Chapter 342: Into the Night
The wind circled around the peak of the mountainous stone monolith, rising to tug at our hair. I held my staff out at arm’s length, tilting the star so it caught the glare of the evening sun, sending it spiraling out in colorful dots of dancing light.
"Her?" Korra wrinkled her brow, looking between me and the staff. "You gave your staff a gender? Did you name it too?" She chuckled as I fixed her with a flat look. "What?"
I rolled my eyes, but on the inside, I was cheering. She’d been teasing me, and I hadn’t gotten embarrassed. Regardless of the heaviness of the things I was about to share, I couldn’t help but feel a thrill of pride.
Korra cleared her throat, and I jumped slightly, startled from my thoughts. "R-right," I stammered, blushing slightly. So much for remaining composed. "I wasn’t talking about the staff, but Fate, or what’s left of her at least."
"I thought Fate was dead? Didn’t they put a new god in her place?"
"It’s not that simple. When the new Fate God descended and approached us in Heartland City, he recognized something in my staff, and I don’t think that’s just because it’s the Divine Artifact for fate. The inquisitors have come hunting it specifically. It’s like I’m just an afterthought now."
Korra was silent for a time, chewing her lower lip thoughtfully. "That god mentioned something about a Divinity, didn’t he?"
"Yeah, and with the Oracle of Eternity, I could see he wasn’t his full self, not like Fate. He was missing something, and I think that something is what Fate put in my staff. It...guides me sometimes, and I think it’s the reason behind the changes to my status and abilities. I don’t know what a divinity is, but it has something to do with the gods’ relationship to their domain, and as long as I have it, the new fate god can’t inherit the full power and scope of my goddess."
"So that’s why they are so intent on getting it. That damned High Inquisitor was one of those who argued against allotting resources to find you. His thoughts swayed the entire Council of the Inquisition to assume you were dead. I thought it strange that he led the first major operation to intercept you, but if it’s an order from the Divine, everything makes sense. I bet the pope got a revelation or something, which is how they knew where to find us."