Athena's Story

size=95]"Hyperion. Have you found any of them yet?"

The Titan of Light gave a nod, and held up his hand with three fingers raised. "Only Athena, Demeter, and her flowery lass Persephone. We have yet to find your other children."

“Those three be damned. It's Hades, Poseidon and Zeus I want you fool.” Cronus cursed. He and his brethren were newly risen and as clueless and new born babes to the world and age they were brought into. Despite Eris's many explanations, they still had yet to use anything involving "electricity". It was all a bunch of hocus pocus to him and his kin, though a few of his brothers were already anxious to learn more.

Cronus stretched his long limbs and sighed. A week had passed by already and they had only found three Gods, and one wasn't even an Olympian. Just Demeter's pup who posed no threat to Cronus and his lackeys unless one of them suddenly developed an aversion to flower, or allergies.

Hyperion patted his brother on the shoulder lightly. "Don't worry Cronus. We'll find them. My children are searching the skies as we speak. "

Cronus scowled but said nothing. His brothers feeble attempt at reassuring him helped little to ease Cronus's worries, but he gave the Titan a nod regardless. Yelling at his siblings would gain him nothing but more enemies, and he couldn't afford that at the moment. The Fates had already saw to screw him over once by allowing his Rhea to trick him and end the Golden Age of which he had ruled.

"Now that I think about it, where is my lovely bride..."

"Hyperion. Have you seen Rhea? " He asked, finally making eye contact with his brother after an hour of avoiding his gaze. The Titan shook his head and the scowl that had been slowly disappearing from Cronus's rugged face appeared once again. These imbeciles couldn't do anything. "Someone find her for me and tell her I wish to speak with her here shortly. We have many things to discuss, my wife and I."

With his last declaration the Titan Lord strode past his sibling and wandered into the master bedroom of the house Rhea and himself had claimed as soon as they came to their new home. Tiredly, he sat down on the soft brown quilt that covered the king size bed and laid his head in his hands, thinking tiresome thoughts as he waited for his wife to join him.[/size]

ATHENA


It only took approximately twenty minutes for Athena to calm the crowd down and have everyone what they needed before she started cleaning up around the store. She paused as she realized how dreary her store looked. She sighed and shook her head; she needed to go get something to brighten it up….flowers! She smiled and waved to her assistant. Her assistant nodded back at her and took over the counter.

“I’m going to get some flowers, I’ll be right back” she called as she stepped out of the building. She entered the flower shop just as Persephone and….Artimis?…where leaving. She smiled politely and headed for the counter.

“Demeter dear…are you alright?” she asked noting how pale the goddess looked. She placed her hand gently on Demeter's and immediately knew about the entire situation.

The memories flooded through her, the boy Demeter tried to hook her daughter up with, Hade's less than happy response.

“You fucking bitch; if you hadn’t been blessed by The Fates to give birth to the love of my life, and if said love didn’t give two shits about your existence, I would have had your ass rotting in a garden somewhere long ago. You keep finding men for her, and I’ll keep dusting them. She won’t blame me. She’ll blame you. After all, she knows me quite well. She knows that I’ll fuck up any asshole that dare touches, looks, or even speaks her name. You’re killing them not me. Don’t think that you’re safe behind your fucking ward. I may not be able to see her, touch her, talk to her, and hear her sweet, sexy-fucking-voice, but I can see, touch, and talk to YOU bitch! You know what I’m gonna do? Let me tell you what I’m gonna do when she comes back here since I know that you’re always interested in what goes down in The Underground. When it’s my turn to have her, I’m gonna strip her naked—literally rip her fucking clothes off like an excited boy does a Christmas gift, and I’m going to bend her over and…”


and then heir argument, and Persephone angry response.


"Our? OUR? This is all you. Unlike father, you, and most of the Immortals besides Hera I have a strong belief in my vows and love for Hades. Maybe Hades was right. Perhaps years without being with a man has left you bitter." Her anger and sadness overwhelmed her, but she instantly regretted the words as soon as she said them.

SMACK!

