Eli was pacing around his throne in the center of the voting floor with a table for each continent arranged in a triangle with chairs for the lords all facing toward the center. “Allow me a moment to elaborate on your point that the power imbalance between Bethany and myself inherently means that we are incapable of what you called a real relationship. First things first, as in any debate, we must define terms. A real relationship is defined by reciprocity, sympathy, and empathy also known as love. Do you agree?”

  “No,” Lady Figula said. “Every relationship is also defined by power. If one side has too much more than the other, it becomes a game of control and response where the powerful has control and the weaker can only respond.”

  “So you would say that a parent does not love their child, or that when one in a relationship is injured, they are no longer in that relationship?”

  “I am not speaking of familial love, which can be described as unconditional, I am speaking of romantic love, like that of a courting couple.”

  “But when does that courting couple become a familial couple? When they get married? When they get engaged? Or is it only if they have children? Is it a hard transition occurring in an instant or is it something that happens over time?”

  “I can see the questions you are asking are designed so that my answers lead me where you want me to go. You have all the power here so you are the one asking the questions that force me into a no-win scenario.” Figula said while facing her continent's people, looking for their support but judging by the looks on their faces, she wasn’t going to get any help. Most likely those powerful men were worried that their own relationships would get called into question.

  “Let’s have fun with this then and we will play a game, you answer then ask, I answer then ask. Sound fair?” Eli asked in a calm and soft voice, he wanted this discussion to be nothing but an intellectual exercise that he could then shift to the topic that he really wanted to speak on, the nature of power and humanity.

  “Fine then, I will answer your questions. I would say over time, a romantic couple becomes a familial couple. More specifically when they both treat their lives as a single unit instead of a pair of individuals, making sacrifices for the good of the family and not just themselves.” She cleared her throat in an as yet uncharacteristic show of nervousness. “If one of these women you have with you decided that they wanted to leave, would they be able to?”

  “Yes and no.” Eli said and gave Figula a very sincere smile. “I appreciate you showing concern for them, I doubt that is why you brought this up, but I appreciate it all the same. Yes they can leave anytime they wish, in fact, Bethany here has full access to my trillions of system credits and my full inventory. She could leave with everything I have. But the answer is also no, my demi-god status allows for stronger soul connections than the typical lord has access to and severing that connection would be harmful to both of us. How are you qualified to judge my loving relationship?”

  “I have been in a similar situation to the one Bethany is in, feeling consumed by love in a way that borders on obsession with a handsome, silver-tongued powerhouse. It lasted for several years and I was happy. Until he ran into a situation where he had to choose between us gaining some, or him gaining a lot and he ditched me, leaving me with nothing. I was powerless to do anything about it and had to rebuild my life from scratch. So, yes, I feel like I’m coming from a place where I feel like I can judge. Do you feel that your relationship with her is fair?”

  “Yes. How is this attack on my character not a reflection or your own personal bias?” Eli asked, starting to actually believe that there wasn’t an ulterior motive to this public display.

  “Perhaps it is, I wonder if you would indulge me though and allow me to speak directly to her?”

  He was hesitant as it seems this was her goal all along, “Very well.” Eli said and sat back onto his throne.

  “Lady Bethany, would you describe your relationship to me?”

  Bethany scoffed and just made her name and title visible for all to see.

  “Bethany High Acolyte of Ash, Demi-God or Ruin.”

  When she gave no further response, Figula continued. “So you have a religious relationship with our host?” The room was eerily silent after she showed everyone her title but the look on Liasandra’s face was pure unbridled fury but she quickly returned it to neutral, but not before Eli had noticed the change in her magic and he was staring directly at her. She gave him a little nod meaning ‘no’ and then proceeded to ignore him.

  “I don’t see how this is any of your business, I didn’t ask for your help nor do I require any help.”

  “Demi-god or not, has he ever done anything you disagree with?”

  “Of course. Has the universe ever been unfair to you or someone you love?” Bethany asked back quickly and with her agitation growing. It was clear to everyone in the room except Figula, that Bethany's agitation was from her belief that this entire conversation was pointless. She loved Ash without reservation.

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  “I think everyone here would agree that existence has nothing to do with fairness. Are you saying that your love for Ash is the same as existence? The same thing as being a person?” Figula sounded genuinely confused.

  “Let me make this plain for you, If my divine love sitting there decided to destroy the planet including me. My corpse would follow him to the next one with the exact amount of love I have for him at this moment or perhaps even more. Why does any of this matter to you anyway? You don’t care about me or Alora or even Ash. In fact, the only thing in this conversation that would benefit you would be to weaken his public image, or set yourself up to court him. Which is it?” Bethany had the smirk of a snake who had just found an unguarded nest full of eggs.

