| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"No, you are right. Please. That was uncourteous of me. I suppose being lied to put me in a foul mood. Please, if you will..."
Daphne smiles thinly.
"If I had to guess, I'd say those two men are probably wondering the same thing I am. They're wondering what kind of a goddess you're planning to be." She takes a deep breath and turns to Aikaterine. 'Cause if you're anything like Eris, gosh, Aika..." A rueful laugh escapes her as her hand runs through her hair. "... I just don't think anyone is gonna wanna tell you anything you don't wanna hear."
Daphne is quiet a moment. Rosy insectile eyes glitter with evidence of her racing thoughts. She bites her lip.
She looks between Aikaterine and Kyronai. "Hey, you know what? My house isn't far from here, and I've really worked up an appetite with all this walking. I bet you're feeling hungry, too, right? Why don't we let those two finish their patrol, and the three of us can go have a nice talk about all this over some barley cakes?" Her gaze flicks ahead to the two guards. "There's really nothing out here, you know. I'd know if there was."
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
"That doesn't seem very wise from our perspective."
Kyronai begins to tick points off on his fingers as he speaks. "Those two are not telling us why you make them nervous, perhaps because they are afraid to. You seem to know who we are and where we are from, merely based on appearance, which is never something we've encountered before. We have reliable intelligence that there are seditious actors on this island, but you are claiming there's 'nothing out there.'
"I think that it would be foolish of us to leave our guides and go to where you live. Not without some sort of assurance or explanation."
He merely looks at her as they walk, his expression inviting a response.
Daphne gives several small nods as Kyronai speaks, clearly a little overwhelmed at the point-by-point analysis. "Okay. Okay."
She thinks a moment.
"I guess the only 'assurance' I can really give you that you'll believe is... is that if there was anything on this island that could threaten a demigoddess and her retainer, those two guys wouldn't be able to do a thing to help. I think you know that, don't you? But they'd probably get hurt. I, um, don't know if that bothers you, but it would bother me." She fidgets with her hair, nervously combing through it as she studies the mushrooms in her basket. "And as for an 'explanation'... I-I, um, I don't think I'm gonna give that just yet. Not until we're all sitting down. But if you want to find the..." She gives a weak laugh. "... seditious actors, you'll just have to come with me. Because what else are you going to do?"
Kyronai thinks for a moment, studying the two guards walking ahead. Eventually, he looks past Daphne at Aikaterine and gives a slight nod. She's travelled with him enough to know that he thinks they should go ahead with the suggested course of action.
Aikaterine is trying not to feel irritated. The fact Daphne is a beekin elf is giving her some credibility to Aikaterine. And Daphne may be evasive, but she's not lied directly to her face.
"I will tell you for the asking what kind of Goddess I am seeking to be. But regardless, it would be wise not to disappoint a goddess or a god in this world, regardless of their proclivities. Although I myself have not the will to bring low those who slight me, other gods see the behavior as an unforgivable act and may bring about that one's destruction abruptly. I understand your fears, however, given the previous one who held this post. I am altogether different." In response to Kyronai and the beekin, she nods and waves the way toward her home. "We will come with you there, and I will discuss all of this. I'll communicate to the guards that we are heading off."
She will jog forward, not minding herself being the one carrying the message and will inform them that they are going to split away from the patrol here and go their own way. She will thank them for the conversation and escort, but then will leave them to their task. As they move out of sight, she will return to Daphne.
"Very well, after you. Do you wish to discuss this on the way or at your home?"
The pair of guards look to each other before turning to Aika nodding in agreement. They then take off, with Pietro facing back once before they lose sight of the trio.
Daphne's shoulders sag slightly as the pair agree. "Um, actually, do you mind if we walk in silence?" She turns deliberately and departs from the path. "It's a beautiful day today. It'd be nice to just enjoy it a bit longer."
As the group journeys through the forest, the elf's eyes drift over the ancient oaks around them. A warm wind rustles the leaves above. Squirrels chatter and argue and chase each other from bush to bush, freezing in their feud as the party passes by. A dunnock chirps angrily to drive an enterprising cuckoo away from her nest. It's a beautiful summer day.
Eventually, the group reaches an old stone path, narrow and lined with smooth black stones to mark the way. It winds alongside a babbling creek. Daphne turns onto this path and leads the pair on.
At one point, Daphne stops on the path and gazes out toward a large mound of sticks and branches partially damming the creek. It looks like the beaver dam--as Kyronai and Aikaterine might recognize it to be--long ago blocked off a forking path nearly completely, for that branch of the creek is now merely a wide trail of dark stones. The path continues alongside the dry creek bed.
