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The god was correct in his assumption, for all it took Ravenna time on the order of minutes to order all of her questions in her mind. She did not worry about whether this was a presumption; she knew that some of the other devotees of other Gods would say that any act of questioning was heresy, but somehow she didn't think that Gwyn ap Nudd would stand on that much ceremony.

"Where did you go," she said, finally. "My ancestor Izar wrote that it was as if you just... ceased to exist." But they'd never stopped honoring him in hopes that he would return. The powers of the guides had been proof enough for the line, but even Marzena--Ravenna's own mother--had begun to doubt. "But if you did, how are you back, my Lord?"

She listened attentively, dark eyes focused just to the right of the God's face--it seemed sacrilegious somehow to look Him in the eye, even when He seemed so accepting of all of her quirks and oddities. The idea that a God could be stripped of His power and then become part of the nothingness like that... well, it explained why their powers persisted, even once He was gone. It was almost enough to make anyone despair, not just a chosen champion.

But He had returned. And He remembered how the Guides had served Him with faith and honor. Could she ask for anything more, in her heart? "And so people continued to die, but they couldn't leave the island, because you existed no longer," she said, quietly, looking down at her hands. "But you're back now, my Lord? For true?" The idea seemed too good to be true, but she dared to hope. In the presence of Gwyn ap Nudd himself, she felt like she could hope for anything at all.

"Or shall you be leaving again?" Knowing now that He was real, she didn't know that she could live through centuries without being in the presence of her God again.

Ravenna nodded. Of course the God would have more to do than just attend Avalon. If he didn't, well, there'd be no need for Guides at all. She could understand and appreciate that, she could appreciate it very well indeed--she didn't know what she'd be without her purpose and her duty. "Thank you, my Lord," she said gratefully.

At his question, she hooked auburn hair behind her ear. "They worship all sorts," she said. "Earth and Water and Balance, and Guidance, mostly. The woman who dropped the vase was going to the altar of Belen, God of Healing." She paused, passing a hand over her hair. "The Good King has wondered about the Earth Goddess," she admitted; for all Ravenna was sworn to one god alone, she was curious too. Bloodlines would out, and in the end she might have to concern herself with the deity who ruled Earth after all.

Avalon had always been a spiritual place, for all it was tied closest to Gwyn ap Nudd and the Underworld God. Ravenna didn't often think of it, but now that she was, she was struck by how silly it must seem to someone who had probably seen worlds much more advanced than this one.

Ravenna flushed, looked down and away. "I'm not sure, my Lord, I haven't paid much attention to the gods of my father." I was more consumed with proving myself to you. Which she had, apparently, because here he was, and she still couldn't believe that it was she who had been the Guide upon his return. The air felt like air, for once, and not a cloud she had to physically part.

She paused then, and said, "That sundering, years ago..." Attempted sundering. Ravenna had found the power and the wherewithal to hold Avalon together despite the land's attempts to shake itself to pieces; if she hadn't, who knew where the shades might have gone? It'd been more than that, though, it'd been a desire to prove herself and to save her home, and it had been hard, so hard that the mage that helped her died, and...

"Do you think it will happen again, my Lord," she asked. "It almost broke us last time."

Cycles, yes; life, death, and rebirth was one of them, and Ravenna was intimately familiar with it. Her mother's side was death, her father's was life, and she imagined that knowing two so well would cover her lack of understanding of the process of rebirth. She watched the god before her attentively, absorbing what He had to say. "I know you will," she said simply. She had faith--all of her bloodline had faith. "If I can do anything to help you and yours, my lord, I hope you will ask me to do it."

She nodded once, firmly. Something the Guides had always been good at was getting Avalon's residents to believe--for a long time, it had been all they really had! "I will tell them that the Gods are coming back," she said. "All of them." But she would follow Him best, she knew that, because for all she was champion and princess both she would always be more champion, more Guide. Even so, if every God were to be believed in, that would help, wouldn't it?

There were those who sometimes left the island; she'd be sure they carried the story to the outside world.

At Gwyn ap Nudd's question, her eyes narrowed. "No, my Lord, I don't think so. We would have recorded it. There's the shrine in the chapter house, but I don't think there was ever... more. This world has many gods, and they are loathe to hold one over the others." Not Ravenna, of course. "Why do you ask?"

Ravenna's breath caught in her throat, and she choked out, "My lord?" Had she truly heard that? He had been back for hours only and already he asked--he asked to build a temple. There! On Avalon! As if they were… important… She took three deep breaths, calming herself. The idea of the God she worshipped actually wanting to build a temple there was incredibly exciting!

"I'm sure that after what you just did, no one would reproach you a temple," she said, bowing. "You lifted a great burden from us, my Lord." And no one appreciated it more than she did, she knew. "I will bring this to my father, if you like."