Written Wonderland

The old woman gave Evan an eyebrow, figuring he knew the answer to that question.

"What are you really asking, Evan?" If she said yes, what could he did he plan to do about it?

Evan frowned, his eyes narrowing and darting off to the side. He felt a bit called out here, and maybe he deserved to be. At this point he wanted to just tell the priestess about Ponderance, but he held his tongue. Still, he had to give the priestess something. At least, if he wanted anything more from her.

The captain reached up to rub at his neck again, and clicked his tongue before finally turning back to the old woman.

"There's things I can't tell you, but I'm worried she's injured somehow, and I don't know what that means or what in the hell I can do about it, but... if there's anything you think it might help me to know going into tonight, I guess, that's what I'm trying to ask for."

His brows turned up apologetically to her; he wished he had a better-formulated question to actually ask.

The old woman extended her hand, intending for Evan to take it. If he did, she would set her other hand on top of it as well.

"She's not gone yet," the crone said with confidence. "She's hung on for this long." The priestess closed her eyes for a moment. "You've kept your promise to her for this evening. That will help her no matter what has happened." She paused again, letting go of Evan's hand. "As for the following day, you'll have to make your own decision. Your presence will certainly bolster her, but it is more important to free her and get us all out of this mess." She looked at Evan earnestly now, her eyes full of belief in him. She had to believe in him.

Evan was reluctant, but did go ahead and give the priestess his hand. An awkward sort of warmth settled in his chest as she placed her other hand over his, but he did ultimately appreciate the gesture, as well as the confidence in her voice. A hot shade of blush colored his face when she referenced his promise, but he supposed it was reassuring that she thought that would help. Evan had already been grateful he hadn't slipped up for the sake of his relationship with the goddess, and now he was exceptionally grateful, for the sake of the goddess herself.

He had mixed feelings about the way the priestess looked at him--something about it was uncomfortable, but at the same time, it made him really fucking happy. A smile tugged at the captain's lips, and he pulled his hand back to rub once again at his neck, his eyes glancing towards the canteens on the table as he tried to collect his thoughts around what else he needed to ask her.

It was tempting to call this good enough, but he was keenly aware that he'd hastened past details in a way that came back to bite him more than once in the past few days. The captain frowned and crossed his arms while he tried to dig for what else might be useful. The next thing he was able to get any kind of a foothold on was trying to learn more about Samael.

"The goddess promised to make Samael a cloak." Evan said as he relaxed his arms back down to his sides, his eyes keenly watching the priestess for any response. "She clearly didn't want to, but she'd stolen power from his realm or something, so the cloak is to make up for that." Some part of Evan started to worry this was somehow tattling on the goddess, but that wasn't how he meant it. He just had no clue how to contextualize all that, and was hoping that priestess could help. He supposed he ought to formulate an actual question about it, though. "It... doesn't make sense that he'd get her to promise that and then do something that'd stop her from making it... does it?"

It was unfortunately conceivable to Evan that it might in fact make perfect sense, but he really kind of hoped that that wasn't what he'd be dealing with in Samael. Really, he kind of hoped he'd never have to deal with whatever Samael is again, but... if he had indeed come back to hurt her, Evan didn't want to be naive about that.

The crone furrowed her brow deeply and looked away from Evan at the mention of a cloak. What kind of cloak? It would no doubt have some sort of magical capacity of the goddess' that Samael wanted, but which of her abilities? And for what purpose? The thought sent shivers down her spine. She could only pray that the god of poisons wanted it for something that had nothing to do with the human realm.

"If they had an arrangement, then Samael wouldn't completely incapacitate her. But, he didn't necessarily agree to leave her alone either." The old woman let her brow relax a little. Something about having said that made her feel more assured that the goddess would, indeed, come through whatever trial she had going now, even if it wasn't coming from Samael.

"It's virtually impossible to incapacitate a god, let alone injure them onto death. I'm not certain it can be done. If it can, then it's a wonder the king didn't try that first."