Daphne swallows, and her knuckles whiten around her walking staff.
"We're almost there," she says at last, and continues walking.
At last, the pair and their guide come to the path's end. It winds between waist-high walls of stacked stones and beyond a woven-branch gate to the doorstep of a humble cottage. And the yard is blanketed in a thick bed of flowers of all kinds. Most appear deliberately cultivated, while some seem scattered as if they were volunteer wildflowers or weeds, but all have been given their space and well-tended, rosebushes and anemones growing alongside dandelions, chicories and flowering nettles. Right next to the porch towers a stack of three small white bee boxes. Each box has been painted with patterns of a different flower--poppies, violets and morning glories.
The hum of honeybees becomes almost overwhelming as Daphne reaches the gate and unlatches it to admit the group. "The wall's really just so the hogs know where the boundaries are," she says with a sigh. She almost seems to have forgotten why Aikaterine and Kyronai are here. "I keep changing the latch mechanism, but they keep figuring it out and getting in to eat my pansies."
Daphne leads the trio into her home, and there's really no polite way to say it. In contrast to the carefully-tended garden, Daphnne's home is a mess.
The house once was probably quite beautiful. The walls are painted with vivid trailing flower vines, the sturdy brick fireplace should be filling the living room with a warm, cozy glow, and the house is full of the sorts of charming tchotchkes one acquires over years spent in the same place. But the paint is peeling off the walls, the fireplace is choked with ash and doesn't look like it's been used in years, and the whole house is desperately in need of a cleaning. Many of the tchotchkes have fallen to the floor or been crammed onto overcrowded shelves. The once-beautiful tablecloth is covered with stains and burn marks from when too-hot dishes were put directly on the table, and the table itself is cluttered with old unwashed dishes.
"Sorry about the, um, mess." Daphne goes straight to the kitchen to retrieve a tin of lemon barley cakes, along with a jug of milk and small pitcher of honey. "We can sit outside. Kyro, would you please take those out to the porch?" She flicks her head to the two chairs. One is covered in a thick layer of dust.
Outside, Daphne casually hops up to have a seat atop the bee boxes. The bees buzz around and settle on her body, but don't seem to mind her presence. She clasps her hands in her lap. "Okay. Okay." She takes a long, deep breath. "So... how is this gonna work?"
"She knows that I'm irritated already and now wants silence. Okay..." Aikaterine is silent and walks in silence. Her face is neutral all the way until they reach the old stone path. When the elf stops, looking out into the distance, Aikaterine's jaw tenses. She enjoys nature just as much as the next elf, but this one seems to be intent on stringing them along on a journey instead of just telling them why she's so reclusive on the subject of what is going on. It is making the goddess livid the more she delays.
When she mentions the hogs, Aikaterine seems to lighten slightly.
"They'll do that. You should see the wild ones in other countries. Why, we faced a boar that was the size of a two-story building and took it down. That'd put an end to your fence right-quick!" she jokes.
Aikaterine moves through the mess of a home, careful not to touch or disturb anything. For a hedonist like her, she's not exactly comfortable here. She sees it for what it is, a nice home, or what once was one.
"Well, to business first, if you please. I won't feel comfortable sitting here or being in this beautiful scenery until you start with why you are so reluctant to answer what is going on on this island? And why did you feel that we needed to come all of this way?"
She will wave her hand with a short chant and her produced chair is cleaned of its dust. If Kyronai wishes, his will be as well. She then will sit and cross her legs.
"They'll do that. You should see the wild ones in other countries. Why, we faced a boar that was the size of a two-story building and took it down. That'd put an end to your fence right-quick!" she jokes.
"Oh my gosh." Daphne laughs. "I'm not sure he'd be satisfied with my pansies! I had no idea I was talking to pig-wrangling experts; you must have thought I was being so disrespectful."
"Well, to business first, if you please. I won't feel comfortable sitting here or being in this beautiful scenery until you start with why you are so reluctant to answer what is going on on this island? And why did you feel that we needed to come all of this way?"
Daphne's lips tighten. "Because I didn't want the guards caught up in this, and because I wanted to be back here for this conversation. That's all." Her feet tap upon the porch as she regards the pair. "You're looking for, um, 'Prometheans' on Rhodes, right? I guess I'm one. Was one." She shrugs. "As far as I know, they don't have any presence on this island anymore. I'm all there is. So, um, I guess it's me you're looking for."
