Chapter Text
Was this right? Rae was fairly sure that the house would have everything that his mother would need, but there might be stuff he was missing. Would Enderian mind if something was missing? Surely it wouldn’t be too big of a deal if it didn’t have everything immediately. Rae began double-checking every little detail in the house and didn’t even realise he was murmuring his thoughts out loud until the auras began to form words and ask what he was doing.
“Oh- hi auras” He muttered, glancing around at the swirling lights “I’m just finishing with Enderian’s house”
Several “oohs” and “aahs” came from the auras at that. They all began chipping in with lots of encouragement and assurance that Enderian would like it.
“I know she’ll probably like it…I just want to make sure everything’s right” Rae sighed, anxiously twirling his necklace around his hand.
“Maybe ask someone else’s opinion first before showing Enderian?” one of the auras suggested to Rae.
“Yeah, yeah that’s a good idea” he murmured, setting off in search of one of his partners. Caspian was probably in his workshop, repairing Soraza, so Rae decided to check there first. However, as her emerged from the cluster of cherry trees outside his house, he spotted someone else waiting around the front garden before getting to Caspian’s workshop. Athena was stood on their tiptoes, peering over the top of the wall to Solaris and Polaris’ pen while chatting to a few piglins. Eventually, one of the undead creatures noticed Rae appearing out of the treeline and told Athena, who turned around and beamed at Rae with they saw him.
“Hi Rae!” They chirped, bouncing up to the scientist.
“Hey Athena” Rae responded, “How’ve you been since the meeting?”
“I’ve been alright…is Enderian around here?”
Athena nodded towards the shulker box in his arms that the scent of curry was wafting up from, before adding that they wanted to talk about what happened at the meeting, amongst other things.
“Yeah, I’m sure we can find Enderian, she doesn’t normally go too far from the house” Rae said, looking around to see if his mother was already outside “Oh- uh, could you check something for me? I built a house for Enderian and want to get someone else to look at it before she sees it, just to make sure it’s alright”
“Yeah I’ll have a look at it!”
Rae nodded and led Athena (followed by about a dozen piglins) through the forest and towards the house. It wasn’t too big – Rae didn’t think a house for one person needed to be particularly large – but it wasn’t exactly a simple house either. It was made of end stone and had some marble decorations around the door and windows, but it was the amethyst roof that Athena liked the most. As soon as she saw it, her eyes red-and-gold widened with delight as she let out an awed “ooh”, only looking away when one of the piglins began grunting something that seemed particularly amusing.
“You’re so right piglins, this is just Rae’s equivalent of a little kid wanting to give their parent a really bad drawing” Athena agreed matter-of-factly, before turning to
Rae “Not that this is bad – no, the house is great – it’s just that they have the same vibes, y’know?”
Rae snickered “Pfft- kinda”
“Anyway. I think you should show this house to Enderian as soon as possible, because I think she would love it” Athena continued, their tone implying that there wasn’t much room for disagreement. Rae sighed and nodded, before walking back out of the forest. As he headed towards his house, an idea entered his mind, just a simple test, but something that was important to know.
“Hey Mom…” Rae murmured to himself, trying to find the feeling of the connection between him and Enderian once more “Athena’s here, they want to talk to you”
The silence wasn’t exactly encouraging, but he nonetheless tried again.
“I have something to show you”
Still nothing.
The connection was completely gone. Maybe there was still something left, some fragment of his mind powers that he could still use, even if the mental link with Enderian had been broken. Despite Rae’s lack of confidence in whatever abilities still lingered, he still tried to look inside his mind once more. However, he wasn’t reaching for his mental link with his mother, he was searching for the powers he’d gained from being her vessel.
~~*~~
“Mom? Can you hear me?”
Enderian looked sharply up from the pile of yarn she was attempting to turn into something vaguely resembling a scarf and glanced around for her son. She hadn’t imagined hearing his voice, but he didn’t seem to be anywhere nearby. Frowning in confusion, Enderian placed down her two needles, trying to figure out where Rae’s voice had come from, but there was no sign of him nearby. Deciding that more answers would come if she gave a response, Enderian spoke up.
