"Hey Loryn, mind if I chat with you?" says Vryn, startling Loryn with her unexpected presence.
"Of course," answers Loryn without hesitation as she would never refuse her goddess, especially on a trivial request like this.
"Thank you," replies Vryn and the woman takes a seat in Loryn's home.
Loryn notes that Arthryn has chosen a good time to visit. Seryn is out of Caermyr for a few days while Loryn has some free time before the Assembly meeting. There is plenty of time for the two of them to have a decently long talk without any other important or personal matters for the empress to attend to.
"Can I get you some food or drink?" inquires Loryn as she eyes the goddess curiously, "I have some in stock."
"I don't need any," replies Vryn, "And I don't desire to needlessly use food. Save your food and drink for when their consumption will actually mean something."
"As you wish," replies Loryn as she moves to take a seat next to Arthryn.
As she approaches the goddess, Loryn notes that of the two of them, it is her and not Arthryn who looks like the divine one. Arthryn is in her Vryn disguise and while she is tall, muscular and curvy, Vryn is below average by Arthwyd standards. In fact, Loryn is downright ugly by Arthwyd standards even if she is far better looking than most foreigners. On the flipside, Loryn has large muscles, a towering height and a full figure with a bosom that is easily twice the size of Arthryn's. There is also the matter of skin colour, where Loryn has the deep black skin of Forlucan royalty while Arthryn only has the tanned skin of someone who spends most of their time outdoors, but given that Arthryn is not Forlucan, Loryn isn't going to include that when judging her appearance.
Yet despite not looking the part, Arthryn is a goddess and Loryn resolves to treat her as such.
"I do not wish to be presumptuous, but I am deeply curious about what brought you here," says Loryn as she sits opposite Vryn.
"I wish to seek your insight on certain matters," Vryn tells her, "Well, it is less that I want your advice or insight and more that I wish to confide in you about a decision that I have already made, but I am in denial about."
"Oh?" says Loryn politely.
"I suppose I ought to cut to the ore?" says Vryn as she gives Loryn a smile, "I am sure that you know of the fact that Urthryn has been courting me?"
"I do, pretty much everyone with basic religious knowledge knows that," confirms Loryn, "I take you have either rejected or accepted her attempts to climb your mountains?"
"Sort of," admits Vryn, "It is complicated. How much do you know about how goddesses work or my past?"
"I know that goddesses can be influenced by the beliefs of their followers," answers Loryn carefully, "That is why Nalnir became Nalniryn in order to reflect the changes in the society structure of the Forluc Kingdom. As for your past, I know the same stories about your history as everyone else."
"Then I believe I should do some explaining," says Vryn with a sigh, "Deities get influenced by the beliefs of their followers, but we are careful to keep the full extent of it secret. This is because only myself and perhaps the All-Boar are not changed by the beliefs of our followers. It is something of the greatest weakness for most deities because it is impossible for a deity to be completely rewritten by their worshippers."
"Like with Eredan and Eira," mutters Loryn, thinking back to what is preached by the Forlucan priesthood versus what actually took place.
"She told you about that?" muses Vryn, "So I don't need to explain how that works to you. So onto my past. Have you ever wondered why there are different stories about my background?"
"Yes," answers Loryn truthfully, "But I figured it was due to poor record keeping and the stories getting mixed up."
"Oh, the stories got mixed up alright," mutters Vryn before shaking her head and speaking up, "Would you mind telling me what you think happened? I will correct any inaccuracies in that tale once you are done."
"As you wish," replies Loryn before reciting what she believed was the case, "You were born where Greenbay currently is while the Arthwyd were still nomadic and had yet to become the Arthwyd. When you became an adult, you became the leader of the proto-Arthwyd and got them to settle down and found a village where you were born. You taught farming and the importance of looking after the community to your people and you also taught them about being prepared to reduce the suffering and hardship of your people.
A few seasons after Greenbay was founded, a tribe of foreigners showed up. While your people advocated for sending them on their way, you convinced them to give the foreigners a chance and to welcome them into the People. You fell in love with one of the foreigners and took him as your husband and you had a single child with him, your original daughter Wyrn. You ruled as a wise and benevolent leader over the People until your death, where you then ascended to become the Goddess of the Arthwyd."