The elf brushes a lock of hair back, eyes fixed on Aikaterine. "Does that help?"
"Kyro, would you please take those out to the porch?" She flicks her head to the two chairs.
Kyronai stares blankly at his surroundings for a moment, before he realizes that 'Kyro' is referring to him. He takes the cakes out to the front porch and finds a place to set them down. He stands nearby as the conversation starts, the tip of his bow resting against the porch at his feet, but he is not relaxed enough to sit or eat and drink. Where Aikaterine is irritated, Kyronai is bemused. Something was going on here, and he was willing to play the game to get some answers.
"Well, to business first, if you please. I won't feel comfortable sitting here or being in this beautiful scenery until you start with why you are so reluctant to answer what is going on on this island? And why did you feel that we needed to come all of this way?"Daphne's lips tighten. "Because I didn't want the guards caught up in this, and because I wanted to be back here for this conversation. That's all." Her feet tap upon the porch as she regards the pair. "You're looking for, um, 'Prometheans' on Rhodes, right? I guess I'm one. Was one." She shrugs. "As far as I know, they don't have any presence on this island anymore. I'm all there is. So, um, I guess it's me you're looking for."
The elf brushes a lock of hair back, eyes fixed on Aikaterine. "Does that help?"
Staring intently at their host, Kyronai takes a deep breath in through his nose, almost as if he's trying to get more air to his brain so he can process this information faster.
"It's a start," he says quietly, before continuing more audibly.
"What role did you have in the Prometheans? And how long since you consider you are no longer with them? How long since they left the island?"
Aikaterine is mostly quiet for the moment, wanting to hear her answer for Kyronai's question.
Before Daphne can answer Kyronai's very important questions, you all hear some talking. The voice is masculine, obviously young and brash. The sound of chains can also be heard.
"It took long enough, but we finally found where the traitor was hiding. Once we tie up loose ends, we search for anything we can take back so you can reverse engineer it for us."
"Perhaps we can persuade her to rejoin? I would rather avoid more bloodshed if possible." A slightly more androgynous voice is heard.
"You know Daphne. We were all friends once. As much as I would like a reunion, I respect her too much to think that she would change her mind on it. I don't want to do this either, but we have to. She knows too much. She also would rather die than be a prisoner." The first voice replies.
Looking out of Daphne's four-pane glass windows you see an armored dwarf in chains, a fit strong familiar man, and a shorter more pale and spindly man heading towards the house.
Daphne is struggling with Kyronai's first question when she hears the first voice. She freezes in place, and her eyes widen as the words register.
The elf leans back against the wall, wrapping her arms around herself. "O-Oh. So that was a scry sensor yesterday. Okay. Okay. Okay."
She doesn't bother looking. She knows those voices.
| 1 person marked this as a favorite. |
Aikaterine focuses on her godly powers. She can sense a disagreement between the actors in play here. She doesn't know if she can control anything, but she seeks to enflame that discord between them. If there was a reason that one of them spoke in defense of Daphne, then at the heart was a willingness to preserve life and peace. Aikaterine seeks to flourish that feeling within them.
"They are still engineering foul crafts...willing to plow over anyone in their way. Despicable!" she rages within.
"This is who you once followed showing their reality. There are many good people within this group, but there are many who will kill any they wish to get what they want. Don't worry, we'll save you. If you can fight, now is the time."
Daphne sees that Aikaterine begins to cast a spell: ghost sound. Around them gradually the sounds of the bees grow louder, the stream gets louder, the birds cawing a bit louder, and the creaking trees a bit louder. Even the wind rustling through the branches seems just a little bit more intense. Each of these by are increased by such a small fraction that it subtly rises to be so that when the group approaches, they may just recognize it just as a noisy place, but for the party, they will be free to cast their verbal spells without the hindrance of letting the others know where they are.
Aikaterine hides in among the stacks of the disorganized mess within the home, ready to pounce on the leader when he passes by in his search for Daphne.
"Daphne loves her bees. I will never understand it." The first voice responds upon hearing the illusory sounds. "It is because they work in harmony. Though by the sound, they may be having some discord."
You can see that they have stopped their stride for the moment.
Daphne gives a nervous nod, her hand reaching back to run over the peeling paint of a beautiful poppy. "I... really wish we could do this anywhere else."
