Departures
As they neared Port Sulala, Vordea motioned for them to all stop.
"I'm afraid this is where I must say goodbye for now." She said, a sadness to her voice. "I've been putting off my many duties for far too long to have fun, and I need to take care of business."
"When will we see you again?" Francisco asked.
"Make it back to Gilnas City in one piece, and I'll see you there. This I vow." Vordea said, giving Francisco a big hug. "You've grown so much in the time I've travelled with you. Where there was once a sassy teenager there is now a grown man, eager to carve out his place in the world."
"It's been fun, my Lady." Nalaea said, bowing.
"Don't forget our plans. Vordean Rangers." Vordea said, smiling. Her own elven rangers.
"Wouldn't miss it for the world, my lady. I'll keep traveling with these two idiots, somebody needs to make sure they get back to Gilnas in one piece." Nalaea said, gesturing at Elias and Francisco.
"Fret not Vordea, I shall make my grand entrance to the Great Cathedral and bring down the ceiling." Elias said, grinning.
"They just finished repairing it!" Vordea gasped, laughing. "Father Walsh would kill you!"
Elias, Francisco, and Nalaea all laughed in response, knowing Elias was even more likely to do it now that he knew this.
"Come on, everybody gets a goodbye hug and kiss." Vordea said, moving in to give Francisco a kiss, who was surprised when it was on the lips, but didn't object. After lingering for entirely too long, Vordea pulled away and winked. "Sure you don't want to be one of my priests?"
"Quite sure thank you." Francisco said. "My sex drive isn't up to it."
"Oh you're still such a prude!" Vordea said, pouting.
"Oh oh me next!" Nalaea said, jumping up onto Vordea and latching her legs around her torso.
"There's no rush you-" Vordea started to say, before she was interrupted by a kiss. What began as a kiss quickly devolved into a brief make-out session, before Vordea gently but firmly pulled Nalaea off her and deposited her into Elias's arms. "Kiss him if you're that horny."
Elias waggled his tongue at Nalaea, causing her to giggle and blush a bit.
"Maybe later, handsome." Nalaea said, smoothly sliding out of Elias's arms.
"I suppose this is goodbye for now, Vordea." Elias said, approaching her and hugging her tightly.
"Oh? No kiss?" Vordea asked, teasing him.
"I can't talk and kiss at the same time, and neither can you. I just want to say some things." Elias said, his head buried in her chest and slightly muffled. "I... dammit I love you, Vordea. I desperately wanted you to not be a Goddess, so that I actually had a hope of marrying you, yet here we are."
"You're right that I could never marry you, or even promise myself to just you, Elias." Vordea said, her voice soft and sweet. "But what if I gave you a piece of myself?"
"What do you mean?" Elias asked, still hugging her.
"This was going to be a surprise, when you got to the Great Cathedral. But I don't want you moping the whole way." Vordea said, pushing Elias away. "What you all see before you isn't me. No mortal is capable of comprehending the real me. This is just a... doll, if you will. What if you could have the adventurer girl you fell in love with and journeyed with for those years?"
The three of them watched in silence and amazement as Vordea tore a hole in reality. As the air around them rushed into this hole, someone quite familiar stepped out, the adventurer Mira Frost.
"Mabel, you ready?" Vordea asked.
"Bit early, isn't it? We're still in Tel Hazan. I thought the plan was Gilnas?" Mabel asked, looking around.
"Plans change. Gentlemen, Nalaea, may I present to you Mabel Briggs." Vordea said, gesturing at Mabel and bowing.
"Not Mira?" Elias asked, raising an eyebrow.
"There's too much power behind that name, handsome." Mabel answered. "It's the name of a God."
"That's... vague. So, what are you? A brand new person?" Elias asked, quite rudely he realized. "That sounded ruder than I expected."
Mabel laughed. "Don't worry. I'm a piece of jetsam, cast off from the whole. I have most of Vordea's memories up until a few hours ago, and a small fraction of her power."
"So I could..." Elias began to say, and trailed off.
"I'm for all intents and purposes human, Elias." Mabel said, taking his hand into hers. "Vordea's done this many times, mainly to get around a rather pesky issue."
"That being?" Nalaea asked.
"I can't have children." Vordea answered.
"Why not?"
"I can't. But my mortal avatars can." Vordea said, dodging the question quite expertly. "Marry Mabel, Elias. Have a dozen or more kids with her." She continued, giving a wink. "Vordea the Goddess belongs to the universe, Elias. Now, I really must be going."
Without saying another word, Vordea gently kissed Elias on the forehead, tore a hole in reality, and left in a surge of power, leaving the four of them alone on a dusty road.
"How does she do that?" Elias asked Mabel.
"I... sorry. She sees the world for what it really is. She sees the weak points in reality, where the walls are paper thin." Mabel answered. "She's the only person in all of existence capable of doing it, besides Mira Frost."
"There's that name again. What did you mean by Mira Frost is the name of a God?" Francisco asked, as they started to walk again. "I'd never even heard the name before we met Mira... or rather, Vordea."
"Let's put it this way." Mabel said after some thought. "Even the Gods have a God. The one who stands at the apex. Vordea's very expertly not shared most of those memories with me, so I can't tell you."