Chapter 650 – The Question of Rest
There are many things that Divines struggle with that humans do not. In this fashion, I do not mean of simple things, such as inability to rest that is seen on some: Goddesses Kassandora and Maisara for example. Rather, these are more fundamental traits that affect almost every major Divine I have known.
Extremophilia is one such thing. I have no word to describe it, but it is this pattern of leaning from one extreme to another. Either we have workaholics who are ever on the verge of burning out, or we have lazy bums such as Zerus, Atis and Alkom. There are those who pretend not to be lazy, such Theosius, Atis and Elassa, although they still are. They refuse to do actually work for the Pantheon, and instead focus almost entirely on fulfilling their own whims. Likewise with sanity, there is no such thing as a Divine that is developing madness, either a Divine is perfectly sane and has the capacity, if not the will, to be trusted with responsibility, or they are utterly mad. Saranael, of Knowledge, lost his sanity in the span of a few days. We watched his madness accelerate in real time.
- Excerpt from the autobiography: “Roses, Blades & Blood”, by Goddess Helenna, of Love.
Kassandora fell back into her seat on the train to the ride to Ordeaux. Kavaa leaned her head on Of War’s shoulder. Perfect. What a beautiful day. They had defeated Legion, they had analysed the footage, they had made the plan for dealing with the third Landbridge. That would be the second test of the O-Bombs. And to think that Arascus had given permission to expand them. Enrichment chambers all across the Empire were now being tasked to keep all the kinds of excess, the hyper-radioactive material that had been deemed unsafe to mount in nuclear power plants finally had a purpose. Old radiation tombs were being opened.
Within the month, there would not be a third landbridge. A minor garrison just needed to hold Esberia and Southern Rancais for a matter of weeks if Tartarus managed the connection. If. The bigger issue right now was Pax, who was still approaching Rilia, presumably on foot from the fact that Callaghan’s fleet had no issue tracking him. That, there was still no way of dealing with. Even during the Great War, Pax had just needed to be avoided and contained. The simple matter of fact was that the demon did not possess to much destructive power. He could batter down a castle gate and crawl out of holes, but until they found a way to trick reality into hurting him, he was simply untouchable.
Of course, back then, it was simply a matter of moving the leadership out of the city and then avoiding the demon until he got recalled. He didn’t cause massacres like Legion, thankfully, he just went in for targets. And those targets were easy to move. Of course, back then, each city had been largely self-sufficient on itself and its local province. There were no grand supply chains and the dwarven Holds could simply close their gates if Pax was approaching. They did not have power plants, they did not have data centres, they did not have transformers, the Imperial Bureaus were not in fortresses, they were in city, and cities did not have walls anymore.
That was the issue, and Kassandora had utterly not answer to it. She had wracked her brain for a century in the past, and now she was beginning that process again. But she sat in a comfortable train, the seats were plush, the green fields of Rancais were flying past them, every now and then, they would see a village close by or in the distance, they would see cattle grazing, or farmers stop to watch the marvel that was a train for Divines shoot past them. And she had Kavaa leaning on her, just breathing a warm breath. Kavaa’s hand was over Kassandora’s, her thumb was idly stroking a circle on the back of Kassandora’s hand.
There had been a time Kassandora had thought she could not rest. It had been an impossible task. Rest was something to be planned, and then organised, hierarchy had to be handed off for a while, protocols needed to be put in place. Stress was always bound to accrue when Kassandora separated herself from information. But now?
It was simply the easiest thing to do on the world. With Kavaa by her side, it was like sitting with Arascus here. Save for then, it would be Kassandora leaning and usually apologizing for something she hated about herself.
Now though? It was Kavaa sat next to her. It was Kavaa leaning on her. It was Kavaa tracing a silly little circle on her hand. It was Kavaa humming a silly little tune with a throat thoroughly unfit for tone control. There was nothing else Kassandora could say. If this was rest, this came close to the peak of what could be experienced. The humming stopped after a few minutes. “We have a holiday to plan.” Kavaa said.
“Where do you want to go?” Kassandora asked.
“I was hoping you’d tell me that.” Kavaa replied.
“Well I’m not good at this, am I?”
“Well I’m not going to take you to the beach.” Kavaa declared, she didn’t move though.
“Why not?” Kassandora asked.
“Because it’s you?” Kavaa said. “Do you even like the beach?”
“Do I?” Kassandora mused. She honestly did not know.
“Exactly.” Kavaa said. “So what do you like to do?”
“I like spending time with you.” Kassandora said proudly. She was proud she could say it now. It was such a flutter in her chest that she didn’t even know how to describe it. As if bumblebees had decided to tickle her from the inside out.
“In which location would you like to spend time with me?” Kavaa asked.
“In any.” Kassandora knew what they were doing. It was beating around the bush, but she enjoyed it. This investigation was far more fun than dealing with Pax. That was certain. Kavaa sighed and Kassandora saw the woman’s grey hair move from side to side as she shook her head.