But she's getting her sling out and retrieving from her bag a small black stone. "Orpheus isn't a bad guy, and Theseus is just... he lost the thread somewhere along the way, but in his head, I don't think he ever left that stupid Labyrinth. Still turning his head waiting for the Minotaur to jump him." She hesitates as her hand dips into the honey pitcher. "Do they have someone chained up with them?"
The squat chained figure follows the two figures silent but for the rattling of the chains between her legs which rattle with each short step she takes. As they pass the beehives she looks them over somewhat awed by the beauty of the work they are doing, so many bodies working as one. after a moment a glint of realization passes her eyes as she realizes that the sound isn't coming from the direction of the hives and glances at the porch. However as quickly as the glint appears she stifles it. She quickly glances around to look for something to distract the pair.
After a moment she calls forward to the pair leading her in a thick lyrical Scandinavian accent with a slight lilt "Some of these flowers look like they might be of alchemical interest. Could you help me lift the flowerbeds?" in an attempt to get the pair to turn their backs on the porch
Unable to find any plant of note she returns to the hives and calls forward in a lyrical Scandinavian accent "These hives look to be extremally efficient, they could be enchanted, could you help collect them to bring them back for inspection?"
You are able to find an herb that doubles as an ingredient in certain alchemical recipes. However, Theseus looks towards you with a frown. "No distractions. The things we need will be inside the house. Besides, inside will be quieter than out here." He nods for you to go first. The other man, Orpheus, meekly nods in agreement.
Kyronai moves to a point in the room farthest from the door. He casts mage armor.
”Understood” Bástya responds weakly before turning towards the door and starting in.
It is not long before the stop to survey the area. Aikaterine is hidden fairly well, but not the best she could be. It doesn't matter, she will attack from here, but will wait until they are close. She will cast one more spell before they enter. A mage hand spell.
From the moment they enter the doorway, Aikaterine watches through a stack of who-knows-what of potting vessels, papers, and mundane garden equipment. She can see and hear the chains of the one at the door. From where she sits, she wonders why this person is in chains. It is then she decides that perhaps if she lets this person go, they will also fight?
If the person is unlocked from their chains, only they would know it, as her hand is invisible. When they are free, the hand will attempt to drag the chain with the person so that the others aren't as suspicious, but with the increased sound, it would all be hopefully ignored. Once the dwarf is within the mess of the home, the chains will just become part of the mess and will stay behind. As for the sounds, shortly after, they are no longer sustained, and so volume drops again, making it eerily quiet. Now they will know something is up. Hopefully, by this point, Kyronai and Daphne have casted any spells they've needed to in secret out on the patio and in the room.
Daphne creeps to the kitchen, where she retrieves from a cabinet a cloth medical bag. She slings it over her shoulder, her hands shaking. "Why did it have to happen here?"
Aika is able to unlock the manacles belonging to the dwarf.
Though neither of your captors seem to, you notice that your chains have been unlocked.
The more warrior inclined man spots Aika and Kyronai. "Ambush!" He yells as he draws his sword.
Theseus waits for Orpheus as the latter takes starts playing his lyre.
The musical half-god then switches the song to something somber towards where Aika is.
Theseus strides toward Kyronai and slashes at him with his blade.
The fledgling goddess seems unaffected by the spell.
"Theseus! Theseus, this isn't what it looks like." Daphne's voice shakes as she grips the doorframe with one hand. "Is this really what you want? Is this what you s-signed on for? Murdering an old widow?" She rounds on Orpheus. "And Orpheus, you--you know better. You know better! What kind of s-song do you think they'll sing about today, Orpheus?" Her knuckles whiten around the doorframe. Her voice is weak as she struggles to be heard over the action. "Nobody has to--nobody has to cross the Styx today. Unless that's... unless that's your choice."
Daphne's conflicted emotions cause her to slur her words when addressing Theseus but she is able to calm a little when doing the same to Orpheus who visibly looks taken aback. With her knowledge gained by spending time with Orpheus, she is able to remember that his unique parentage makes him vulnerable 10 to cold iron and foul evil weapons/magic.
She also knows that by spending a moment to remind him of his wife will wound his poor sad psyche .
"They have made their choice to kill you. Stand firm and fight or get out of the way!" Aikaterine states factually as Theseus is trying to kill her friend currently.
Aikaterine begins to glow with divine power. There was no denying her form now. She was most certainly a goddess, illuminated upon her beautiful skin with divine rays of light. A moment later an intense buffeting of force begins to assail Theseus's mind, hopefully making him susceptible to seeing her mirrored illusions.
"See the evil in your own strikes, you murderers..."
