Vastad is Not Nice

JP with Lorem and Omni:

How is it that eyebrows know to raise when surprised? Is it the opening eye that pushes them upwards? If so, than how does the eye know to open wider? Perhaps it does so in order to take in more data, to measure if indeed what is being received is plausible. But what if it wasn’t the jurisdiction of the eye, but the ears which heard something so fantastical that the eyebrows and eyes raised and widened respectively. This would make one think that facial features alone weren’t the governing bodies of expression, but instead merely the messengers of something else going on in the mind.

Gonyaul’s mind was excited and his face showed it. He was already primed to think something irrational had taken place. Now he knew what it was and it fit well with proving his theory of all reasonable explanations were exhausted, than one must consider unreasonable ones. Yet, that didn’t water down the impact at all of hearing this account from Voah. In short, it was extraordinary.

Gonyaul took it all in and replied. “Interesting.”

His response was a statement of fact and it was hard to discern if it was a positive thing or a negative thing in his mind. He then tilted his head to the side in thought and closed his eyes. And then more thought. As if he was in an indefinite loop and unsure how to proceed aloud. Voah could tell he was having a rigorous internal debate, especially since his changing facial expressions showed signs of it; mostly confusion.

She nodded slowly, eyes closed, lips pressed into a line. “Miraculous…”

It WAS a miracle, but not one that boded well for the two of them. She laughed sadly before her mouth twisted into a frown from the mental anguish, experiencing the words as they made their way to her lips. Her eyes and temples hurt from squinting to hold back the flood. Finally she gasped raggedly, her voice straining, “He took away my boon… and… Gonyaul, I’m so sorry…”

As he put his hand to her cheek to comfort her, the barrier broke and it all came out.

“He took it from me. Please forgive me…”

The Vauxian had seen her upset before but this was another low, on par, if not worse than when she recounted the story of her mother. Her body shuddered, heaving with each intake of breath.

“He took it from me! Oh, Gods I’m so sorry!”

Gonyaul knew that she was no longer referring to just her boon being taken… but something else, something more serious. She struggled to breathe.

Gonyaul was about to boil over with all the questions going through his mind. He had never cared for Vastad based on the accounts of his glory others would proclaim or for what he stood for; however, he was remaining open minded because perhaps he did not know enough to fully understand. Now that he had experienced second hand the actual manifestation of Vastad he feared he favored the deity even less.

For starters, it was very inconsiderate of him to just take Voah away without any notification. Stopping by to talk would have been one thing, but to steal her away for such a length of time without even a note was rude. If he was so powerful, couldn’t he have said what he needed to say in a matter of minutes, instead of taking four days. In addition, at the end of those four days he deposits, no dumps, Voah like discarded trash in the desert. It was of good fortune, no thanks to Vastad, that Gonyaul happened to stumble upon her lest in the state she was in, she would most likely have withered unto death. That was just careless and mean, lacking any form of empathy.

Gonyaul was glad he had not the privilege of meeting this pillar, for after what he said to Voah, Gonyaul felt the urge to punch him in the face. Actually no, her description of him was towering, a side kick to the knee to drop him lower before a elbow to the soft side of his temple seemed more in order for the way he spoke of someone who had literally devoted and sacrifices so much in his name. Gonyaul thought this way, for on the one hand he was angry with Vastad’s behavior, but also because even the brief account Voah shared made him ponder even more that these deities had limitations. Voah mentioned the pillars coming to Arcadia. This meant they had not yet been there. Which he concluded meant they weren’t omnipresent or probably even omnipotent; just constructs of nature, the whole system, condensed into vastly more powerful versions of the image of humanity, flaws and all.

Gonyaul was aware he was angry and he wanted to vent his multitude of questions. He wanted to know why Vastad took away the boon. This meant the boon was never a gift for faith but a wage for doing their will. Now that Voah wasn’t up to their standards they took it away, with no warning, no second chances and no sympathy for the pain and anguish that was going to cause someone that had lived almost her entire adult life not knowing the process of actual healing and repair.

In addition, Gonyaul was pretty sure Voah would have inquired what the pillars wanted her to do, knowing how much they meant to her. But there was not restoration, no corrective measures, nothing. He made it clear they rejected her. How dare he! All this talk about how one should convert to believe and follow the pillars and the pillars themselves showed such a lack of leadership skills in this one meeting that Gonyaul wondered if people would actually choose to follow them if they knew the truth. Most likely people followed out of brainwashing or fear of the consequences.

Gonyaul didn’t respond to Voah with any of this though. She was in pain, both literally and figuratively. His heart melted to her tears and he simply brought her into his loving embrace. He allowed her to do as she needed to grieve her loss.

He realized it probably felt like a part of her was now missing with the boon gone. It was going to be an adjustment to get used to what it felt like not having it. The patience of healing alone might be especially irritating, along with the disappointment of injury and scaring. He decided he would be there for her as much as she needed and was willing to extend grace should she ever become short with him because of her frustrations.

Her latter comments seemed more frantic, apologetic to him. This was strange since he wasn’t there. It sounded like Vastad stole from her? Was this deity so puny he needed to take things that didn’t belong to him?

“Shhhh, what take?” He asked calmly.