I don't know of anything more terrible than standing against the Empire. At this point, I can clearly see the foundations of blood and the hypocrisy it uses to tie its bricks together but those are merely points that offend my morality. For everyone who is as passionate on these issues as I am, there is another who will rapidly proclaim the glory of Arascus and praise that we finally have the decisive ruthlessness we deserve. Nevertheless, such abstract sentiments are meaningless at the end of the day. They mean utterly nothing by themselves and only serve as after-the-fact justifications for the crowd which will inevitably choose the winning team.

In Kassandora's 'Philosophy of War', the woman makes a notable point. An army needs to hate their opponent and it needs to be constantly assured of its own victory until it is too late back out. Whether Arascus takes after one of the Goddess' he calls daughter, or whether it is his own reasoning that have figured out this method to stem any counterattack against the Empire, I do not know. Yet I do know that Kassandora is correct and I know that I cannot wield the knowledge she freely shares in her book.

Logistically, the moment that Imperial ships became commonplace on the Eastern Seaboard was the moment that it became ridiculously difficult to declare war on the Empire. Unless we were willing to stain our own hands with the sinking of unarmed civilians vessels, we would have to give them apt warning. If we gave them apt warning, we were all certain that the Imperial warfleet would arrive bearing at least a few of their most powerful Goddesses.

Now though, that ridiculously difficult has become impossible. The Clerics in Anver General have given no interviews although they did not need to. Instead, we got to hear the tales of the terminally sick who were now walking out of hospitals with a fresh grasp on life. We got to see people cry after healing from terminal diseases and we got to see Clerics stumble and almost collapse after healing a patient. We got to watch limbs and wounds be regrown on the main channels of news in all the UNN. We got to see grown men cry when their dying parents walked out of hospitals. We got to see women who were told that they had almost no chance of surviving birth suddenly walk out so spotless from the operation room.

Whereas the general population cares not for the various scandals Arascus has been involved in, for what does it matter whether the God of Pride actually takes over a country in a borderline-bloodless coup? They do care about their friends and family who were told they would die suddenly come out in a second prime of their life.

And yet, that is not all. Maybe if all that it was were just the Clerics, we could possibly mobilize the population against them. The advent of the Goddess of Disease has just shut this second doorway. Now, do we not only have to convince people to swat away the Empire's helping hand, we also have to delude them with grand narratives of how easy the war will be.

The Goddess of Disease was just the nail in the coffin. At least when it was just Olephia and Anassa and Fer, then there was the chance the battlefield would be contained to the battlefield itself. With Baalka in the fray, what is not the battlefield?

- Excerpt from the draft of "To Topple Empires", by Goddess Ciria, of Civilization.

Kassandora's ruminations were interrupted by Kavaa entering her room. The Goddess of War had retreated into the inside of Iniri's Great Oak so that she wouldn't have to bother facing any of the public, nor answering any questions. It was not a case of nervousness, rather, what could she say? It was a damn miracle that they managed to contain the spread of information out of the Underground for this long but for how long would that hold. At this point, Kassandora expected Arascus to approach her every damn day and ask her to hold a presentation confirming a leak that Tartarus existed.

Or maybe he would do it himself, but it didn't matter anyway. The Second Expedition's secrecy was a hamper in any plans and whilst it did not stop her orders from reaching the men in time, it did hamper any reports being fed back to her. "What is this?" Kassandora lifted up a bottle of whiskey had managed to grab off one of the server girls. It was an expensive import straight from Allia.

Kavaa shut the door and opened her coat to reveal a bottle of her own gin. "I meant at the party Kassie."

"Am I a party person Kavaa?" Kassandora asked. "Do you think I am?" Kavaa smiled and shook her head. "So why did you come?"

"I don't know." Kavaa said. "I wanted to see you?" Kassandora sighed and leaned back. She opened her bottle, the cap audibly clicked on the first twist, and then she filled a cup with whiskey. "You weren't even drinking?"

"I was ruminating." Kassandora admitted without a hint of shame. The room she had chosen had a window to the outside. She could see the lights on the ground and the fireworks going off in the distance.

