His eyes stared hard at the one-person boat made of yew.  With the happenings of the realm lately, there were less people here than he might have previously expected.  With death being halted, he would have thought people would be clawing for these boats so that they could do one of two things: beg to keep their immortality, or cry in desperation to be allowed the sweet release of fatality.  He wanted neither of these things, and while he wanted to enter her temple as quickly as possible, he wanted even more to follow the strange procedures that were there in order to gain entrance. 
 
The darkness and fog spiraled around him, making the area completely silent: eerie in comparison to the panicked screams he had heard in the streets.  Everyone in his own temple was safe from Dalanesca’s wrath, and there had been extra blessings and protections laid over his domain of light, but his thoughts kept returning to a certain crystalized young woman…
 
With a slow exhale he closed his eyes.  This wasn’t even his fight and he felt thrown in the middle now that his own family had been put in jeopardy.  Others were as well, but Dalanesca was a fellow god, so even if the blow was unintentional it stung all the same.  When his eyes opened they were a deep ruby.  Despite the shadows and mist, a five foot radius surrounded him in light: a small bubble of holiness and light that was unbreachable even now.  But he did not spread it, and simply stepped down into the boat so smoothly that it didn’t even waver against the water. 
 
As if on cue it went out further from the docking.  His fingers moved slowly along Torinasu’s hilt, and he hoped beyond hope that there would be no need for it today.  The waters changed and swirled, yet the Lord of Light remained completely unmovable, perhaps it was his own godhood that kept his boat strong against the raging waters, whatever the reason he kept his control together as much as he could.  Mighty chains rose from the waves, and normally he would have marveled over this new metal and would have wanted to add it to his collection of stones and gems, but not today.
 
He wanted to be closer, and closing his eyes again he willed himself more towards her domain.  When they opened it was to a suspiciously calm river.  There was a dangerous sun of brimstone and his eyes narrowed and moved along the quiet yew trees of the landscape that surrounded him.  Something was trying to press against him, and he recognized it immediately, if only because he’d recently gone through the stages of grief.  He wasn’t sure what was going to happen to his wife or his unborn children, but he didn’t take Angela’s warning of their death lightly.  He had already grieved for their possible deaths the previous day after incasing them in crystal.  For if he perished here…?  There would be no one to free them.  It was a selfish gamble he was willing to take.
 
All stages hit him, but he met them all with a locked jaw and a bright flare of his white markings: his own light fighting against her darkness as his boat continued stubbornly down this river of grief.  Despite it all, red welled around his eyes: tears of blood that soon ran silently down his cheeks.  The feelings were not lost on him, he just would not allow himself to be taken in by them.  When his boat finally reached the end he stepped off of it and aside from the shrinking aura of light around himself there was but one other source: a single lantern.
 
He stared at it, contemplating.  He was sure of his own power in being able to move through relying on his own light, after all he had yet to be matched by anything else on this realm with it.  But this was Dalanesca’s home, as sick as it was, and he would follow her rules.  So, he took the lantern in his fingers and walked down the silver bricked path.  All was quiet, too quiet, and his free hand gripped the hilt of his living blade as ruby eyes surveyed the area from side to side.
 
It went without saying that he’d grown just a bit uncomfortable as the path and silence wore on, and gripped the lantern more.  He concentrated, feeling his own energy as it tried to surge from the feeling of threat, but managed to channel it down his arm and into the lantern: consecrating it to holy light.  It would only last for as long as he held it, and was possible it would do nothing here, but it comforted him nonetheless.
 
Finally he came to the entrance, not without the feeling of unseen eyes on him though, and his own godly energy flared to keep whatever it was at bay.  Still, he didn’t want to take his chances here, and quietly hung the lantern to the crook that awaited him.  He opened the doors to the cryptic manor and wasted no time once he was inside: seeking out the goddess immediately.  Where could she be…?  He reminded himself that he was on her grounds now, and that was unstable as it was.  She held dominance over death and that wasn’t something to take likely, whether you were a deity or not.  He thought of Echo, of her frozen in crystal…and continued through. 
 
The solitary tears of blood had dried on his face, leaving perfectly symmetrical lines down his cheeks, under his jaw, down his neck: as if the ruby of his eyes had bled out.  When he came upon her he slowly breathed out and only softly spoke her name, “Dalanesca…”

Dalanesca’s gaze snapped up from the book she had been immersed in, staring towards the empty doorway of her bedchambers.  She could sense, immediately, that another deity had entered her realm.  At first, she was unable to discern which deity it was, and a flash of panic rippled through her body.  Had Angela finally come to settle the score?  She had to admit - even with her newfound power, she was still a bit terrified at the thought of facing a real battle with Angela Rose.  The goddess was, while a triune just as Dalanesca was, much older and more adept at the powers that being a deity granted her.  If she were to be truthful, this worried Dalanesca a great deal.

