Chapter 292: Daughter of Fate
As the divine presence of Fate left the priest, Korra stared at me, eyes wide. "When did you learn to talk like that? It was like you were an entirely different–."
She broke off, the wonder turning to worry, as I sagged, exhausted. It had almost been too much to hold it all in, and now that the false god was gone, I finally allowed the storm raging inside to show. All of the stress, fear, and pain came out at once, and had she not caught me, I would have fallen.
"They killed her," I sobbed, burying my face in her shoulder. "They killed her!"
"Shhhh," Korra murmured. She pulled me tight against her with a hand on my back and softly stroked my hair with the other. "It’s alright now. He’s gone."
"How could they do that? How can they replace her so easily? Why do they want to hurt me so much?"
She remained silent, allowing my tears to flow, just gently soothing my cries and letting me talk. Eventually, my sobs stilled, and my tail stopped trembling, and I looked up into her eyes, finding comfort in the soft, warm love I found there.
"I wish I knew more," I murmured, resting my head on her shoulder. "About anything he said. I don’t understand how they could do that, and then expect me to obey.."
She shrugged, the motion sending a wave through me. "I suppose it proves the sheer arrogance of the gods. But you, on the other hand–" she pulled back to arms distance, looking me square in the eye, "–I can’t believe you called a god a dog. Not that he didn’t deserve it," she added hastily, "but I thought for sure he’d kill you."
I nodded, rubbing away the last of my tears with my sleeve. I’d never spoken to anyone like that before, and my cheeks took on a hint of red just thinking about it. "I...I don’t know what came over me, I was just so scared and confused. He couldn’t have hurt me, though. The gods have limited power in these worlds. That’s why they send heroes, and occasionally archons. He just tried to intimidate and threaten, but when that didn’t work, all he could do was leave. Every second he spent here required a massive amount of power, something a minor, now faithless god-like Fate can’t afford to squander."
She gave me a strange look, finally shaking her head. "How do you even know so much about the gods? Not even the Fathers in the church could say as much with confidence."
My staff felt cold in my hand, sending a shiver down my spine. I stared at it for a moment, then, with a deep breath, returned my gaze to Korra. Time to share another secret. "Fate visited me often, speaking or even appearing in many of my visions. She taught me a lot about fate and the truth of the gods. There’s a lot of what she said that I still don’t understand, but before she fell, she appeared in Enusia, in the flesh. The other girl, the demonkin she summoned to free me, said she wasn’t dead, but what’s going to happen to her now that her domain was stolen? Will I ever be able to see her again?"