A Meeting of Godlings

[Pepper Krasniqi]

A please. The younger She had said please to Them. A please meant that she was asking something of Them. She wanted for Them to do something for Her, which meant that She in turn would have to repay Them for Their actions in the future. Whenever that future might be. Although He didn’t mean for it to, He took that please and made it into an exchange. An exchange that engraved itself in Their mind for when it was needed most. It would be needed, surely, one day, a long time away from the Now that They were in. He nestled back into the back of Her head, refraining from taking hold again of Her speech. He couldn’t fully retract, as part of Him had already blended into Her. Soon all of Him would do the same.

Very soon.

Pepper let the girl dry her tears and she smiled, her face splitting in a grin. She nodded her head enthusiastically. “I’ll do what I can. I have some friends now, where he usually is, and I can ask them about it. I’ll have to figure out how to do it without raising suspicions, but I’m sure I can figure it out. I can’t make promises that it will be soon. But I’ll try.”

She leaned in and hugged the girl one more time, this time without the tightness that she had previously used. This time, it was soft and gentle and even loving. It was the kind of hug you gave to a friend who you weren’t sure when you’d see them again. But Pepper knew when she would see the girl again. As soon as she was able to, whether that be after her visit with Ira or before her visit with Jupiter. She would visit as many times and as long as was needed to keep this girl from being lonely during the day.

“What I can promise you, Eurydice, is that I will come back every chance I get. If I come and I call for you, will you be able to hear me? That’s a normal god thing, isn’t it? I’m new to the whole thing.” She pulled back, her hands falling from the girl’s shoulders. She looked around and fiddled with the bottom of the face mask, keeping it tucked up around her neck. She didn’t want to be caught without her head covered if she could avoid it.

 

[Containment]

The please took hold, and the bargain was struck. She could feel it, as though a tether pulled taut, and threads stretched between Her and HER. The return, when claimed, would be equally infinite. Such was evenly balanced. It felt right, at least, which meant it had happened the way it was supposed to. She let Her mind wander for just a moment to what it might have felt like if it hadn’t been done correctly –

And then Dr. Elizabeth hugged Her again, and the Question took flight for another time. She leaned into it again, returned the embrace in thoughtless mimicry, and listened to what she had to say. There was a little hesitation when she asked if she could call Her name, and still within the hug Her head shook.

“If you called MY NAME, I would hear it. But that’s not MINE to give. ” She seemed to consider, then nodded as if coming to a decision. She pulled out of the hug, wiped Her face on the back of Her arm, and then extended Her right hand. “Make the deal binding, then go. Pluck the String when you wish to find Me again and if I can I’ll come.”

 

[Pepper Krasniqi]

Well that confirmed that the name she had given Pepper wasn’t real. Whatever her real name, Eurydice was holding her hand out for Pepper. She took one of her gloves off, and shook the girl’s hand, making sure her hand was fully wrapped around hers. She could feel it, deep in her chest, Strings binding the two of them together. They snapped into place in a way Pepper couldn’t begin to describe. Was this a god thing? It must have been because it wasn’t a human thing.

She withdrew her hand, and still the Strings remained. She nodded her head to the girl and started pulling her mask back into place. Above them, Mikulass called out as he flew back over them. Pepper took that as her sign to go and pulled the back of the hood back up. Only her eyes were visible, but even from just that you could tell that there was a big smile on her face.

“I’ll see you again, Eurydice. Very soon.” With that, she turned and started to jog back down the path and toward the gates, Mikulass scouting above her as she ran.