The harvest goddess's hand swept across her daughter face so fast that Demeter herself was shocked. A redness where she had struck immediately lit itself across her face like wild fire. "I...." She was at a loss for words and her hands trembled as they hung beside her waist.

Physical pain was not something Persephone was used to, especially in her mortal form. She cried out in both surprise and pain before she backed away from her mother ; her cool hand pressed against her now warm cheek. "I think...I need to spend some time by myself for a change. I need time to think."

“Oh dear….” She murmured and looked around.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she asked as she started helping customers, even though it wasn't her shop. Soon the shop was empty. She faced the harvest goddess and waited patiently.

His sojourn into the city had so far been pleasant, if not a little boring. The cab he had taken into the city had smelled suspiciously of marijuana and there were half-empty beer bottles strewn across the back seat. The driver had immediately engaged him in a breathless monologue about some baseball player being arrested for possession, never letting Poseidon get a word in edgeways. It was probably for the best, given his complete lack of interest in any sports, particularly baseball. Where was the fun or indeed challenge in simply hitting a ball and running? Mortal sports were completely baffling. Needless to say, he did not tip the cab driver at all and was met with a frosty glare in return.

The city itself was much less shady. Poseidon aimlessly wandered down street after street, stopping here and there to glance at a new gadget in a shop window. One thing he was intensely jealous of was the mortals’ skill with technology. The phone in his pocket was at least two years old and he had still not mastered all of its futuristic techniques. The notion of iPads and touch screens was a step into the unknown and one he was not willing to take. As such, he steered himself away from the flashing neon lights that adorned electronics shops and took a lazy stroll further into the city, knowing that his feet would subconsciously take him towards Ambrosia regardless of his actual desire. He could attempt to visit his brothers, but he was always afraid he’d interrupt Zeus with some pretty little intern and Hades … well, it was best to steer away from his establishments at the best of times. Poseidon had no intention at all of being privy to whatever was occurring at Madame’s. The safer, and in fact closer, option to call upon his Olympian brethren was the flower shop.

He stopped briefly to buy a coffee from a Costa store to ward off his growing thirst and the slightly brisk Spring breeze. Strangely, though perhaps not so given his birthright, Poseidon was never comfortable with the weather away from the sea. The sea breeze always felt indifferent, never cold, but that of the mainland was one extreme or another. A slight Autumn wind could make him feel as if he nestled with penguins in the far north, and a sunny day in August felt almost too stifling to bear. He mentally made a note to bring that up with one of the other Gods at some point. Zeus probably had something to do with it. Zeus always had something to do with it.

As he finally neared Persephone’s flower shop, a wry smile touched his lips as he surveyed the scene about him. Outside was Apollo, strangely enough, seemingly holding his head in some sort of distress and inside the store, he could just about make out Athena. Why on earth she was there he had no idea, but the notion that others had felt some sort of strange pull to the shop today was not lost on him.

“There is nothing subtle about a convergence of divinity,” he whispered under his breath, raising a hand in thanks to a car who had let him jog across the busy road to the store. He leant up against a lamp-post opposite the store a few metres behind Apollo and drained the plastic cup of coffee in his hands, deftly throwing it into a bin a short distance away. Catching Athena’s eye inside the store, he gave a lazy wave and a wink before turning his attention back towards his nephew.

“Hey, nurse,” he called in his deep voice, deadpan and laced with constant amusement. “You look sick. Maybe you should see a nurse.”

Hyperion walked down the hallway from where he had been thinking, these however were not idle thoughts one thinks when bored, and these were the thoughts of war. Eris had brought his brothers and sisters back from their slumbers, but for what reason? He continued to walk at quickened pace and out of the house and onto the wet grass the sun shining brighter with every step he took. Hyperion didn't want war and to be honest could care who was in charge, he looked around slowly before changing into his human form, Cronus would go into one of his rages if he saw him "lower himself by being a human."

