The effects of the Mind Meld potion soon wore off, returning Noah and Moxie to their room. They were still alone, which was something of a surprise. Lee must have been out doing something – most likely running pest control on the entirety of Arbitage’s ecosystem.

That was something of a disappointment. Noah had hoped to talk to Lee about the key, but he suspected they’d see her before the next class. Nothing was going to happen with Wizen in the next day or two, so he decided to let it lie.

It was late enough in the day that it was justifiable to avoid trying to do anything else so long as nobody thought about it too hard, so he and Moxie remained in bed to wait out the night. They also – very pointedly – did not attempt to figure out what they would be doing tomorrow morning.

That seemed like all too much effort, and it could be handled by their future selves.

The night passed and the sun rose once more. Rays of light crawled through their window and warmed the plant bed, pulling both of them out of their sleep like a nagging mother. Noah’s nose scrunched and he blinked as he slipped back into the land of the living.

Moxie laid on top of him, her face against his chest. She sent a glare up at the sun. “It’s morning.”

“We could pretend it isn’t,” Noah offered, but they were both already sitting up.

They both took a short while to prepare for the day. It was a little too early to say much else. Reconvening in the center of the room, Noah and Moxie both turned to look out the window again.

“You know, we probably should have figured out where we were going to get food yesterday,” Moxie said.

“Probably.”

“You might be rubbing off on me.”

“Probably.”

They looked at each other again.

“Want to just get some meat pies?” Noah offered.

Moxie grinned. “Sounds better than sitting around in a restaurant this early in the morning. We’d get so many looks.”

“You know, I always tend to get a lot of looks.”

“That’s because everyone still thinks you’re a pervert. It’s going to take a while for that reputation to fall away,” Moxie said, laughing at the peeved expression on Noah’s face. “It’s fine. The people that matter know. Who cares about the rest?”

“Good point,” Noah said with a nod. “Let’s go get some pies.”

***

“Admit it. That was cute,” Renewal said.

Decras eyed the bowl of chocolate on the table between them. His hand snaked out, but Renewal grabbed the bowl and lifted it before he could reach in. His eyes narrowed in annoyance.

“Stop being a brat. Let me at the food.”

“It’s mine. Admit it was cute and you can have some.”

Decras rolled his eyes. “I will admit that it was cute in the same way that watching two small furry animals can be amusing. Satisfied?”

Renewal smirked and lowered the bowl and let Decras take a piece of chocolate from it. Her expression flickered a second later as she properly registered the words that her fellow god had said.

“Hold on. You think small animals are cute?”

“I am not completely inhumane, Renewal.”

“By definition, you quite literally are.”

“Look at you. A loving goddess of reincarnation, judging by outward appearance.” Decras kicked his feet back on a black stool that formed before him and he rocked back in his chair, arching an eyebrow at Renewal. “You should be ashamed of yourself.”

“There’s no outward appearance being taken into account here.” Renewal crossed her arms. “Your body was literally reforged – inside and out – by your Divine Rune. There isn’t a single mortal or humane part of you left. I’m not even so sure you started off as a human in the first place.”

“And you may never find out,” Decras said. He waved a hand at the screen. “They’re just eating now. I don’t find that nearly amusing enough to watch, but they’ve already got themselves into quite the situation. Pull someone else up.”

“What am I, a glorified playwright?” Renewal asked, but she sent a command to the glowing image. It rippled. Noah and Moxie faded from it as the colors shifted to a forest. Ferdinand and Garina sat on a blanket in the forest, a wicker basket in front of them. Their shoulders were just barely close enough to touch as they ate and watched the scenery.

“When I said pull someone else up, I was hoping you’d show me the little demon girl or someone who actually has their motivations in order,” Decras said wearily. He gestured vaguely at the screen. “Is this the only thing you care about?”This book's true home is on another platform. Check it out there for the real experience.

“Yes,” Renewal said. She paused for a moment, then amended her statement. “Well, I also care about getting my hands on whatever it is Noah knows about my Rune that I don’t – but that can come when it comes. I’ve got all the time in the world, and he’ll keep improving upon it in the meantime.”

“You know what?” Decras asked rhetorically. “I think you’re a bit lazy.”

“And I think you’re more than a bit rude.”

“I suspect we may both be correct.”

Renewal let out a snort of laughter before she could stop herself. She clapped a hand over her mouth. Encouraging Decras to be an asshole was probably the absolute worst thing she could have done, but it was too late. He just arched an eyebrow in her direction.

You win this round.

“You can’t tell me that you aren’t at least a little bit jealous,” Renewal said with a nod to the screen.

“Of that? They can barely even look each other in the eye,” Decras said. “Time may have become of marginal worth to me, but Garina is ancient by mortal standards, and your bald priest isn’t all that much younger. How would I be jealous of that?”