Evan was not at all comforted to see the crone's worry in her brow. But, when she spoke, much of the tension in him loosened. It sounded like she believed that, in the very least, Samael would still want the arrangement to go forward, even if he decided to fuck with the goddess in the meantime. And not only that, but the crone went on emphasize how unlikely she believed it would be to be able to incapacitate the goddess, even by another god, by the sounds of it. The captain let out a sigh he hadn't realized he'd been holding in.

"Thank you." he said sheepishly, a little embarrassed to suddenly realize just how much this conversation had been purely for his own nerves. There had been more, of course--he did need to know more about the situation to make some tactical decisions, but gods did it feel good to get some reassurance that, whatever the goddess' present state, it was more likely than not that she would ultimately be all right, and that their plans together still stood.

With his body now more relaxed, Evan's gaze refocused a little more attentively on the crone, and he offered her a small, crooked smile, his head bowing just slightly.

"Truly, thank you. For everything."

Evan didn't like to think that he would have been powerless without the woman before him, but she'd certainly made this whole ordeal a lot fucking easier than it would have been otherwise.

The priestess recognized the relief that came over Evan, and it alerted her attention. He really did care about the goddess, didn't he? He wanted reassurance that the goddess was going to be okay even though he would see her in just a couple hours, by the look of the sun. He had been scared, and the crone suspected it was on account of more than whatever negotiations he had struck with the goddess on the army's behalf. Although too much infatuation with her was cause for alarm, the captain seemed level-headed enough that the old woman took this as a good sign.

The old woman nodded a couple times and smiled slightly, grateful for his appreciation. He was going to do all right, this one. She was looking forward to it.

"I'll continue preparing for the ceremony tomorrow, then," the crone said, standing up from her seat at the table. "In the meantime, don't hide anything from the goddess tonight. She's going to need your confidence in her." She clapped a hand on his shoulder twice and walked past him toward the kitchen. "Best of luck, Evan."

Evan's small smile widened to a grin as the woman clapped him on the shoulder, and he reached up to rub at his hair when she moved past. He faltered over what to say in parting--his first thought was thank you again, but, well, that'd just be awkward.

"You too," he said after a moment, though he wasn't entirely sure how much less awkward that was. He made for the door after that, figuring they were wrapped up anyway, and not really wanting to linger with the butterflies that had started filling his chest.

He made haste back for the commander's tent, anxious to fill her in.

Evan was glad that Mizu was already back in her tent by the time he returned, though he hoped that didn't mean she'd been waiting too long. After she called him in, he stepped into her tent and assumed a relatively formal sort of posture to deliver what he'd learned.

"The priestess doesn't think we need to be concerned about the big picture." He said confidently. "She said that, if the goddess is indeed injured and alone--" Evan's tone fumbled just then, suddenly worried that Mizu might be concerned about what he'd told the priestess. To that end, he explained, "I just said that we had reason to worry she might be," and then continued more levelly again, "--so if so, then, she's likely suffering, but my visit tonight should help. She thinks it's unlikely if not impossible that the goddess has been incapacitated."

He considered volunteering that the crone didn't seem to think it wise for Evan to stay through the day... but he opted to save that little nugget. The priestess had said it was Evan's choice, ultimately. If he could report in with Ponderance's toy, he could decide on his own without promising Mizu one way or the other ahead of time, and that's certainly the way he'd prefer it.

Mizu sat down at the map table, rubbing her temples. She was anxious--there were so many moving pieces. While she trusted Serio's judgment, she worried about how Blake would approach Joseph. She worried about Evan's anxiety about the goddess' possible injuries, and she worried that Ponderance would soon sneak something by them before they could catch it. After all, he very nearly did, harmless gesture or no.

So many pieces to keep track of, and yet here she was, waiting.

She was thoroughly relieved when Evan returned, and there was urgency in her voice when she accepted him in. She was enormously grateful that he hadn't dallied, if the rush and breathlessness of his words were anything to go by.

The commander listened attentively, one hand resting on the table and the other on one knee. She gathered from what Evan said that the crone didn't know anything for certain, but the woman's hunches were not nothing. Besides perhaps Evan, she was their best chance at understanding the goddess and the forces at play.

Mizu nodded and then asked, "Did she say anything about the other god?"