“Yes Rae, I can”
“Wait- really? Ok, um, well…Athena’s here. They wanted to talk to you”
Enderian faltered at that, sitting up slightly straighter. She hadn’t left things on a positive note with her nephew, and the things she said about their parent certainly warranted an apology. Unfortunately, that wasn’t a skill that Enderian wasn’t particularly confident in yet.
“What’s wrong?” One of the auras asked “Are you nervous about talking to Athena?”
“No” Enderian snapped instantly, almost out of instinct “Well…I am no more apprehensive than I would be talking to any other member of Lodestar Grove”
“So you are nervous then?”
Enderian let out an irritated huff and rose from the sofa in the middle of Rae’s front room, making her way to the door. She opened it and saw her son standing a few feet from the front of his house.
“Hi Mom” He said quietly
“Hello Rae” Enderian responded “You said Athena was here?”
“Uh…yeah, he’s just in the forest. This way”
Rae led Enderian through the grove of cherry trees and just past the small pond that led to the sea where Enderian had spent so much time in the first few days after leaving the pocket dimension, and halted just outside a cottage made of end stone. It was quite large, very long and definitely tall enough for Enderian to stand at her full height, with a roof made of polished amethyst and a few marble pillars supporting the part of the roof that hung ever so slightly off the edge of the house. Next to the house, just as Rae said, was Athena, chatting to the small cluster of piglins that followed them around. The sound of Rae and Enderian’s footsteps soon caught their attention, and they quickly turned away to greet them.
“Hi Rae! And- oh, hi Enderian!” They chirped, waving cheerily. Enderian halted, surprised at how friendly her nephew was. Out of anyone in Lodestar Grove, she wasn’t expecting Athena to be particularly friendly, not after their previous interaction and especially not after the End stone reset. Somewhat uncertainly, Enderian murmured a greeting as she and Rae approached them.
“What do you think of the house? Rae built it for you!”
At Athena’s question, Enderian quickly glanced over the pale yellow cottage and gave it an approving nod, smiling softly.
“It is…rather nice Rae, thank you”
Athena gave Rae a pointed “I-told-you-so” expression, and the scientist responded with an uncertain smile and a quiet statement that he was glad Enderian liked it. He was walked towards the house and was about to open the door and show Enderian and Athena inside, when his communicator pinged and he sheepishly backed away, pulling it out of his pocket and texting a response to whoever had just messaged him.
“Sorry- it’s Ocie” He murmured after a moment “She needs someone to watch over Oscar for a bit, she doesn’t want him to be left alone after…the incident with Arisanna a while ago”
Rae gave Athena and Enderian an apologetic smile, before spreading his wings and flying out of the cherry trees. Athena gave him a wave and tilted his head up at the sky, watching Rae’s flying form slowly disappear over the horizon. Almost as soon as he had faded from view, Athena turned on their heel and faced back towards the house, promptly marching up to the door and insisting to Enderian that they looked inside, as apparently, Rae’s interior decorating skills were just as good as his architectural skills. Opening the polished, dark oak door revealed that to be true, and Enderian saw that inside there was everything she’d need if she were to continue living in the Overworld.
“Rae said that you wanted to speak with me?” She asked, taking a seat on one of the chairs in the house.
“Yes, yes, I did” Athena responded, placing the shulker box in their hands on the floor before sitting on the chair opposite her aunt “First of all, I know Easton isn’t likely to apologize for what they said when they first saw you, so I just wanted to say that they probably won’t stay mad forever. I think they were just shocked”
“You do not need to apologise for what Easton said, I think it was somewhat…deserved” Enderian sighed
“Nope. No it wasn’t” Athena insisted matter-of-factly “Easton was angry at you, and maybe they were angry for a reason, but that doesn’t mean that they have an excuse to say what they said to you. No-one deserves to be spoken to that way”
“Apart from Fable” one of the auras added, and when Enderian passed on the message, Athena nodded confidently, repeating that Fable was, in fact, the exception, before quickly returning to more serious topics.
