“Hypothetical,” Vitruvion murmured, “Purely … No I never met another kenku before her. Not for long enough.” He looked right at Nevin, most of his strength and confidence back. Briefly, he looked into Stare's mind, and found her to be suffering. A range of emotions surged through her, and he knew he would not let it go on forever. It would damage her usefulness to him. But he needed to take care of something far more important first.
“When I first came to this planet,” he said quickly, “The Althanas pantheon, they-” he stopped and found himself curling his lip with disgust. “Screw those bastards, but one of the conditions of me being able to stay here - and I cannot go home - is that my entire existence as a deity remains an entire secret. I'm telling you this now, you cannot, for your safety as well as ours, tell anyone.” He finished and then blinked a few times. Twisting around he looked back down at Stare and paused before looking back at Nevin, seriousness in his tone.
“Do you understand? The bastards shoved me in this body so I cannot force you to do anything, but for your own sanity …”
Nevin frowned and shook his head. “I told you already. I am not going to share your secret. It is yours, not mine. I merely know it. Now, I think other business needs your attention. We can talk more another time, if it is necessary. Stare. Trust him - his feelings are so bright they almost blind me.” He gave a crooked smile and stood up, bowing to the two of them before he slipped out of the office. It looked like the two of them had a discussion they needed to have. And Druss had never returned with food, and his stomach was rumbling.
And he had things he needed to think about himself. Did this power work on things that weren’t divine, or divinely touched? Or could he only see connections between gods? That would be an unusual power, and a fairly useless one. As a researcher, he would have to do some experimentation and find out the limits of his new power.
Vitruvion watched Nevin leave, his eyes piercing at the red-haired man. Several times he swallowed, trying to get his body back to a normal working routine. He bit his lip, the stress of the day and that event getting to him, as he thought.
Another. Another knew, adding to the list. Ventrua, Raevin, Stare … and now her close friend, Nevin. Strong, potentially part divine himself … not a threat. Likelihood of that had dropped significantly.
Turning around he found himself looking at Stare, her slumped, awkward form a crumpled mess. For a moment he blinked, then sighed and bent down to slide his arms underneath her form.
She was moldable, bendable. Easily he scooped her up, and felt no resistance as he used the mighty strength that he hand to pull her up and into his arms. One supporting her back and the other beneath her knees he watched her for a moment - the dainty but strong and hardy loyal kenku that he held dear in his heart. Now, all confused and broken, like he had made her, like he himself had been made.
