He didn’t turn back around to look at Lily when he answered her question, he kept his gaze focused on the ground he had come from, crumpling down soon after. This wasn’t the god of violence she was expecting, she had expected a grand entrance of an overly confident man, but this was the image of defeat.

Tia was a new name, but what intrigued her the most was what he then called himself. Her hand was loosely holding Finn’s, too caught up in Onas’s words to return the stronger grip.

“Traitor? If you attacked them then how..” Lily felt her words trail off as she pieced together the small amount of information. The only conclusion she could come to was that Veles had used Onas. A cruel enough thought to make her stammer out into silence.

–

Renissa flinched at the quick movement of this man’s arm, brashly displaying his skin and sending his shirt buttons into the grass at their feet. He is alive but who is he. Xevon, she didn’t know a Xevon. Was she supposed to know him?

It was the next name that made her world tilt on its axis, eyes widening and showing an uncomfortable amount of their whites. Cressidae.

She knew Cressidae, she had vanished. Left them to face Veles after they all argued, argued about who’s tactic was best. It ended up with them falling right into Veles’s plans. Veles who was dead. Dead. Renissa sucked in a sharp breath,the mistiness of her image was more tangible now but still not completely whole. The glazed horror in her eyes was replaced by something almost like realisation, recognition that she wasn’t looking at the battle torn grounds around her home. It was healed, the grass was lush and waving in the breeze. The man before her was not Onas, she did not know this man. Which meant someone had managed to get into their realm. Meaning that Veles was in fact dead.

“He’s dead.” She turned to look squarely up at Xevon, her voice stronger.

Lily couldn't help the small scoff that came from her throat, turning to look up at Finn and lightly tap her free hand on his chest for the bluntness of his words. While she agreed that the god could help them before resigning himself to die, some compassion would have been nice.

"What he means is," She brought her pointed look away from Finn and over to the back of Onas's head. "Veles is gone now, he maniuplated you but he's gone. We were trapped in his hotel but we killed him." Lily voice was confident, wanting to assert some sort of presence that displayed the idea that they did in fact kill Veles. Which she was guessing that Onas would be surprised by or outright refuse to believe.

--

Renissa remained silent, watching with thoughful eyes as Xevon moved around. She let him stay where he was on the ground for a few heartbeats, unspeaking before her neck moved, nodding slowly. Her hand extended and rested on Xevon's shoulder firmly.

"Yes." She began slowly. "Yes, of course." Renissa sounded as though she was convincing herself as well an answering Xevon. Then all of a sudden she turned her gaze to peer over at Callisto, his shoulders jumped up in surprise as he gazed back at her with his pink eyes wide.

"Follow me, both of you." Renissa carefully withdrew her hand from Xevon's shoulder, beckoning for the two men to follow her. If they had been a part of the group to have brought Veles's demise, then she would find a way to send them home.

“Prisoner?” Lily sounded as shocked as she felt, her head whipping around to look up at Finntello. The poor man had just been brought back from being a literal creepy crawly, had a crisis and now was being told he was a prisoner.

“Finn, I don’t think that’s-” She was cut off by his next bit, giving her a once over with his hand as he spoke. What she said? Was Finn having a laugh?

Lily looked over towards Onas, waiting for him to bubble up with a refusal but it never came. Instead he stared at her for a long moment and then agreed, her face fell into exasperation. Looking over to Alma, pleading for some sort of divine intervention from the woman. She knew both of these men, surely she had something to say about it.

So Onas just had to do what she said, meaning all choices she made meant they had a total roll on effect on Onas. Lovely.

–

It wasn’t a particularly long way she was leading them, she was headed straight back to her home. It was like an anchor to her, she could form better thoughts on it now, there was no grim haze over her vision. There was a lingering feeling beneath her skin that she was dreaming, that this was another trick played on her by her own mind. For now, she ignored that pull and tried to solidify herself within the events she was experiencing. She had never seen these men, she couldn’t make up faces she had never seen before, surely not.

Callisto was trailing behind them, a little lost in the proceedings, not wanting to speak out in fear of disrupting whatever was going on. He wasn’t stupid nor blind, he could almost see Xevon being pulled at the seams by the interaction. Hopefully, now that this Renissa wasn’t so fuelled by her memories, he would be able to handle it himself.