The more warrior inclined man spots Aika and Kyronai. "Ambush!" He yells as he draws his sword.
"Well, you are breaking and entering," Kyronai starts to say before gasping in pain from being thoroughly hacked and slashed.
In a rush, he casts shield◆, followed by mirror image◆◆.
Bástya runs forward along with Theseus but as they approach Kyronai stops short and turns on the armored man. She attempts to grab him "That's for taking my shield" she shouts in her thick accent. She then then lobs a punch into him adding "And that's for keeping me locked up."
As Theseus' blow is about to land Bástya's hand reaches out and catches the blade lighting the blow as her other fist flies towards his face.
Theseus' psyche is assaulted by Aika's spell. Even so, he is able to lash out at Kyronai casting a spell.
Which he misses right before Bástya takes a hold of him and is able to land a clubbing blow to the hero's sternum.
Orpheus, seeing his friend in dire straits continues to inspire courage.
He then follows it up with spell to Heal him.
"You didn't have to leave. You more than anyone else knows why we are fighting this fight. We have both suffered similar losses." Orpheus sadly replies to the bee-elf.
Theseus grits his teeth as he tries to break free from the dwarf's grip.
"Times change, Daphbee. This is for a better world."
He does so successfully and slashes at Bástya!
Daphne stares at Orpheus, momentarily stunned.
"Stop mocking her pain! You belittle your own! She was your friend and ally. Who does that? You will lay down your arms now and talk this out with civility or face the consequences!"
She doesn't let up, seeing there is still fight in their foes.
Before the eyes of the others, Daphne's form slowly shifts, like an owl wilting from fear. She grows slightly smaller, her form filling out, and her eyes become fully insectile, great pink compound orbs with a smaller secondary pair above. Bobbing antennae sprout from her head, and a set of delicate stained-glass bee wings flutter free from her back.
"I kn-know why you're so afraid to trust me." Sharp fangs glint in the moody candlelight as she speaks. "I guess that's the one thing I should have expected from you, Orpheus. You always turn around, don't you?"
Her eyes dart to Kyronai. "Kyro, get back behind the table! It's okay if you knock over the vase, just go!"
After connecting Bástya shakes her hand out pain shooting up her wrist as she is unaccustomed to throwing punches directly, in this moment of distraction Theseus' sword finds a bit of purchase in her armor. Crying out she fumbles about for a moment looking for something around that she can use as a makeshift club and finds the chair she is standing next to which she then grips in one hand and attempts to slam it into Theseus' ribcage. She then reaches out with her off hand to try to hold him back as Kyronai darts away.
"Wrong choice" Bástya says authoritatively as she interposes herself and swings her newfound weapon around on Theseus.
Kyronai takes Daphne's advice and scrambles over the table away from the trespassing warrior, trusting the odds that Theseus will strike one of his illusionary duplicates. ↺
Once on the other side of the table, the four images of the witch twirl around with bows raised at Theseus. After a quick beseechment to Athena, a shadowy, oily arrow forms on the bow, which Kyronai fires at his attacker.
◆◆
Finally, Kyronai raises another shield. ◆
"We do not mock her pain. We do this for her. She knows why we do this. But fine, have it your way. I suppose we can always resume combat if talks break down." Theseus voluntarily drops his sword once the grease spell hits it and he is grabbed /hit by the chair-swinging dwarf. He stops struggling.
Orpheus is knocked out of his confused state by Daphne's sharp barb of a taunt. Apparently it is possible for the half-god to be even more melancholy than he already was. He walks and sits down in a corner of the room saying nothing.
Aikaterine has no idea who Daphne is or what her backstory is. She has no idea who Theseus or Orpheus is. What can she hope to accomplish? Even now they seem so intent on killing her that he probably only surrendered momentarily because he was close to death. In any case, she will keep an eye on both of them and try to facilitate this discussion.
"Well, I apologize if I misunderstood. When you called her 'Daphbee', while trying to kill her. I assumed you were mocking her as you were killing her. I have not know Daphne but more than a few minutes and even I can see how heartbroken she is at this decision made by you. Despite your allegiance, she still considers you both friends. Pray explain to me and her how her death is 'helping her'." She pauses, holding up a hand, "But before we do that, introduction perhaps are needed, unless Zagreus explained who we are. I am now the goddess Aikaterine, and this is Kyronai. I take it you are Theseus and...Orpheus...?" she directs to him but doesn't expect an answer from Orpheus judging by his current appearance.
