Iliana wanted to run.
Every cell in her body screamed for her to break ranks and force her way through the crowded gate to the open road beyond. It might've meant circling back around to reach the docks, but it'd also mean freedom.
Reality was a bastard, though, and proved to her yet again that freedom was something she'd rarely experience. The harpy, Semele, had been all too happy to accompany Iliana, Alake, Lykos, and Callias to the city limits. This resulted in the woman being nearly glued to Iliana's side, her hands shoved in the pockets of her pants, and her tense frame just waiting for Iliana to try something.
Fucking harpies.
"Eumelia's late," Lykos mused.
"She said she needed to pick up a few materials before stopping for Abiel," Alake supplied. "She wants to make something stronger for him." He nodded to Callias, and Iliana frowned.
Was Eumelia making Callias a charm? For what? Irritation spun in her mind. It was bad enough that they'd bound her, would they attempt to do the same to him? Could they? She'd heard once that the merfolk were free. That nothing could shackle them after changing. It was Umae's gift to his children.
Did that include magical bindings?
"Right," Lykos replied, glancing behind their group. "I remember that, now. Can't have the fishboy suffocating on the trip."
Confusion flooded over her irritation. Iliana cocked a brow, studying Lykos's expression with a frown. "You're making him a land charm?"
If Callias felt similar confusion over the matter, he didn't show it. Instead, he simply sighed. "My current charm is enough. No need to waste coin on a new one."
"Enough to cross Eol without dying?" Lykos challenged.
Callias looked away, focusing his gaze on the line before them. Iliana took that to mean that Lykos wasn't wrong, but Callias felt no need to share the information with him. Which, of course, made the whole matter obvious.
"I've seen a merfolk pass that way before," Semele mused. "It wasn't pleasant for them. They kept gasping, but couldn't draw in a good breath. Looked painful."
"Was that really necessary?" Iliana snapped.
Semele chuckled. "Sorry. I'll stop talking about your beau."
Iliana crossed her arms over her chest, shooting a glower at the harpy. "Just because I don't think it's needed to go over death by suffocation with him standing right there doesn't mean we're courting. Fuck off, bird bitch."
Lykos burst out laughing, Semele pausing to study Iliana with a slight cock of her head.
"Iliana," Callias sighed.
A chill crept down her spine as she realized she'd just challenged a gods' child who spent her days hunting murderers for sport. But then she remembered the discomfort that seemed to show in the way Callias had tensed in just the slightest degree at Semele's words, and her irritation returned in full force.
So, like any reasonable person, she squared her shoulders, brought her hands to her hips, and raised her chin, preparing to fight if the harpy had truly taken offense.
Which is when Semele started laughing as well.
"Feisty little thing, isn't she?" the harpy asked.
"Isn't it great?" Lykos mused in turn.
Anger bubbled in Iliana's chest. She wasn't threatening, or offensive, apparently, but instead a joke. Every part of her urged her to throw a punch at one of them, anger clenching her fist and encouraging her to step forward, but she paused as a familiar, bubbly voice caught her ears. Abiel.
"And that's when the princess walked away," he babbled. "Well, she wasn't the princess, yet, but he wasn't the prince yet, either. So that was okay. They'll be together after the bell breaks, I think."
"The bell?" Eumelia questioned.
"Uh-huh! The golden one. Really pretty!"
"Thank you for sharing," Eumelia said, stepping through the last bit of the crowd to reach their small group. "Any other interesting dreams while we were here?"
Abiel scrunched up his face, shoving his little hand under his chin in careful, far-too-serious for the subject matter, gesture. His eyes flicked to Iliana, narrowing for a split second, before moving back to his mother.
"Nope! The rest were just the dark. It was okay, though, 'cause golden light flickered through them and chased the nightmares away! It was cool."
The incomprehensible words seemed to set Eumelia on edge, as the woman tensed and shared an unreadable expression with Lykos. In the next second, though, she'd turned a bright smile on Abiel and ruffled his hair.
"That's good. Tell me if anything else happens, alright?"
"Okay!"
That said, the tension in their small group seemed to fade, and they started for the city gates. Iliana's desire to fight had dissolved with Euemlia's arrival--as even if she felt like she could potentially take the harpy, Eumelia... frightened her, to be frank. Humans weren't supposed to be alive with as much magic as the witch doctor kept displaying. It was better she just focused on her escape attempt.
Besides, she doubted Callias needed her to fight for him, really. If he'd truly taken offense, he was perfectly capable of speaking up. He had a sharp enough tongue when she upset him, at least.