He wondered quietly why his brother wanted to know where the Gods where, at first he thought it was for a treaty of peace, but now it seemed different like Cronus was preparing for war. He walked down the street without fear of being attacked, none of the Gods and Titians other than Cronus knew he was still kicking, he had just disappeared and for a while, he liked it that way for a while before coming out of hiding only to find this... he shook it out of his mind, he had other thing to plan and thought a good book and some flowers might cheer Cronus and his wife up.

He slowly made his way down the street and stopped at a book store and then stopped in front of a bookshelf holding a face reference dictionary and flipped through the pages then something caught his eye and he smiled and walked over to were the cashier was and handed her the money for the book, he had found Zeus. Hyperion walked out onto the cold street, he shivered before making his way down the street and he quickly counted the mortal money he had been given by Cronus for the time being, one thousand mortal dollars, not much in human terms.


He quickly moved down the street while looking for a flower shop to buy some flowers for his wife and Rhea once he met up with Cronus again he give them to her, it would cheer her up. He finally made his way down the street towards the business end of New York hoping to find some flowers and he finally stopped in front of the most little likely place, the words on the sign read clearly and Hyperion was glad no one knew he was still alive, the letter on the shop spelled out very neatly, Ambrosia.

He was silent and was about to walk away when he saw the Gods inside, well check another one of the big three of my shopping list he thought and walked away quickly and got some flowers from another store and moved of back to Cronus. He burst through the door of the house moving with purpose before knocking rapidly on Cronus is door, and then saying quietly “I’ve found them” he waited for Cronus to answer while holding the flowers tightly, my you will look like such a great warrior to Cronus he chuckled to himself waiting.

Hyperion stood up straighter "I found Zeus working at a human company, his name now is Brandon Powers... he wasn't hard to find." Hyperion gestured at a human newspaper with Zeus's face on it and in bold lettering it said "Brandon Powers does it again" Hyperion smirked "Zeus has been busy in social light lately. While you were sleeping I was watching the Gods and I've lost track of how many humans Zeus has slept with."


"Now finding Hades was a bit trickier, but like his brother they both have egos the size of Mount Olympus, I've tracked him down to some recent gang sighting’s around this area...." he said calmly like an assassin pointing out his targets on a map he had placed on the table.



"Also Hades owns a nice restaurant and a human strip club" Hyperion sighed, his nephew had turned out edgy and maybe it was time for a face to face talk though Cronus would like to have one at the edge of a blade instead of peace. "I also have tracked down his wife and Demeter, Athena, Artemis and Apollo and... Poseidon at a flower shop downtown, if we act now we could catch four of them right now...." he said before silencing himself, he wanted peace now war but he was born a soldier and would die a soldier he guessed.


Hyperion walked away from the table for a minute and looked at his brother "must this end in blood brother?" he said looking at Cronus with a faraway look in his eyes as he paced back and forth. He stood still looking out a window out into the world around him "If we are to stand against the Gods brother we must stand as one..." He said turning to face Cronus before sitting in a chair to the side of the room "but I must ask you brother is this war necessary?" He had just done somthing no Titian had done before, questioned Cronus, but still he wasn't going to back down from this topic "yes they wronged you but then again you tried to eat them... you tried having revenge once brother and it failed because we could not stand together, revenge does not work! you need to rally the others with the strength to go on and fire their spirts with the true justace not petty revenge..." he said in a almost pleading voice

ATHENA

Athena nodded in response to Demeter’s reply. She understood that they weren’t friends, come to think about it Athena didn’t have any friends really, she didn’t allow herself to get close to anyone not since…not since Pallas. She shook her head and tears burned at her eyes as the memory burned through her.

Pallas, her best friend when she was young, was the daughter of Triton. They had become fast friends when Triton started acting as a foster parent to Athena. Triton raised her alongside his own daughter. Both being raised as ‘military’ children they sparred a lot, unfortunately during a friendly fight between the two goddesses, Zeus stepped in not understanding they were sparring and protected Athena and Pallas was mortally wounded. Athena held her as she faded away into nothing and she never forgave herself (She never really forgave Zeus either.) Out of sorrow and regret, she created the palladium, a statue in the likeness of Pallas and took on her name out of respect. Ever since she refused to really let anyone in. She shook her head and forced herself to calm down. She looked around and realized that Poseidon and Apollo had entered the building.