“Has anyone told you you’re difficult to deal with?”
“Who hasn’t?” Kassandora asked.
Kavaa sat there in silence for a moment. “Good point.” She said. “The mountains then?”
“I don’t mind.”
“Well do you like it here?” Kavaa asked.
“On the train?”
“The countryside you idiot!” Kavaa said, extending her arm out to the window. They were driving through a field. There were cows. A horse in the distance. A farmer in hat. A farmhand who looked as if he had just fallen over into a pile of shit. “You’re actually dense Kassie. You’re fucking dense!”
“Am I?” Kassandora said.
“Beach then, how about that.”
“But it’ll be with you?” Kassandora asked. That was the important part. It didn’t matter whatsoever what place Kavaa chose, she just had to organise it to set an example on what a holiday looked like, and then that could be used as a baseline. And frankly, it could be wherever, as long as Kavaa was there.
“Well that’s the point, isn’t it?” They were going around in circles now. Like armies unwilling to give up their position but unwilling to engage either. The worst part was, they didn’t even want to find. Kassandora just had no idea. Where would she like to go? It couldn’t be any location close to the front, and she didn’t want to see warships going by either…
Even though Kavaa gave him time, the outside world did not. Her phone began to ring. She had heard Anassa called it a nightmare-rectangle once. That much was true, but Anassa did it to sound pretentious. Kassandora did not want to go to sleep because she was sure she would have a nightmare about this stupid little device going off endlessly, much like it always did. “Your phone is buzzing.”
“I know.” If it was another call because of a disagreement, or if she saw Fer’s or Malam’s name here, then she would explode out of annoyance. It was neither of them, nor was it even Menith or anything general calling because of a perceived problem with her sister’s behaviour. It was fucking Helenna of all people. “What the fuck?” Kassandora said. She would answer of course. But it was insanity. Helenna was ringing her? Her of all people? Helenna? Really? It was… It was akin to Neneria ringing her. They simply did not talk. This was Malam’s friend, not hers! This was for Malam to solve!
“You should answer.” Kavaa said.
“I don’t want to.” Kassandora said with a sigh. But she had to. Because no matter how fun this was, there was still a war going on, and there was succubi to deal with, and if Helenna was calling, it most likely meant that the SIS was facing a crisis they could not handle themselves. The army would have to be called in. She sighed.
“You know we’re discussing this for after the war?” Kavaa said. “I’m busy too, in Ordeaux.”
“What are you busy on?”
“With Maisara on integrating her Order with my Clerics.” She was off to have the time of her life then.
“Do you need to me to stay?”
“Arascus already told me Fer will there.” Kavaa said. “Don’t worry, I know it’s Maisara, she’s unbearable, but she’s not the worst.” She sighed slowly again. “Who knows, she died, maybe she’s changed?” Kassandora doubted that, anyone else would be the sort to get a renewed lease on her. But Maisara? She was just coming back to work. It was as if Kassandora died and came back. Why worry when you could just work? “Helenna is still ringing Kass.” Kavaa said.
“I know.” Kassandora stared at the name on her phone. Kavaa took the initiative and pressed the green button.
“I can’t have you suddenly start missing calls because of me.” She said quietly. Kassandora closed her eyes and took a deep breath. That seemed like a perfectly good reason to her.
“Hello, Helenna? This is Kassandora.” Helenna remained silent on the other side of the phone. Kassandora’s mind ran through all the scenarios. If she didn’t respond immediately, then something had happened to Malam. Things had gotten out of control. A huge amount of Succubi were in Aris. They were under siege.
It was nothing of the like. “Hey.” Helenna said slowly. “I… ahh… Malam told me ask you.”
Kassandora stared at the phone with a fury. She would incinerate Malam to dust if the demons did not get to her first. Malam told Helenna to ask? Ask about what? There could precisely be one thing that Helenna was calling about at this point. “Is it the IBI?”
“Yes. How did you know?”
“Deduction.” Kassandora replied dryly. “And? What needs to be done?”
“Malam said you helped her make the SIS.” Kassandora put her fingers to her nose. Kavaa chuckled from her side. “Could you? I can’t do it myself.”
“Send over your documents then.” Of course she could. Of course she fucking could. She was Kassandora. She was everyone’s problem solver here. Why shouldn’t she be able to create a secrete army to fight an intelligence war from scratch? It had never been done before, there was no doctrine, there was nothing to base off. It was Helenna of all people, so it would definitely be slow and pedantic as well! “Is that all?”
“Yes.”
“Alright, give me a few days.” Kassandora exited the phone-call before another problem could be dumped onto her lap.
“Looks like you have work to do then?”
Kassandora did not even want to think about it. A few days was enough time to organize a simple team, multiple simple teams actually. And the one with the most effective track record in a few weeks or so would be used as the baseline for quick expansion. Helenna would be able to do that herself, just Malam how only needed to only copy and paste to establish a new Office or whatever the fuck the SIS called it. “Beach.”