Fortunately for the raven-haired goddess, a bit more focus gave way to the fact that the deity who had entered her realm was most certainly not Angela Rose.   She could, in her mind’s eye, make out the general aura that surrounded the deity in question - and it was blinding.  It was this that told her Naota had entered her realm.  No longer did she feel terrified of who her visitor may be, but now she was more curious than anything.  She found herself wondering what would bring him to her realm, when he was the embodiment of light, and she was now the embodiment of darkness.  She halfway assumed that he was here due to the battle taking place between herself and the Earth Mother… but she did not want to jump to conclusions before she had a chance to speak with Naota.  

She rose from her seated position,  pulling on a sheer robe over her nightclothes and heading out into the hallway towards the entrance of Domus Tenebris.  She could sense that he had traversed the River quite easily, but the most interesting thing to her was his choice to use the lantern while trekking through the darkness on his way to the palace.  He could have easily used his own light to make it through, but she almost took it as a sign of respect from Naota to herself that he chose to do things her way.  

She could see his form approaching her before he spoke her name, and took in the crimson tears that had dried down his face.  She watched him with a bit more curiosity as he approached, taking a few steps of her own towards him.  “Naota,” she said, just as softly as he had spoken her own.  She looked a bit aloof for a moment, as she remembered the first time she had met Naota, back when Conclave had last been called.  At that moment, she had been quite different than she was now - happily married, and carrying her now-deceased child in her womb.  Her eyes had been warm, and she had been tasked with holding balance in Revaliir.  Now, her eyes were still the same icy blue, but they were empty, void of any emotion.  She now held dominion over Revaliir’s underworld - its own version of Hell - her own personal Hell.

“What brings you here?” she asked, her voice showing a bit of curiosity.  “I will admit, the thought of visiting you has crossed my mind, as our sphere’s now cross one another’s path… but alas, I am quite confined at the moment,” she said.  “Lacrimarium is… stronger than anything I’ve ever seen,” she added, referring to the magical chains that had bound her to her realm.  “Did Angela send you?  Or have you come of your own accord?”

As she came into his sight his lips parted.  While his face kept its too calm expression, near deadened, there was a brief flicker in his eyes.  Her aura…it was so drastically different from the last time he had seen her.  For just a moment his heart pulled for her, remembering how calm and happy she had been with her swollen belly.  That felt lifetimes ago now.  He brought himself back and was sure to keep his eyes on her at all times, trying not to be distracted by the near void like black that now made up her life essence.  They really were opposites now…No, he’d refuse to believe that.  The Dalanesca he’d known, even briefly, was still in there.  He hoped.
 
“I’m here because of what’s going on in the world…As tethered as you are, you have to still realize the amount of turmoil that’s spreading across the continents.”  Normally he would have asked excitedly about this new element, but for now all he did was log away the name of the material for future questions.  Hopefully there would be happiness enough to ask them without guilt.  He wanted to walk towards her, it was his natural urge, but he fought it and kept himself planted,
 
“I’m here of my own volition, but I would be lying if I told you there were not personal reasons for my impromptu visit.”  This was a subject to tread softly, especially considering what his fellow deity had gone through that brought her to this state in the first place. “I would like to think that this symptom of your feud was unintentional…” his voice quieted.  That “symptom” of course was the amount of danger everyone had been put in,
 
“I don’t pretend to know the lengths of this fight between the two of you, nor will I ask for details as it’s none of my business,” he paused, choosing his next words carefully, “but I do ask that you take others into consideration.  For whatever reason, you now hold death in your power.  This madness has to come to an end…”  His eyes saddened and his lips pulled in.  Thoughts of his wife, the unborn children inside of her in danger, flooded his mind.
 
“You held balance and order before, that connection has to still be lingering somewhere even if it’s fading.  You and I, yes, our domains cross now…but so do you and Angela’s.  She is your other half just as much as I am, and we can’t have the world out of balance…”  In a way she hadn’t truly lost that domain, it had merely spread. “Is there nothing that can end this…?  I don’t choose a side between you or Angela: I choose the side of the lives that are being affected and will do whatever I can to help everyone reach a resolve.  Whatever that may mean.”

Dalanesca scoffed quietly as Naota.  His words were incredibly noble, and something in that annoyed the goddess to no end.  She knew, deep down inside herself, that Naota was not incorrect.  Her rage towards Angela Rose was not affecting only herself and Angela - it was affecting everyone in Revaliir.  She knew what was happening.  She knew that no one would die - those who were in the throes of dying were consistently on their deathbeds with no promise of release.  Those who were injured to the point of death felt the excruciating pain that came with the wounds, but did not succumb to the darkness as a result of the wounds.  Essentially, everyone in Revaliir was immortal - but they now knew that immortality was not all it seemed.  