He wasn’t exactly sure if his presence would be welcomed or shrugged off, so to keep his own sanity, Callisto remained at the back. Watching carefully as they approached the cottage garden gate and Renissa pushed it open to lead them inside.

Lily was still not entirely sure she wanted to be pseudo-in-charge of Onas, and she certainly didn’t agree that she was the smartest of the group. In fact, more often than not Lily thought that she was little slow by comparison to the quick flying thoughts that were always tumbling out of Alma and Finntello’s mouths.

Her eyes trailed back over towards Onas, running over him before she let out a mumbled reply. “I suppose that…makes sense.” She was grumbling, but let it out with a sigh and leaned her shoulders back into a more comfortable position. If it got them home she’d be happy, if that meant telling a god what to do then so be it.

Lily’s eyes widened a fraction as she realised that Alma was hurrying them along, with a quick start to her step, she began to pull Finntello after them. She wasn’t sure if Florence would come back. She wasn’t sure if she wanted her to come back. Considering they had found Onas, did they really need her to get home any more?

–

Renissa didn’t seem to mind making her way up to the front door, her eyes moving along the familiar path. Placing her hand on the knob and turning it before pushing inside, greeting the smooth scent of her home.

Callisto was more dubious. Why? On the roof sat Florence, idly watching with with a bored look across her features as she watched Renissa slip inside. How she had gotten up there Callisto had no idea, maybe she had scrambled up there along a trellis. Then again, she was a demi-god, perhaps she could simply jump that high.

His eyes studied her as he walked along the short path to the front door that Renissa left open, he could hear her voice calling from inside.

“Come in, I’ll make us tea.” Her voice was still tinged with a dreamy quality, she was present in the moment but it was obvious she was still not quite all the way there yet.

Callisto gave Florence one last look, their eyes locked for a heartbeat before he ducked into the cottage, eyebrows furrowed. Had that meant they had found Onas already? If so, that was as exciting as it was disappointing. He had sort of wished for a moment of peace without the others, but it seemed like he wasn’t going to experience that.

Finn nodded briefly and chased after Lily and Alma. His eyes flicked toward the man who walked steadily beside the goddess. There was a heavy weight in each step, a burden on his shoulders that made every single one of his footsteps heavy and low.

There were no chains, no cuffs, but Finn could almost see the weight that they had for the former god. A twinge in his chest formed a bit more than he expected before he looked toward Lily.

Silently... he was wondering... if this was going to work at all or if something else was going to happen. Sure, get all the gods together... that was... suspicious actually.

---

Xevon's eyes had scanned the cottage, fishing for details until he could figure it out.

Florence.

His eyes narrowed slightly, feathers rattling. Why was she here? She should have been with the other group--a deserter. A traitor.

The man scowled sharply. The frown distorting his features, his red gaze sharp on the woman. His fists clenched, watching her. How dare she show her face around here without the other group?!

"What are you doing here?" He asked shortly, keeping his voice low. "Where are the others?"

She had always been bad news and now he was getting a worse feeling in his chest.

Florence had expected a hostile greeting from them, however it still made her narrow her eyes towards Xevon as he spoke. She supposed they were rather relevant questions, but he could have asked them without that look in his eyes.

“They’re on their way back now. Finn and I had an argument, so I left to stop the bickering.” Florence explained with a level voice, giving away no more than the simple statement with her expression. They’d find out soon enough, but either way they were going to explode at her. So she was happy to postpone that event.

“Argument?” Callisto repeated before shaking his head with a huff. “Did they find him?” He didn’t have time to ponder on whatever inane debate the pair had indulged in, there were bigger fish to fry.

“They did.” She hummed, glancing out across the horizon. “Onas is with them, not exactly…himself. But he’s there.” Florence tipped her head back down towards the cottage as the soft voice called again from inside, seemingly oblivious to her female visitor.

“Are you two coming? I’ve got a tea for any occasion in here, do you prefer chamomile or mint or perhaps I can find…” Renissa’s voice trailed off as she headed deeper into her home in her search for an appropriate tea.

When people came to visit you showed them hospitality, you offered them drinks and seats and food. Yes, that sounded right.

Callisto dared to remove his eyes from Florence to peer into the shadowed home, feeling a twinge of pity towards the innocent questions and murmuring from within.