“I just don’t want you to feel like you’re not wanted around here. It’s very easy to focus on negative stuff, even when there are more positives” She said gently, and the words did make Enderian feel a lot better. She hadn’t mentioned this to anyone really, but since escaping Purgatory and arriving at Lodestar Grove, she had been worried about whether the village’s residents would even accept her presence. Enderian had done so much to hurt so many of them, whether directly or indirectly, and she would not be the least bit surprised if no-one wanted her around.
“Thank you Athena” Enderian murmured, feeling a small smile cross her face.
“No problem at all, and just to make sure you feel extra welcome here, I brought you some food!”
Athena placed a large basket on the table with a small column of steam and the scent of pork curries and crimson stews rising from it. It had been a long time since Enderian had eaten food from the Nether – it had been a long time since she had eaten food in general, aside from the somewhat subpar quality soups Rae made – and she was quite happy to see something to eat that was that good.
“I don’t know what your tolerance is when it comes to spice, but Rae can’t really handle spicy food, so I tried not to make the food to hot because – is spice tolerance genetic? I don’t know. Anyway, where do you want me to put these?” Athena babbled, taking several bowls out of the shulker box, before looking at the cupboards above the furnace and realising that they were for too high up to reach.
“I will do it” Enderian offered, rising to her feet “I haven’t had food like this since the war”
If Athena’s ears had the ability to prick up, they certainly would’ve done so it that moment as Enderian placed the food he’d given her in the cupboard that he was trying to reach.
“Oh you’ve already had it?” he asked, looking quite delighted at the idea “Ok- that seems obvious now I think about it. That makes sense, you’ve probably been to the Nether before”
Enderian laughed slightly, before telling Athena how many of the gods would take any opportunity to invite one another to their realms, and how Netherum and Soul were always the most hospitable before the war.
“And during the war?” Athena interrupted, a slight softness to her usually cheery voice.
“The gods of the Aether were all husked and the gods of the Overworld could no longer be trusted. After the war started, I only ever left my realm for meetings with Soul and Netherum for war meetings”
“Maybe one day the gods will start inviting each other to all the realms again!”
“Maybe one day”
It was unlikely that Athena was right, a thought that made Enderian sadder than she expected it would. A small part of her missed the years before the war, before her problems were no more serious than disagreements with the other gods of her court, life was…easier then. Noticing the melancholy air that had settled, Athena quickly changed the subject and asked Enderian to tell them about their parents. Apparently Fable had given them some information about what they were like, but considering recent events, they wanted to hear about Soul and Netherum from someone more trustworthy. Enderian was slightly surprised by this request, but nonetheless agreed to it, and was soon sharing many stories of the two rulers of the Nether. Athena sat and listened the entire time, their smile growing with every story of the brilliants ways that Soul and Netherum would work together, the ideas they had to improve life of the Nether’s citizens and how they loved their realm and their people almost as much as they loved each other. By the time she’d finished, Enderian also began to feel a similar calmness and happiness, and as Athena made his way out of her cottage and back towards his own home, Enderian felt glad she could help Athena know his parents better. She was finally able to be there for Rae, Icarus and Fable had reunited after so long (for better or for worse) and Will, wherever he was, must’ve found Alerion by now, but Athena was still without their parents, and still with very little memory of what they were like, so Enderian was happy to tell her nephew about their parents. Once Athena had left the cherry tree forest, Enderian turned back to the bowls of Nether food that they had given her. There was a lot of them to put away, and figuring out how to organise them in her cupboards, Enderian thought that putting them away wouldn’t exactly be done in seconds…
“Oh well” The goddess thought to herself “At least learning how to cook is something that can be put off for now”