Kyronai readily ceases combat. He'll nod a dour greeting when Aikaterine introduces him, and then calmly walk over to stand in the doorway of Daphne's house.
"It is our nickname for her, a playful joke between friends. I am Theseus, Champion of the Labyrinth and the only man who has ever defeated the Minotaur. Our mission was to tie up loose ends in case someone came to gain information from her. Judging from you lot being here, Zagreus was right. Unfortunately her existence endangers our cause. It was not personal, both myself and Orpheus wished beyond everything that we did not have to. But imprisoning her would be torture and I know her well enough to know she would not rejoin us willingly. So the only merciful option was a quick death. We had brought the dwarf to see if there were any items that we could take back to reverse engineer for our own purposes. Apparently that was a mistake on our part. A goddess fighting side by side with Daphne, Homer could not write better irony." Theseus slowly picks up his sword only to sheath it as Orpheus continues to sit there, unmoving in his grief.
When the fight ends, the adrenaline seems to leave Daphne's body in an instant. She stumbles back, putting distance between herself and Theseus, and is breathing heavily as the introductions are made.
Her eyes only leave Theseus when he mentions "the dwarf". Looking at Bastya, she seems to register something. She inches past Theseus, practically hugging the doorframe, and comes to stand before the warrior.
"You're h-hurt," she says quietly. "I can... sit down. Sit down. Let me look at your side there."
After recognizing the armor's articulated nature, Daphne slides a heavy plate aside to reveal a minor but ugly gash right under Bastya's arm, where it looks like the blade cut right between two plates. She reaches into her medicine kit and pulls out a small jar of honey and carefully applies a small amount to disinfect the wound. She quirks her lips, clearly somewhat hampered by the obstructive armor but reluctant to tell Bastya to take it off right now. She settles for using adhesive to hold the gauze in place. "Just be careful... moving this arm around for a bit," she murmurs under her breath. "But that's probably the best I can do for now." She hands Bastya a small strip of bark. "Here. Bark from a willing dryad's willow tree, for any pain. I know you probably aren't the type to notice it now, but you will l-later."
She glances at the other wounded--Orpheus and Theseus--and seems torn, but doesn't act for now. She's clearly listening to everything said, but if she has anything she wants to say, she's too nervous to say it.
As the immediate threat dissipates Bástya takes a moment before looking at the makeshift bludgeon she was using that used to be a a kitchen chair. She sets the scraps back on the ground. She sits when asked to she lightly protests saying ”ah it’s not much more than a scratch, nothing to make too much fuss out of” but after a second offer she accepts the healing and aids as she can to keep the armor out of the way uttering a light ”thank you for your trouble” to Daphne after she finishes and then adding a quieter ”and I’m sorry about your chair”
She then will stand and look to the conversation between Aikaterine, Kyronai, Orpheus and Theseus. She lets out a slight scoff as her captors refer to her as “the Dwarf” she still hasn’t fully acclimated to being such an oddity that simply her species name is enough to identify her. After Theseus finishes speaking Bástya retorts ”you really ought to expect that a prisoner will revolt when the opportunity comes.”
"It's not my chair." A pause. "It's fine."
"I don't think he noticed that I undid your locks for you," she comments to Bastya.
Daphne's silence is really starting to piss her off as the beekin goes about scuttling to look at a wound rather than fight in words for her survival, instead leaving the goddess who is a stranger, in this scenario, to fight for her.
"Did Daphne technically betray you? Because, from the sounds of things, she just wants to not be part of your order anymore and you are afraid she will turn on you. Why? I'll tell you..."
"It is no surprise that your leader has an action against the some of the gods due to the circumstances of his birth. While I cannot speak to the mentality of the gods at the time his birth, from what little I've seen, there are logical and emotional reasons for the acts they do. That doesn't mean he had to set the world and the celestial realm on fire because of it. Instead, he decided to mark down every apparent atrocity done by the gods as fuel for his self-righteous fire. Meanwhile, he himself performs twice as despicable acts, such as destroying innocent villages or setting lose massive beasts upon mankind...who did nothing but live innocently," she quips regarding their past experiences with the massive boar.
"While the gods are technically above mortals, they do regard them. They do watch over them and do bless them from time to time in care. I've come to learn Zagreus' mother grieved for him, thinking him stillborn. She was lied to. All of this should have caused Zagreus' hatred to turn toward Hades and perhaps Nyx, as they lied to him. Instead, he set his mind against the gods. When anyone sets their mind against anything, they will find apparent or real faults. That's just normal. What you do with that shows the measure of what kind of a person you are though. What happened with Zagreus is regrettable. It can be made right, without violence. All the other acts he touts in front of your eyes, the same can be said there too I'm sure. Now you each have your own affronts to the god's decisions, or else why would you join Zagreus? I am here to tell you that you don't know everything."