“Oh, Hello Apollo, Poseidon, how are--.” She hesitated as her phone rang. It was her assistant. Something must be going wrong. She sighed. Humans sometimes. She shrugged and shot them an apologetic look before she rushed out.

Zeus's Mansion.

Brandon stood before the mirror on his dresser drawer sliding on a tight, grey long shirt over his defined torso. He had black dress pants at his hips and matching, leather shoes. A thick, silver neck lace hung about his neck, only adding more style to the already stylish god. Afterwards, he turned his head left and right, inspecting his jaw for blemishes or razor bumps. He had to look nice for his date dinner.

“Won’t this be exciting? The family’s finally coming together after so many years. I get to see how they’ve all grown,” said Brandon to his lovely wife.

Hera leaned against frame of the doorway that connected her bathroom to their bedroom.Her eyes dimmed as she watched her husband primp in front of his mirror with a cool expression carved onto her face. He looked as flawless and arrogant as always, though he masked it with such a cheerful disposition that even Hera was fooled at times.

She did not share her husbands excitement for the dinner he had planned. It was just another meeting that flaunted his children before her. The products of his many indiscretions.

"Oh yes, I'm sure it'll be quite lovely. I'm positively giddy." She replied, feigning excitement and tossing her husband a tight lipped smile.

Brandon glanced at Hera from the corners of his eyes while he sprayed himself with cologne. He wasn’t as dumb as she may have thought. He knew how much she disliked his other children. Hell, she had made it a point that he would never forget it when the affair happened. How was he supposed to know that all of his lays would secretly get pregnant and bestow upon him beautiful children?

“Hephaestus and Ares will be there,” Brandon informed, trying to mention only her children. Although, he was forgetting one on purpose.

“Our crippled child and the God of War? You say these names as if it will bring me comfort.” Hera replied. A shadow fell across her face. He can bear such beautiful children and yet the only children he grants me are cripples and fools. Such a burden the wife must carry. She thought bitterly, turning her face away from her husbands figure.

She straightened up and walked delicately towards the vanity of her own close to Zeus's dresser, sitting gently on the small stool and staring deeply into her own reflection.

"Will all our brothers be joining us this evening, or will it be the just the Sea God who graces us with his presence." She questioned.

She was making things difficult as usual. The way she spoke about Ares and Hephaestus wounded him a little. “Ares is an excellent warrior and Hephaestus an amazing inventor. Look what he did for Olympia. Business is booming! We’re number one in the consumer report.” Brandon clenched his fist and little tails of electricity flicked between the cracks of his fingers. A competitive grin was fixed on his face as he growled, “Take that Bill Gates and Steve Jobs! Take it right up the ass!”

Resting his hands on his hips, Brandon threw his head back and filled their bedroom with his triumphant laughter. Quieting his self-celebration, he answered Hera with a long smile. “I managed to get Hades to come. I said he could be with Persephone for this one night, so it shouldn’t be too bad. Of course Demeter may be sore about it, but hey, she has five months still to go.”

She loathed and loved that smile. " I'm aware of their abilities." She answered, brushing her ebony hair with long strokes, occasionally reaching a tangle and digging the brush into her scalp to fix it . She lifted a strand and twirled it between her fingers as she spoke. "You invited Hades as well?" Surprise overlapping her usual bored tone. " Are you sure that's wise ? What if he makes a scene?"

She dropped the hair she was holding and twisted her head away from the mirror to stare directly towards her husband. His laughter still echoed throughout the room, which only made the Goddess roll her green orbs up towards the ceiling and round before bringing them back to her husbands freshly shaved face.

"I'm sure Demeter is going to enjoy listening to your explanation on why her daughters kidnapper is among us." She would enjoy listening to it as well. She liked neither Hades nor Persephone, but his possessiveness over the girl annoyed her to no end.

Brandon forced a grin—and he had loved this woman once? He fanned at her pessimism dismissively.