“Okay, they might be a little bit stunted in a few social aspects,” Renewal admitted. She rose from her chair and let out a slow sigh. “But that’s not what I meant. They’re doing what they want to. Ferdinand left the church, even if he hasn’t done it officially yet. When they find out, they’re going to try to kill him.”

“They are not strong enough to kill Garina,” Decras said flatly. “Unless your avatar makes a move, he will live. She is fiercely possessive of her belongings.”

“He’s a man, not an object,” Renewal said idly. She walked to the edge of the glistening pink platform they stood on and looked out on the endless void stretching in every direction around them.

“To Garina, there is no difference. She has gone through some surprising growth, but I know her,” Decras said. “The things she cares about belong to her and she’ll never give them up. Even if I showed up myself to demand Ferdinand’s head, she’d spit in my face.”

“That seems like a respectable feature to me.”

“I never said it wasn’t. I liked her for a reason,” Decras said with a throaty laugh. He dismissed the stool and rose as well, walking to stand beside Renewal. “But I assume you were referring to the fact that they are making a choice that they both know will put them at great risk.”

Renewal nodded. “That’s the fun part about being mortal. Risk. Choice. All the things that I’ve complained about not being able to do for the entire time you’ve been here. I know you’re going to say I can just do what you do – but be honest with me for a moment. Do you really have that much more control? Or are you skirting the rules whilst still obeying their exact lettering?”

Lips formed into a thin line, Decras shook his head. “I think you know the answer to that. I am still walking around in this portion of the universe. That would not be possible if I was completely breaking the laws we have placed upon us. I am bold but not stupid. The safest way to achieve what you desire is to slowly gather power and then advance when the order allows it.”

“Right. Millenia upon millennia of nothing, only to inch our way up the grand scale and achieve… what, exactly?”

The lines of souls twinkled beneath them, and Renewal’s eye traced their golden paths. A near infinite number of mortal souls, all on an endless journey. Most of them would return to the place beyond time over and over again, never to become anything more.

She could see into their past lives – and the ones that had come before that. They were laid bare before her, as clear as glass.

A few would achieve minor success. They’d lived hundreds or thousands of years – only to arrive right back here.

Some had been more. Upon occasion, Renewal’s eye would fall upon someone where she could only see herself. A section of their memories was like a mirror, the power within them once lost but still enough to prevent her from peering deeper.

Gods. Some stronger than her, some weaker. They too rejoined the line when their time came, though it was rare. Anything that could kill a God generally didn’t leave enough of them behind to let them come back.

That was the fate of those who went against the laws. A return to the beginning if one was lucky – and infinite nothing if they weren’t. Renewal’s fists tightened at her sides. Between that and utter boredom, she couldn’t tell which was worse.

“Are you genuinely considering taking the chance to rejoin that?” Decras asked, nodding to the line below them. “Fights are one thing. I love them. It gives me something to do to pass the time. I’d be more than happy to entertain in that regard.”

“I don’t see the value in fighting for no reason,” Renewal said, not pulling her gaze away from the line. “I prefer it to have a purpose. To have a way to actually change something. If a fight ends and nothing is different, was there even a point?”

Decras didn’t respond to that. They both stood in silence. It was hard to tell for exactly how long they did that – the passage of time was a shaky thing at best when it functionally didn’t even exist in the void around them.

Finally, Decras broke the stillness.

“I think you might want to change the image to something else. They’re holding hands. I don’t know why, but it makes me feel like I’m seeing something I shouldn’t.”

Renewal let out a bark of laughter. She snapped her fingers and the image flickered, swapping over to Lee just as the tail of an unfortunate squirrel vanished between her lips. She slipped into the shadows at the base of the tree she stood in, reappearing down the road before zipping off in the direction of the transport cannon.

“Better?” Renewal asked with a wry smile.

“Somehow, yes,” Decras replied. He paused for a moment before letting out a low chuckle. “Say that girl somehow had our power. What do you think she’d do in this situation? Faced with nigh guaranteed death or boredom, which would she–”

“She’d never have paused for long enough to even consider boredom, I think,” Renewal said.

They both looked back to Lee. She’d found the students waiting in the shadow of the transport cannon and was sneaking through the darkness toward them, a devious grin on her face.

“I suspect you might be correct,” Decras said. “Maybe there is more to learn from mortals than I believed.”

He turned and walked back to his chair, sitting down and crossing his legs. Renewal followed him back and looked up to the screen. Lee wasn’t quite as fun to watch as Noah and Moxie were, but she certainly had her charm.

Lee sprung from the shadows, drawing a round of surprised curses and yelps from the students.

“I’m here!” Lee proclaimed. “And class today is stretches.”

“…that’s it?” Todd asked weakly. “No sparring, or…”

“Nope. All stretches. You can spar once you’re flexible.”

A shudder ran down Renewal’s spine as she pulled an arm across her chest to check just how flexible her own body was – something told her the results wouldn’t have pleased Lee.

A very specific type of charm.