"That's not like you." Kavaa took off her black coat and pulled up a chair from the nearby table to sit back Kassandora's desk. "So? What on?"

Kassandora sighed. A thought had been crossing her mind. It was almost shameful to admit it though. "War plans." The Goddess of War lied. If there was one thing she rarely actually ruminated on, it was war-plans. Those things just came into her mind as if by themselves. Kavaa seemed to realise that too. The grey eyes practically leaked solid doubt. Kassandora sighed.

And to top it off, Kavaa actually just said what she was thinking outright. "Somehow Kass, I doubt that." The Goddess of War tipped her head back and emptied the whole glass of whiskey into her mouth, it burned on the way down but it did little more than that. She quickly poured herself another and Kavaa stepped in.

"You know I can cure drunkenness." She said seriously.

"I know." Kassandora confirmed. She finished pouring herself the glass and left it on the desk.

"So?" Kavaa asked.

"I don't understand."

"Usually you at least try to show up for parties. Your sister is back Kassie. I'm more worried that you're sat here ruminating rather than seeing her over the fact you're going to get drunk today." Kassandora looked around the wood room. It was a balloon of air around which Iniri had grown the Great Oak of Central Requisitions. It was one of the great rooms for Divines, Neneria had obviously stayed here because there had been a stack of utterly random books on one of the shelves. A cookbook about traditional Rancais dishes, some dictionary of animals and a fantasy novel named In the Shadow of the Light. There was a desk, a bed off to one side, a window through which a great green firework had just blown up, and that was it. The rest of the room was all wood, even down to the hinges of the door. "Are you going to look around the room or are you going to answer me?" Kavaa asked.

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"I'm going to answer." Kassandora finally admitted. Although answer how? She did not know. She looked at Kavaa again and felt… Was it a barrier? Definitely the Goddess of Health did not seem like such a bright star as she did before. The answer came immediately as to why for Kassandora. There was almost nothing to think about. But it was an answer so terrible she did not know how to phrase it.

"Then?" Kavaa asked. Kassandora opened her mouth, closed it and shook her head. She simply did not know what to say. "If you're not going to say anything, then I will." Kavaa said. "Which is that you've been avoiding me ever since we awoke Baalka. I know you talked with Arascus, I am sure you know I have talked with him. I promise that all I did was hug him and that was because I was curious as to what it was like."

"Mmh." Kassandora said. The woman had no clue then, no clue whatsoever, as to what had set Kassandora is such a mood. "It's not… I don't mind if you like my father." Kassandora said. "A great many people do. I am jealous of many things, of his love, never." She did not need to be.

"Then?" Kavaa asked, leaning forward. The bottle of gin she had by her side was still unopened, her glass was still unpoured.

"Are you not going to drink?" Kassandora asked. Kavaa seemed to realise she was sitting next to a bottle and shook her head. That grey hair really was unique. Even Maisara's silver, the closest resemblance, had a noble shine to it. Kavaa's grey was a mournful, haggard, hood rather than anything.

"I brought a bottle but not anymore."

"You should." Kassandora said. Normally, it did not matter when she drank alone. With Kavaa though, Kassandora actually felt dirty for drinking. Kassandora savoured that emotion more than the drink itself. It was oddly calming once she realised it. That meant she still had some fondness for the Goddess of Health after everything they had been through.

"I want you to tell me." Kavaa declared and cross her arms. Those grey eyes looked as if they wanted to pierce tunnels into Kassandora's head and see directly into her mind.

"I don't want to be the only one drinking." After saying that, Kassandora felt even worse. It was just avoiding the problem she wanted to actually say.

"I'll pour myself one." Kavaa said slowly. "But you will tell me why you're moping about." Kassandora leaned back on her chair and thought of emptying the glass again. She wanted to be sober for this conversation with Kavaa though. She should be. Kavaa deserved that modicum of respect at least.

"I am disappointed." Kassandora said tentatively. It shouldn't have been phrased that way. Kassandora knew it shouldn't. But it was because she did not know another way to phrase it.