They'd just reached the guards, Lykos handing over a large number of gold coins that had Iliana's disgust for Eol's governing force growing by the second, when a commotion behind them drew her attention. Someone seemed to be shoving their way through the line, resulting in more than a few disgruntled shouts.
Then, she saw them and her heart stopped.
"Inna?"
The goddess offered her a brief smile, eyes lingering on Iliana for a small second, before seeming to dismiss her in favor of another. Something in Iliana seemed to slowly crumble as the goddess darted past her, to drop to her knees in front of Abiel, something akin to awe, and giddiness showing in the twist of her lips, and the brightness of her eyes.
"Hello there, little one. Quite the light you're giving off."
Abiel's expression lit up, and even as Eumelia tugged him behind her, the child's hand reached for the goddess. Sparks of golden magic curled through the air, and rather than leaning away from the unfamiliar magic, Inna reached for it. A soft sigh escaped her lips, and she smiled.
"Beautiful."
"Inna," Iliana whispered.
The goddess of sirens seemed to ignore her, instead turning her attention to Eumelia. Inna stood, and the two women seemed to size each other up, as Lykos's hand fell to his sword. Was he planning on fighting a god?
"He's here, you know," Inna commented, her light tone a contrast to the tensing scene. "In Eol. It's only a matter of time until this child's light catches his eye. If it hasn't already."
Those words seemed to flip a switch in Eumelia. The typically peaceful woman glowered at the goddess, and the sudden static in the air had Iliana taking a step back. Golden threads of magic formed around Eumelia's body, curling through the air, and speaking of the threat in her gaze more than words ever could.
"If you think to take him--"
Inna crossed her arms with a roll of her eyes. "Please, child, the theatrics are unnecessary. I've no intention of pulling that boy from his mother. Save that sort of behavior for when he notices. I simply offer a warning."
"Nothing the gods ever offer is free," Eumelia retorted. "What should I expect to pay for this warning?"
"I'll ignore your hostility," Inna cautioned, eyes narrowed. "This time, as it's the fear of a mother. In the future, I won't be as kind." She paused, letting that sink in. Not that it seemed to, as Eumelia's magic only flared in brightness after the warning.
"I ask nothing in return," Inna continued, her eyes flicking to Abiel. "Then that you, one day, tell me how this is possible."
Some tension seemed to ease out of Eumelia's frame, although her magic continued to crackle around her body, as if more eager for the fading fight than the witch herself.
"The warning?" Eumelia questioned.
Inna's gaze flicked back to Abiel, who was still staring at her from behind his mother's imposing frame.
"You can't hide that child forever, Eumelia. I won't be the last to take note of him, and when he eventually discovers what you've hidden, even I have no clue how he'll take it." Inna paused, seeming to mull something over, her gaze leaving Abiel to flick over the entire group, lingering but for a second on Callias's tense, unreadable expression, and even shorter on Iliana. "And I've need of him, at the moment. When the time comes, remember, there are more important things at stake than that pride the two of you cling to, and the love you've discarded."
Eumelia snorted. "Love--"
"You're not going to do anything, then?" Lykos interrupted, his attention shifting between Inna, and Iliana. "About... this?"
Inna sighed softly, and clasped her hands before her. Age seemed to settle on the goddess's youthful face as she studied their group, her eyes finally seeming to focus on Iliana for more than a single second.
"Somethings are meant to be," she murmured. Then, she turned her attention to Lykos. Before he could react, the goddess had crossed the distance between them, and stretched up to press her palm against his forehead. A forest green glow enveloped her palm. "But, take this warning, child of sun. Step a foot on my land again, and it will be the last breath you breathe."
Eumelia's magic flared, and the threads snapped at Inna's location without any obvious action on the witch's part. Before it could connect, the goddess was gone.
Leaving Iliana, and Callias, behind.
Even as their small group recovered from the display, ignoring the whispers of the civilians around them, and stepped through the gates, the hard chill in Iliana's chest refused to budge. It seemed to numb something in her, as the realization that Inna would do nothing settled into her bones.
The goddess of sirens, of justice, who was proclaimed to be more protective of her children than any other race... had released Iliana to her fate.
It hurt.
She should've known, of course.
Most people, when given the choice between Iliana, and anything else, made the predictable choice to leave Iliana behind.
Still.
She'd thought just maybe, the gods would be different.
Artemios. Kain. Callias. Melitta. They're different.
She wrapped their names around the ice encasing her heart, clinging to the handful of people in the world that seemed to care.
From that moment on, those would be the names that mattered, she decided.
Anyone else could get fucked.