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"It will be hard for you to meet him. Only Echo knows where he is. He ran away and I am not allowed to go after him." Akakios' expression was, for once, a little reminiscent of his father's scrowl. It did not take someone skilled in body language to understand that he was not pleased with this.

"It is my fault he ran away. I should be allowed to try to fix it." He muttered, sighing.

The change in conversation was welcome, through Lament seemed to more or less ignore the tea.

"I did not know aoide could be reborn..." All those he knew where aoide that had survived all this time... through one mean or another. Or aoide like Tasia, who were blank states without memories. "Does that make you mortal, or still an aoide ?" He sounded genuinely curious. And well... it definitively made sense that they wanted to find this woman, and stop her.

Enji's last sentence did, however, make him pause. He wanted him to what ?! "I, uh..." He gave Tien a side glance, as if asking for help. "I do not quite know how to fight..."

Really. He did not. He had read a lot of books about weapons and fighting styles... But he had certainly never tried anything out. That, and... He had never left this place. The pantheon and it's surroundings was literally all he knew.

And yet, it was tempting to just say yes, go, and leave this place and it's frustrations behind, if only for a little while. To forget about his runaway brother, his withdrawn sister, his absent father, and the breaking heart of his mother. To leave the frustrations of not finding what he sought in the library behind, and escape his parents' aoidei who were content with treating him like a little kid.

Yes, it was clear enough that he was conflicted.

Enji shook his head. "I doubt it is your fault, Kios. He has a problem that only he can fix and until he realizes that, there is nothing you can do. Trust me on this. I have five brothers and another sibling on the way." He grinned widely. "I'm hoping it is a girl."

"And I am mortal but I will eventually become an aoide again. Who else would protect my Eshu better than I can?" He winked at Kios and then hugged her to him for a moment. "And as for teaching you how to fight. Perhaps something that keeps you out of the middle of the fight where you can take your time to act. Something ranged would work. There are bows, dartguns, slingshots, throwing blades, and I am sure more than that. We can have you try some of them and see what it is you like."

"But don't worry, neither I nor Tristan will let anything happen to you. Taj would not either. He's pretty good in a fight actually. And Taj is good at hiding us so the enemy never know what is coming. He could simply hide you away while the rest of us take care of it. It might give you a chance to see something new if you go along. If Tien and Taj have no objections, then Tristan and I would make sure you are safe." He did not say that the mother would likely hit him or scold him. Every boy needed to sneak out once in a while.

Tien glanced up at Enjiron and grinned. "I would say that pretty much settles it then, hn? I have no objections and I doubt my brother will either." He would know the basics of defending himself before he left one way or another and they would be able to look after him for the most part. There was no guaranteeing a trouble free journey, but where was the fun in something like that anyway?

"I'll go and let him know you're here. I'm sure he will want to come and say hello." She shifted so her feet rested on the floor. "That is if Enjiron will let me go for a minute." Her tone was teasing and playful.

Akakios nodded, but something that Enjiron said made him pause, made his expression turn from neutral and relaxed to tense at a blink of an eye.

"Maddie ?" He asked. "What happened ?" It was useless to ask if there was anything wrong when it was already confirmed. He remembered the boy fondly - they had played together when they were younger. The apparent age difference had been noticeable then, and would only be more drastic now, but it changed little as far as Lament was concerned.

Oh, there would be hell indeed... But knowing Taj, he would not have taken kindly of anyone messing with one of his - and expecially not with his own son. While he expected the cause might already be dealt with, perhaps he could help with the solution.

"I was not there, Kios, butI have played with the child. He's a beautiful little boy and even though he understands what is said, it takes alot for the rest of us to figure it out. Oftentimes Siddhi writes it down backwards and then looks at what he says just to be able to understand him. It's almost like another language," Enji stated as Tien left. "He does get frustrated as she said, but there are others who are paying attention to him and trying to help in various ways. Tristan said Taj was brutal and did not hold back on that sorceror for what he did to them. Kayan shifts but she cannot control when she does it. Saljin carries her and suddenly he's got a kitten gnawing on him. Zrath killed Bettina and she realized her mistake too late. At least Taj got to them before it was worse."

He stared at them, his arms folded and wings twitching angrily. < The fighting is innane. It will stop. Soon enough the oni will be in larger spaces. > A murmurr went through them and he nodded moving toward the opening. This was the third time they had done this. He would have to tell Resta no more tattoos until things were different. Something was riling them up and that was the only thing he could think that was different. Tattoos equaled pride equaled vanity and attitudes and that led to fighting. He walked out into the grass, his wings flexing in irritation. Maybe he should go sit on the perch again. Maybe.

Delphine and Trique pointed her in the direction they had last seen Mystery headed. She walked around the garden until she finally spotted him walking away from the oni cavern, looking about as pleased as a soaked cat. "Tajnevaki...are they fighting again?" She sighed and shook her head. Hopefully whatever Mystery had said to them had put a stop to it this time.

"Enjiron and I found Akakios in the market, he came back to have tea with us. You should come up and say hello. You might be surprised." She would not tell him exactly what the surprise was, but he could probably guess. At the very least coming up for a visit might get his mind on something else for a while.

"Oh, right..." That was true. Mortals matured so much more slowly than gods. It slipped his mind, sometimes.

"Well, when you think about it, gods did not always come from gems. I figure that before the fading, either Harmodius and Gaia made them... Or they were all like me, born from other gods." Enji was indeed surprised and he could not help but find that terribly amusing, as he finally reached to pour out tea in the cups. "I really don't understand the gem thing, to be honest. It just seems really strange."

Enji glanced over as the door opened and Taj followed Tien inside. The god looked a bit irritated and a frown flickered thru his expression.

Taj followed Tien and then stopped suddenly as he stared at Kios in surprise. < Lament has come of age.> he wrote in amusement. He studied Kios for a moment and then nodded his approval. He had not seen the godling since he was still mostly Jaster. Taj realized that he had changed also since last Kios had seen him. < And Mystery is not the same either. Time flies. > He was amused as he sat down beside Kios on the couch. Then he hugged Akakios tightly for a moment. < You have been missed here.> Moving back, he asked, < Is Trickery teaching you her tricks?> He winked at Tien as he watched Kios.