"That story has a lot of basis in the truth, but is not the truth," says Vryn, "Well, I suppose I ought to tell you the truth. My greatest secret is that unlike most deities, I was not just one mortal in life, but two. Thanks to blurring of our stories, we got mixed up as one in the tale that you just told me. I was originally Arth and Vryn. Arth was a boy who was born in Greenbay, part of the first generation to be born there. I rose to leadership amongst the village at a young age and shaped the new culture of our people.
Vryn was a member of a nomadic tribe who sought knowledge of how to farm from Greenbay. Arth thought that Vryn was attractive and wanted me as my wife so I invited my tribe to join the people of Greenbay. I married myself and while I was the favourite of my wives, I was not my only wife. I also had multiple children with myself rather than just a single daughter. Speaking of which, Wyrn was my granddaughter and not my own daughter.
After my deaths, the stories of Arth and Vryn got blurred into stories of Arthryn. When I became a goddess, I became both Arth and Vryn at the same time as Arthryn. And before you ask, yes, I am happy with this outcome and it is awesome to be the same person as my lover. The problem is with Urthryn, no, that is too unfair. Ugh, the problem is with me."
"And just what is that information?" asks Loryn automatically as she is still processing all of the ancient secrets that her goddess has just revealed to her.
"Urthryn is sexy as Urthryn!" shouts Vryn, startling Loryn with the sudden outburst, "No, wait, that doesn't make sense. I find her extremely attractive, but I don't want to because I remember what she was like as Urth and I am already my own lover. But that is completely unfair to her because Urthryn is a different person to Urth and it is unfair to hold the actions of Urth against her. The problem is that I have fallen in love with her, but I don't want to fall in love with her and the problem is on my end. Urthryn has done nothing wrong and everything right, but I am still being completely unfair to her."
"I see," says Loryn, perturbed by experiencing a goddess ranting like that and unsure of how to react.
"Sorry about that," apologises Vryn as she gives Loryn an apologetic smile, "I just needed to get that off my chest."
"It is no problem," replies Loryn, still trying to wrap her mind around most of this interaction, "So what do you plan to do now?"
"I'm not sure," admits Vryn sheepishly, "As I said, I already know what is going to happen, I am just in denial about it. Urthryn is attractive enough to me and has done the right things to make me fall in love with her. The only thing standing in the way of a romance between us is a couple of irrational issues on my end. Once I get over those, we will almost certainly end up in a romance with each other. Which I have mixed feelings about. I am already own my romance so I don't see why I need another, but Urthryn is very attractive and she is endearing enough to have won my love...ugh. Urthryn isn't a bad person, she is actually a very lovely person. It is just that she got made from a bad person and I'm struggling to get over that."
"Is there anything I can do to help?" asks Loryn, reaching out with a hand to comfort Arthryn before pausing as she hesitates to actually touch the goddess.
"Just listen to what I have to say," answers Vryn, "I just need someone uninvolved in all this to vent to and I felt you would make for a good listener who knows how to be discreet about all this. I hope it goes without saying, but I would request that you will keep all of this to yourself."
"I already figured as much," Loryn reassures her, "I will keep everything you have said to me today secret."
"Thank you," says Vryn and Loryn can feel the genuine gratitude from her, "I did not just drop by to make you listen to my complaining. I would also like to let you know that I will answer your prayers and ensure that Seryn lives longer than average. I also wish to let you know that you may ask some favours of me. If you wish to bear Seryn's child, I shall arrange that for you like I once did for Evatine. I may also grant you other changes such as modifying your body. I can give you animal features like I have done for Seryn or I could make you look older or I can change the colour of your eyes and hair. It is also within my power to alter your mind by increasing your bravery or lust or pride. If you wish for any of these changes, feel free to ask me for them."
"That is a very generous offer," replies Loryn as she is once again left feeling bewildered by Arthryn, "I will keep it in mind."
"I am sure that you will," says Vryn as she smiles at the bemused empress, "Now let's talk about some more woman to woman talk..."
***
Okay, this is sort of the scene I wanted to include in the last update. I say sort of because since it isn't in the update, I have expanded upon it quite a bit and added more to it than I would have included if it was in the update.
The update is mainly showing how Urthryn's pursuit of Arthryn is going, how Loryn feels about Arthryn and interacting with each other and how a regular person from the Arthwyd Empire might view Arthryn.
Please point out any spelling or grammar mistakes that you spot. Please quote them in the thread and explain what you think is wrong so I know what you are referring to. Feel to ask questions for more details and information.