  “Well, you may be half right, but this is only the first vote. We have four more days to get to know each other.” Figula said and turned on her heels walking slowly back to her seat. The entire room seemed confused at her abrupt end to the conversation, everyone except Bethany who had a guess as to what this was about but someone able to play Figula’s kind of long game with these stakes was not someone she was willing to make a guess on.

  Bethany took a slow breath and collected herself, preparing her own personal version of a ‘master-of-ceremonies’ to continue the voting as orderly as possible. While explaining that there were 20 minutes until people could cast their vote, allowing them to leave, Aria and Jasmine got up and walked over to an empty side room. Just before they went in, Aria got Alora’s attention and signalled her to join them, not having anything else to do she went along with it and entered the side room, closing the door behind her.

  Aria spoke first, like they were old friends catching up, very friendly and upbeat. “How have you been Alora? You look well.” She hugged her and then they sat down. “I’m happy to see you here and at our deity’s side no less.”

  “Um, thank you. I’m glad to see you are doing well yourself. Who is your friend here?” Alora said trying to be just as friendly and hide the concern she felt for Aria since she was nothing like the Gwen she used to know. Her greatest concern was the manic look in her eyes, it was as if she was constantly witnessing Eli’s full transcendent power, like it was burned into her mind.

  “This is Jasmine, she has a talent that I think our deity would find useful, or at least interesting. Plus we have become friends.” Alora looked at Jasmine to explain further.

  “It is nice to meet you Alora, I was impressed with the magic you displayed and I appreciate how Ash did it publicly so that we could all learn it. I hope you understand that he was not admonishing you but using the opportunity to show that he will freely share information. Now that I have seen him, and felt his power for myself, I truly find him just as divine as Aria described.” Jasmine explained. She was clearly oversharing in an attempt to display trust, at least that is what she hoped she was doing.

  “Pfft,” Aria said with a chuckle, “He has yet to show off anything actually impressive.”

  “I agree,” Alora said, “Those people out there don’t realize the games they are playing are meaningless.”

  “I disagree. That Figula is playing a long game, one that could unite the world's most powerful against Ash. I really hope I get to talk to him soon since I think I can help him avoid it.” Jasmine had real concern in her voice, especially since most of her plans for the future were now involving Ash being a friend, or at worst, him being friendly towards her.

  “He knows,” Alora said casually and Aria nodded in confirmation.

  “He knows that I can help, or that her game isn’t over?”

  “Both I would imagine,” said Aria. “Besides, if I’m not mistaken, he plans on having people come after him after this conference.”

  “He knows it's inevitable that someone will be stupid enough to try and gather up ten or so strong people to take him out. He hasn’t spoken to me about it directly, but I think he said he's going to make an example out of them.” Alora said as if it was just another thing that happens in her world and the attempted assassination of her master was normal.

  “So you aren’t worried that the whole world could be against you? They might come after your whole group or even you two specifically.” Jasmine was showing genuine concern for them since she was shocked how little they seemed to care.

  “Let’s cut to the crap,” Alora said, changing her expression to one of determination as she looked her dead in the eyes. “What is it that you want with my master?”

  “I thought that…” Aria started but was cut off.

  “Not you, I get why you are introducing her. I want to know what she has planned.” Alora said, giving Aria an admonishing look. Aria shriveled under her gaze making herself as small as possible.

  “Well,” Jasmine started, then cleared her throat in the sudden realization that she was in a small sound proof room with two seemingly religious fanatics. “I would like to partner with him on future events. From what Aria has told me and what I have seen so far your group obviously has power and with my abilities we can work together to our mutual benefit.”

  Then Alora’s body language and tone of voice changed, “That sounds like a politician's response, now tell us the real reason and keep in mind that we take pride in removing obstacles from our master’s path.”

  Jasmine tensed, but did not falter, “I want what everyone wants, to feel safe.” She started letting some of her frustrations and trauma leak out as her voice became more frantic. “Look at me, magic may have evened out the strength between genders but it hasn’t changed how men look at a small woman like me. They either look at me like an easy meal, or like some doll that needs protection and that I should be happy to pay for that protection with my body. Before I came into my talent and power I spent weeks in the tutorial basically bedding any man I thought would be able to keep me safe. I just want to sleep at night safely without having to whore myself out to do it.”

  Alora, or rather, Alistasia, was not convinced by her tears the way Aria was as she tried to comfort Jasmine. “I feel like that's a half truth. That may all be true but there's something else here, I’m not convinced that you think he is safe and I don’t see how you get safety from him in the way you claim.” She summoned her staff and the small room got cold with snow and crackled with lightning. “Last chance. I want the full story.”