"Why?" Kavaa asked but the concerned brows darting down and the quick tone said she feared the worst. Kassandora confirmed it.

"It…" No. It would be just easier if she said it flat out. "I am disappointed because of you Kavaa." Kassandora hated what she was saying. Her crimson eyes pulled away from Kavaa's face and focused entirely on the glass of whiskey before her. "But do not worry about it." Kassandora did not even know why she had that. "Rather, you shouldn't worry because it's Neneria's fault too."

"What is."

Kassandora leaned back and drank her glass of whiskey. She said what had to be said. "I went off the rails Kavaa. I did it, in Baalka's mind, I just went mad." With each word, Kassandora could practically see Kavaa shrivelling up more and more. First it was the smile, then the posture, then the hands intertwining their fingers on her own knees first. But now that Kassandora was on a roll, she had to say everything she could. It would be too difficult to start this again. "I was going to kill her and I was going to do it because I thought that you would slow me down if I ever proposed something like that."

Kavaa shifted on her seat and shook her head. She picked out her words carefully. "What you have said to me versus the situation we were in." She sucked her lips into her mouth for a moment. "I saw no way out. What was I supposed to say? That there's another way."

"That I am mad and insane and stupid." Kassandora said. "What you do is you grab my collar and you slap me until I think of something else. I told you to do that before."

"I…" Kavaa shook her head. "I didn't think it would be like that."

"Was there another way when I got Elassa to crack Arika and end the Jungle? Was there a way we could have held out without putting anyone's life at risk?" Kassandora simply stared straight at Kavaa for a moment as the Goddess of Health took a drink, once it was over, Of War continued. "If it is something easy, then I will not enter that state in the first place."

"I'm sorry." Kavaa said.

"Words are wind. Sorry is just a way to deal with one's guilt." Kassandora felt terrible the moment she said those words. She honestly did not even know why. Because they were true? She tried to make Kavaa feel better. "Nevertheless, I accept your apology."

"I don't want you to." Kavaa said. "Not for what happened. I'm sorry Kassandora because I will have to say no to you."

And with that, Kassandora felt her mouth quiver. What did Elassa just say? That she would say no? In what fashion? "I don't understand."

"When you first told me of this issue, I underestimated it." Kavaa said sadly. "I do not know what I was thinking at the time although maybe that was the problem. I wasn't thinking. I just considered that I would be able to outsmart and outwit you."

Kassandora could all but taste that mountain of sins on her back. Kavaa had just laid another stone in, not knowing she was even doing it. The crime of trying to share the weight without checking whether the other was capable of it in the first place. "I don't mind." Kassandora said.

"Do you not?"

"I'm just disappointed."

"Mmh." Kavaa said. "Well I cannot apologize enough but I have to tell you one thing."

"What is it?" Kassandora replied with her own question. Honestly, she had no clue and honestly, she did not know if her attempt at pretending to be curious would actually work.

"I do not know if I can stop you and I do not think you would trust me to anyway."

"I would." Kassandora said immediately. At this point, she could tell what the woman was like and she knew that Kavaa would not abandon her.

"But I myself do not know if I can stop you. I do not mean verbally but rather when you do start to sprint whilst the rest of us keep jogging, I don't think I can spot it. You're just a spot in the distance at the end of the day Kassie." Kassandora drank her glass of whiskey to that. Now that, she could accept as a reason.

Kavaa drank too. Kassandora finished first and spoke. "I only said this because I know you can take it."

"I'm glad you think so." Kavaa said. "But there's one more thing I have to say."

"What?"

"You need to control yourself Kass and you shift the blame by saying you got out of control. You're the most in-control person I know. You're too competent to get out of control. What you told me was the truth, I believe you still that you have some need for escalation, but…" Two Goddesses silently poured themselves glasses. "But I don't believe that was the whole truth."

Kassandora once again tipped her head back. This time to drink straight from the bottle. They really should make alcohol for the size of Divines. When she settled down, she looked Kavaa in the eyes. The Goddess of Health returned the gaze. "You're correct Kavaa." Kassandora said. "You're correct but I don't know if I'll see it."

"I think you will."

"I hope so."

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