"I have lived a long time. I have seen much. You foolishly follow a fool. One who will pave a road of stone over everything and everyone on his concealed quest to likely rule to bury the pain he has felt, and he'll take you down along with him. In his path though, he orders people like you, fueling the anger in your hearts against the gods to do despicable acts of abominable deeds with one hand, meanwhile criticizing the gods for far less egregious acts; meanwhile, he takes the 'high road' of moral superiority. What God in your experience told you to go kill your own loving friend? I can see if Daphne had begun to compromise your people and had spoken of the intent to betray you, that would be almost excusable to any military campaign. But look at her. She's still considering herself your friend! She's out here in the middle of nowhere being a mushroom collector and beekeeper. So you have no right or claim to end her life except by the will of a mad false god."
She looks to Daphne now and encourages her, "Now stand up and say something regarding yourself in connection to these people. You know them. We don't. Be strong."
"You prove that you know little even from your long life. What innocent villages has he destroyed? What beast do you speak of? The boar that was an unintended accident? The one who's existence was ignored by you heroes until it grew so large that it ransacked multiple towns and took many lives. Yes, the mad experiments conducted by that "Doctor" who I'm personally glad is gone were sanctioned by Zagreus. It was an attempt to turn ordinary mortals into gods to even the field. What kind of gods would allow a mad king to demand sacrifices every nine years because of his son who regrettably lost his life? What kind of gods would enchant that same king's innocent wife to fall in love with a bull against her will, not because of the sacrificial lives but because the king withheld the bull's tribute? A petty inconsequential thing such as that?"
Theseus then turns to his forlorn friend. "And what kind of gods would take away a man's only love because he turned around once? As if life and death were contests at a festival. We didn't want to kill Daphne, but there could be no chance taken of anyone who could stop us. I am sorry my old friend, but this is bigger than any of us. If there were any other way, I would take it and you know that. But the gods will not step down and they will not stop with their pointless and petty cruelty. We may have tried to kill her but the gods took her life away long ago." The former hero then walks over to console Orpheus.
Daphne looks up from Bastya's wounds when Aikaterine calls her out. She appears to have been listening intently, and she waits for Theseus to finish his speech before speaking. "Aika, c-can I ask a favor?" She straightens. "Please don't speak for me about my reasons. Those are my own, and I haven't told you them." She turns to Theseus, fangs gleaming. "And you two. You think I'd rather die than be captured? You think my life ended with..." She bites the words back. "You think my life ended? Well, I'm still alive. And for your information, not that you asked, but I'm doing fine." She kicks a bit of broken chair aside. It lands in a pile of dirty laundry. "And you're still lost in that stupid maze."
She takes a deep breath, resting a hand on Bastya's shoulder as if for balance, or for a reassurance of protection. "I kn-know what the gods are. Now I know what you're letting the Prometheans turn into. You let it happen because you're desperate." She's chewing anxiously on a lock of her hair, but her eyes remain fixed on Theseus. "Because you're losing, aren't you? All I'm hearing about is failure after failure, mistake after mistake. Taking bigger and bigger risks and hoping it all works out." Her pink compound eyes glitter. "Well, I don't let hope cloud my judgment anymore. If this is what you losing looks like, gosh, These, I hope you lose quickly. Before anyone else gets hurt, and before you become any more like the guy who left Ariadne stranded on the rocks. I don't like seeing him again."
"Please, call me Aikaterine, and that is fine," she answers, not enjoying her name in nickname form and making it clear.
To the others, she answers their claim:
"If I were to break a dam, you are damn right I would be responsible for the homes and lives the water flow takes when it rushes downstream. Take that failure and responsibility on your head and stop blaming others. The heroes didn't create the boar. You Prometheans did. You loosed it during Thesmophoria while people were celebrating and numerous heroes were in town, yes. We can say that heroes didn't rise up against it, which is possible, but maybe some did and maybe died. Also, consider that letters don't travel to job posting boards immediately, and that boar grew fast. All we know is no one was able to claim the money. For all we know, it could have been because the heroes on the island were too drunk to go check a job posting board during a festival because it was a festival. Not. Their. Fault."
