn't really be my independent decision, or that I will feel guilty over special treatment.>

Izenakee turned to face the Goddesses that she had struck speechless.

"I didn't use magic to learn any of that. I noticed it because I am Your only real friend."

Izenakee's courage never really came from leeching.

"Never forget that I came to You. I wanted this role. I sought special treatment. I could have left at any time. I chose not to, every day for fifteen years. Unlike You, I will be able to choose to resume aging at any time, if I wish. I won't."

Izenakee took a deep breath.

"Yes, I do know the costs, and the profound depth of the commitment that I am making. Yes, I would like to be Your Listener, permanently."