A GODDESSES PARADISE (girlxgirlxgirl)

25; Ultimatum

Ariadne has been the harshest. She immediately and without warning kicked out those who had hurt Irene out of the temple and ordered them to be jailed. The queen complied, hoping to be able to put them in a real dungeon once Irene returns and explains what happened from her perspective. Whatever choking marks that some of the girls have claimed to see on Irene have not been investigated, since it can't be proven true. But Ariadne has spared no person, her anger is blinding and she has throughly berated and yelled at the girls of her temple for the things they did wrong that day.

She even gave them a strict order. "If you are against Irene, you can pack your things and leave".

Thea wasn't as strict. Nobody can prove that her temple girls did anything wrong, at least not yet, so she doesn't have to punish anyone. But since yesterday Ariadne has not spoken to her, instead acting very hostile and ultimately banning all Athena girls from the temple of Aphrodite. She has been very clear, Ariadne thinks that Thea and the Athena temple carry most of the blame for what happened. Their argument yesterday left Ariadne to practically breaking up with Thea, despite them not being together. They are enemies now, not playful enemies, but real ones.

There is only hate in Ariadne's tone when she opposes something that Thea says.

Thea has a lot of guilt. She got carried away with the pressure of taking care of the country that is on the verge of an attack. To hurt or undermine Irene's position in the city was never her first intention. She wanted to activate the leaders to call on a meeting, activate them to fix the forcefield so that they could be safe from other outsiders. Irene is safe, Isaac is probably safe, but the fact is that the rest of humanity as a group isn't safe. They would turn the island into a dark place, something that would lack support for the gods, and in the end ruin the only safe place the gods have left.

But then everybody started talking about Irene. Thea hadn't had time to think that far. She's a general, the leader of her temple and on the same time she has to rule the country since the queen is so useless and pathetic. She hadn't slept in two days and was swept up with work. It ultimately lead her to taking action on the problem at hand without addressing Irene or even taking her side. When Ariadne kept nagging about Irene she lost her temper because of stress and started turning against Irene like the rest of the city. It's her fault for not asking for help, not asking someone else to take care of matters. It's her fault for always having to handle everything by herself. And it's her fault for getting carried away and not considering Irene's position.

She didn't think through Irene's eyes. Didn't remember that Irene is alone, she has nobody else that is an outsider in the city except for her. She's the smallest minority and minority can be. Not only that, but she's small and weak, can barely speak in their language and hasn't had the same opportunities as everyone else. She's vulnerable, and while everyone else used that against her, Thea didn't take it into consideration when she made her announcements and arguments. So while she still on bad terms with Ariadne, they no longer differ in opinion. Thea isn't against Irene anymore, she never should've been but better late than never, she isn't anymore.

The two still hate each other though, and that means that the two temples hate each other, and that means that half of the population of the city is at war with each other. It's not a pretty picture, and every hour it only gets worse. It doesn't help that the situation they started with is still very much there. The forcefield is bad and any day now boats and ships could arrive at their shores. They have little idea on how to fix it, and time is running out.

It absolutely doesn't help that the emperor is coming today, any minute now, to join their meeting about the crisis. He has arrived in the city and is traveling through it at a slow pace to greet the people of the goddesses. Soon he will walk through the gates and break the thick and deadly silence that has laid itself over the throne room.