“Everything will be fine. It’s not Hades I’m worried about, but Demeter. My brother wouldn’t do anything to jeopardize his night with Persephone. I’m sure he’ll be like a tamed lion.”

He stepped behind Hera and intimately rested his hands upon her shoulders. “You worry too much.”

His assurance would do little to contain her worry. " A lion is still a lion, no matter how tame it might be for a moment. Whatever you say though dear." She mumbled, putting her brush down and puckering her lips before her mirror. Was she not beautiful enough for him? Once there had been a time she even rivaled Aphrodite's beauty but it seemed not even her looks were enough to keep her husband faithful.

His warm hands pressed against the cool flesh that covered her delicate shoulders. She allowed him to linger for a moment, savoring his touch before she brushed his hands off and stood once more.

She sniffed the air. "You smell musky. You must be having quite the night if you put that much cologne on. Lucky girl." Her smile was a mixture of venom and honey, and before her husband could reply she brushed past him and made her way towards her closet to find an outfit to wear for the evening.

Her words rendered a crippling blow to his ego. She put up such a front that their bed may forever be cold. Brandon had quickly retracted his hands and held them up in surrender when his first wife brushed past him. His smile became sheepish as he watched her glide over to her closet.

“What are you talking about?” Shaking his head, Brandon strolled over to the door, trying to make his getaway seem as normal as possible. “I’m going to go check on the dinner preparations.”

Slipping outside, he closed the door behind him and frowned. His eyes narrowed irritably as he thought, And she wonders why I look at other woman…She’s already kicked me to the curb.

Hera watched as her husband walked off, leaving her to go handle the party preparations. The moment his figure vanished from the room, she allowed herself a small sigh before falling to her knees in their closet. Shoes, coats, and dresses were all organized neatly around her yet she was still a mess. I love him and I hate him. May the goddess of love burn in the fiery hells for the days she's put me through with that man. She cursed before bringing herself to a standing position.

It was easy to be a frigid bitch to him. It was harder to show her softer side, especially when he continually made the same mistake over and over again. Shaking her head, she pushed several dresses aside and peered into her closet, rejecting everything she saw without even bothering to try it on.

She already wanted the stupid affair over with.

The door was opened for Athena by a being that materialized from water vapor. A man as white as a cement statue and comprised entirely of cloud smiled briefly at the young goddess before he evaporated on the air. Brandon was descending the marble staircase when he saw one of his beautiful daughters, punctual and hopefully ready for the occasion.

“Athena!” Brandon greeted. He approached his…daughter. She was rather a conundrum. She hadn’t been born by normal means but yes, she was still of his creation. He stepped toward her with the intention of embracing her in a welcoming hug. “I was just about to check on dinner. You’re early.”

Brandon's phone hummed in his pocket. He had set it on vibrate in the case that he needed to secretly take a peek at it during dinner. After breaking his embrace with Athena [if it happened], Brandon reached into his pocket and removed his cell phone to see a message not from Cynthia, but Apollo.

Really? he thought. This was why he told his children to go directly through Hermes, so they wouldn't get in the way of his mortal business. I'm changing my number.

Pulling up the text, Brandon frowned as he read to the bottom.

The Titans? he pondered in silence. But Hades would have told us...


Brandon turned away from Athena to hide the disturbed look that had ruined his joyful mood. The idea that his father was free again spooked him. How many of his children would he try to gobble up this time? They weren't even born when the Titanomachy occurred. To them, it's a mere war story. Preparations for war...no. No war. The boy was overreacting. He would need however to talk to his brothers and sisters in secret when they arrive. This matter shouldn't concern his children.

Closing his eyes, Brandon pulled himself back into the mood of things and sighed his concerns aloud. He faced his clever daughter and graced her with a pleasant smile. “Sorry about that. Make yourself at home. Hermes is here somewhere if you need company. The others, I’m sure, will be along soon.”

Poseidon

“I’ll meet you guys there,” Poseidon said, taking his phone back off his nephew and heading out of the little store with a little wave of his hand.