"And as for this party before I joined, there was a priority mission of a kidnapped girl?" She looks to Kyronai for confirmation. "Kidnapped girl, or rampaging boar...hmm." she states plainly, as if it was a stupid point that of course they chose to save the girl. "In any case, so great was the death there in that village with the boar that it lingered a cloud of shadow magic and evil over the entire region. Every house was destroyed and trampled. Every person's body was crushed and ripped apart. We, by luck, only by tracking down Hermoine's actions, came across it or the whole of the island country would have been destroyed in time and full of haunts and death. That is something you should repent of and in my mind be punished for!" she pleads, almost in a kind manner, hoping to express her heartbreak over the loss of those people's lives and to paint the picture so they cannot deny the evil they've caused.
"As for the 'doctor', the fact you yourself didn't try to stop him from his evil is exactly the problem I have. You want to go protest the gods, go for it. You may die, or they may try to humble you. Whatever. The least that's your choice. The least you could have done is experiment on yourselves instead of others. That would have been nobler, don't you think? Stop dragging other people into his maddened path. Especially innocent people. You should feel shameful for that far more than anything the Gods have taken from you. Do you know how many innocent soldiers died there? What about their wives? What about their loved children? Their families? Do you know what became of them? Transformed into a flesh golem and haunts? Did you end them? No. You just went on your way terrorizing elsewhere."
"And you mock my knowledge and aged experience. However, it is my knowledge that tells me not to judge the whole based on the actions of a part. It is precisely that knowledge that is keeping my hand from reaching out and taking your life. I understand that not all Prometheans are like your good 'doctor'. Not all Prometheans are like Zagreus. We spare you now in this instance so you know my word is true. I could have cast again, and again, and tore your mind asunder." He alone would know what her spell was doing to him. "I doubt I will ever change your thoughts about the gods and cause you to humble your heart toward them...any of you...but know this: not all gods are always ruled by emotion. Not all actions done by the gods are all evil. And not all actions done by the gods are unjust. Yet look at what you seek to do."
"I don't know what happened with you all in your pasts to make you hate all the gods enough to join with the Prometheans. I get having grievances against the gods. I myself felt the sting when I lost my father and later my mother to the sea. They loved the gods and served them so much too! I could have raged against Poseidon, and sure, I was angry for a time, but I grew up to see countless other people die in this world for many reasons and end up being punished by the gods for many more. For me, in my hundreds of years of sight, it painted a picture of the works of the gods that most mortals don't see in their short lives." she states, looking to the far younger races in the room. "It led me to see that they cared about us, and even at the pinnacle of my pains, I never blamed all the gods for what happened. I may be wrong, but you seem to see the gods as toying manipulators who dangled your lives over a volcano with delightful glee to torment you, and you base this on real examples of, perhaps, cruelty from the sounds of things. I'm not saying we Gods aren't prone to emotional outbursts. I can attest before you today, as a goddess of chaos, that I can be swayed by emotions. Nor am I saying they don't see those they rule over as beneath them. You are. They made you. That's factual. If that wasn't a good enough reason to think they are over us, they also sustain us. In this, they also have good qualities too that you are pushing aside."
"There are some who are infinitely kind. Some who judge evil. Some who protect cities. Some who provide day and night to man. Some who give good crops and some who take them away to give the land rest. Some who bring about good childbirth. They do this, not because they have to, but because they want to for us and for this world. The fact the gods punish man is not in all cases due to ego, and to consider it so is false. Some of it is due to justice and as a warning not to disobey based on their millennial-long views of rebellions and uprisings. I think they've learned a thing or two about them. And in the case of defiance, they judge either according to their emotion or to set an example as they deem fit. In some such cases, even in the courts of man, they serve people with longer or harsher sentences to set an example to the rest of the populace. It's not to be evil. I can't say it is good to do so, but it is sometimes necessary to continue righteous rule over chaotic mankind."
"My point is this...you've all been given hardship by the gods. That choice by them made you do what you've done. But here and now, you have a choice to turn. Seek repentance for what you've been a part of. If not to the gods, then in the least, repent to seek to do right by your fellow man by stopping this nonsense. Help us end the evil behaviors of Zagreus in his quest for power, and in doing so, restore your honor. You won't have to make the choice to kill your friend, and more. You know what Zagreus plans next. He is an escalating godling who can't stop causing war crimes against those own people he preaches he's going to save and empower. Do you really want a part in what comes next? And what about when it fails and you are left with just the crumbs of what you hoped for and a wake of death and blood of your friends by your own hand behind you? Will it be worth it to you?"