May Soul Dissonance Bow Before Me

Chapter 41

TCF!Witira and TBOAH!Witira stared at each other intently, curious about what the other had thought about the fight against the Dragon half-blood and the outcome for the battle. Silently, the two Whales tribe future queens studied each other, and then TBOAH!Witira's expression changed - conceding and relenting as she accepted that TCF!Witira had far more than she did.

TCF!Witira was stronger than her, had fought even harder than her, and had achieved what TBOAH!Witira had long ago given up on. TCF!Witira had Paseton. She had a strong Whale Tribe to lead, and she had her family and her friends. She even had allies who she could rely on and trust despite them not even being part of the Whale tribe.

Her heart ached as she looked down at her own hands, to the scars and callouses left behind from the long years of bitter fighting. Arm, the mermaids... even though Choi Han in their timeline had helped them, it was not to the extent of how much Cale had done. In their world, the Whale tribe and the other oceanic lifeforms had been pushed to the brink of extinction because of the Mermaid tribe's greed.

Sorrow and loss nagged at her, the grief of losing Paseton all those years ago had become a festering wound that grew worse with the weight of deaths that their tribe had been dealt. Many of the young had been killed by Arm, and even more had lost their guardians and parents - those were wounds that could never heal. Her father lamented losing Paseton. He'd even told the Wolf-boy, Lock, once that if Paseton had still been alive, he would have passed on the throne and gone to live on land with Paseton. TCF!Witira did not have to carry that weight and that burden.

TBOAH!Witira bowed her head and tried to swallow down the mournful cry that clamped like a noose around her throat. Her gaze grew blurry as tears gathered, but she clenched her fists and grit her teeth, unwilling to give in to the weakness of crying at her own flaws and shortcomings. She still had her pride as a Whale and as the future Queen. She could not simply allow herself to break here in this room.
"It's okay... this is a safe space... you can watch a little more and then I'll send you both to a private suite." The Goddess Grigori spoke in her mind, but she couldn't help flinching at the kind tenderness she heard in Grigori's tone.

Both TCF!Witira and TBOAH!Witira were unsure how to handle the maternal warmth and gentleness they could feel and hear in Grigori's telepathic voice. As children who grew and thrived on receiving the love and care of their father, Whale King Shickler, TCF!Witira and TBOAH!Witira were both rendered helpless to the feelings Grigori was invoking within them.

Grigori chose to remain in her place at the front of the hall, she had to fight down her instinct to move toward TBOAH!Witira and resisted the urgent yearning to embrace the Whale Tribe Princess because she knew the proud Whale Tribe Princess wanted and needed to maintain her proud air and dignity more than she wanted to be comforted. Grigori chose to respect her decision even though it physically pained her to do so. TBOAH!Witira did not want to be touched or comforted by her right now, so Grigori remained seated, keeping away from her, but closely monitoring her mental state.

In her many years of life, Grigori has learnt many things, one such thing was ingrained into the laws governing of her domain. It was about how communicating and enforcing her boundaries told people how to respect her, while asking for permission and consent showed her respect for them. Even as a goddess, it seemed only reasonable that she maintain some semblance of her empathy for humans and lifeforms younger than herself. It was also only common sense for her to remember that humans and younger lifeforms required much more consideration than those of the divine did. Once everyone had settled down, Naur continued the record.

<Chapter 244: I Will... You (9)>
The Dragon half-blood raised his head. He could see the confident gaze looking at him. He could see Choi Han, whose expression did not change at all even as the light burned his hand. Choi Han's violent darkness followed the injury Raon left behind in order to cut through the Dragon half-blood's insides.
"Ugh, y, you trash!"