“You come with such a noble reason, Naota,” she said.  Her voice was cold and even, not a hint of emotion audible in its tones.  “No one ever does anything without a hint of selfishness,” she said, and there was a harsh truth to her words.  She could have delved deeper and discovered what it was that had Naota wanting to get involved, personally as it were, but she frankly did not care enough to know the details - at least not at the current juncture in time.  She remained rather silent, choosing not to acknowledge the last part of what Naota said to her.

Naota’s next words caused her eyes to flash red and her voice to become even more harsh than it had already sounded.  “What connection I had to order died with my child,” she said sharply, and turned away from Naota.  She could feel the anger welling up deep within her chest, and she did not particularly want to unleash that on Naota.  “Unless you have a way to bring my child back from the dead, or bring Marth back from wherever it is that he’s gone… there is nothing you can do to reach a resolve.  I will not rest until Angela Rose feels the pain that I feel, and knows what I have gone through.”  She paused, and turned back to Naota, her eyes back to their normal icy blue.  “But please, do tell me… what is it that you think you could possibly do to make things right in this?” 

He felt a stab at his gut when she spoke of her now deceased child and missing lover.  Despite that harsh and piercing feeling, there was no shift on his expression or in his eyes.  There were many things he wanted to do, and even more that he wanted to say, but he held back all impulsive urges.  It was times like this that he was even more grateful that he and Minasé were no longer connected: the daemon would have taken advantage of his steadily building frustration and rage and overtaken their body by now.  

With a slow exhale he closed his eyes, willing himself to keep his calm, though the white markings on his body glowed brighter.  As much as he was trying to stay out of the personal affairs that had led up to this entire situation, it was becoming increasingly difficult not to ask.  Still, he held back the question and opened his eyes on her again.  Whether he liked it or not his jaw had slowly started to lock.  

“So you will allow the rest of the world to suffer so that Angela can feel pain?”  His relationship with Angela was a complicated one, but he couldn’t help but feel a little defensive for her.  For someone to assume that the woman had never experienced the loss of a lover or child, or that she had never known betrayal, was absolutely ludicrous and short sighted.  But, he kept that in, no matter how badly he wanted to snap the words.

He started to walk towards her, slow and measured steps, but never within her reach…not that arm’s distance mattered when it came to people such as them.  He spoke as he did so, “You’re going to allow countless mothers around the world to lose their children while they rest defenseless in the womb?”  He could feel Torinasu pulse strongly at his hip, feeding off of the negativity that he was beginning to give off without meaning to.  And then she asked what he would have done to resolve this.  As if that was possible, and he couldn’t help but think that the question was retorical.  Nonetheless,

“Don’t be so short sighted!”  The shout came before he could stop himself, and was an absolute rarity for him to ever raise his voice at all.   “If I had any place in this situation at all then I would have already told you both to stop acting like children and stop being so selfish.  You are both Triune of this world, and I’d tell you to both act like it.”

There was a tightness forming in his chest, and his pulse was raising to a near alarming rate.  For the first time that he could recall in decades, he had the urge to attack without thought…children in the world were at stake, humans, elves, dragons, plants, fish-the very world itself was being thrown off kilter!  If there was ever another reason to be so angry that he was close to violence, he couldn’t think of one.  

Though his muscles had gone rigid, his face went suddenly still, “Fine then.  Be left to your own misery.  But know this, if my unborn children are negatively affected by this temper tantrum then my next visit won’t be nearly so peaceful.”

His fingers moved into his pocket, pulling a small unpolished laguna agate and black tourmaline out and resting them on the ground, “I like you…I hope beyond hope that the aforementioned never comes to fruition.”  And with that he disappeared in a quick shimmer of light, leaving only the two stones behind.

Dalanesca nearly laughed at Naota.  How dare he think that the rest of the world was suffering as much as she?  “Until you have experienced, moment for moment, what I have gone through - you have no right to judge my actions,” she said, her tone harsh and dark.  She knew that Naota had certainly experienced his fair share of loss and heartache, but had an elder goddess promised him that nothing terrible would ever happen regarding something, only to not show up when she was needed?  She sincerely doubted that was the case, but she snapped her mouth shut and remained silent, until he spoke once more and it pushed her over the edge.

“Do you even understand what is happening?  No one is dying!” she shouted, her eyes flashing red at Naota in warning.  “I am saving everyone from experiencing the pain that I have felt!” She brought a hand to her forehead, lowering it to her side again. “No - you aren’t capable of carrying a life inside of you.  You wouldn’t know how terrible it is to experience that, to know that your body wasn’t good enough to keep that growing thing alive - to have the woman you thought was your best friend betray you and leave you helpless!”  She turned away from his with a flourish.  

She whipped back around to face Naota as he shouted at her, staring at him incredulously with her mouth slightly agape.  When his statement of his next return not being so pleasant if his children were harmed, her eyes turned crimson - a color so close to blood it seemed as though blood had just pooled in her eyes.  “If you ever step foot in this realm again-” she began, but before she could finish Naota had left from her sight.

“I will kill you.”