Something worried him about this, but moreso than just a little vision fit from Apollo. What bothered the Sea God was how little he could remember about the Titans. Seeing Hyperion was like seeing a very, very old acquaintance; one whom which you could not remember the origin of your meeting. This lax recognition was causing another frown to furrow his brow, and a cloudy expression to mist over his eyes, changing their colour from a deep blue to a stormy gray. As he paced down the increasingly busy New York sidewalk, he tried time after time to picture the last time the Titans had been around and each time met a stone wall of resistance that baffled him. Perhaps it was because he had cast it out of his mind for so long, and so many, many things had occurred in the meantime. How was he supposed to remember a millennia’s worth of cataclysmic events when the monotony of human life had crept over him like a lazy blanket? With this in mind, it was little surprise that Poseidon found himself walking past a dozen or so taxis and into a dingy little bar by the name of O’Malley’s.

Without paying much heed to the other inhabitants, all who seemed to be nursing pints and keeping to themselves by trying to seek some solace in the amber liquid. He sat down at the bar, called a pretty blonde bartender over and pointed at a bottle of dark liquid on the back shelf. “I’ll have some of that, please. Keep the change.” He pulled the first note out of his pocket that he could find, ignoring the denomination and giving the liquid a sniff as she placed a glass down in front of him.

“You picked the worst one,” she said, smiling as he recoiled from the overpowering aniseed smell.

“Thank you for telling me that before,” he said, shaking his head.

“Tough day?”

“I’m going to a family meeting. It helps to have the edge taken off, my dear.”

---

Half an hour or so later, Poseidon watched out of the window of the taxi as it rolled up to Zeus’ mansion. Despite himself, he grinned. Most of the other Gods lived in relative modesty, doing anything but draw attention to themselves. Not the King of the Gods, however. It was just preposterous to thing of such a thing. “Here will do, driver,” he called through the glass window, shoving a collection of notes through into the man’s hand.

Making his way towards the mansion, he spotted his brother and Athena talking somewhat near the entrance. Taking a moment to smooth down his clothes, he gave a lazy wave of his hand and a lop-sided grin. “Better late than never. Has Hades turned up yet? I could do with a laugh or two.”

Apollo

She gave him confirmation of everyone’s presence within the mansion, even noting some of the typical interactions of his kin to which Apollo resisted rolling his eyes. He saw a concern grow within her however and she expressed this saying "Apollo, what's wrong? Has something happened?"

Has something happened?

At first he was confused as to why she would ask such a question, after all didn’t Zeus... The Far-darter’s eyes shown realization, near disbelief in them. He said almost more to himself than to his twin, “He hasn’t told you.” A moment passed in complete silence, this new information taking its toll to the point where he paid no heed to what else transpired in the foyer. When the moment ended, his bared a deeply frowning brow and barred teeth in the direction of the dining hall.

Ignoring his sister Apollo strode into the dining hall and was set to bombard his father with questions. What was there to gain from not telling his children and siblings? What purpose was therein failing to warn them immediately what was happening, what was at stake? How could put on that stupid grin and pretend all was well, when of all people in the entire cosmos he should be the most troubled, having faced these monsters before? But Apollo had the wit to calm himself, for now Zeus would address them, Apollo resolving to sit at the obsidian table awaiting for his father to break the news. To Apollo’s great disappointment however he merely mentioned that there would bad news, and decided to yet again stall what would be the most important council in millennia.

No.

The Far-darter wouldn’t have it, in his mind there was had no time to waste, he’d done enough of that taking his sweet time in arriving, though at the time he thought they’d be discussing this already. He rose out of his seat, and faced his father with a face of disappointment and contempt, and perhaps he would be thought insolent by all others within the hall but he spoke anyway, “Feel like a family? You want us to feel like a family? Please don’t even try to pretend that we have any semblance of that word, at least not until each of us can openly acknowledge our failings and vices, myself included. But more than that, wouldn’t it be far more prudent to address imminent threat to us, and all six billion men women and children on this earth?” his voice was rising and growing ever more irritable.

“That perhaps you of all people would understand what’s happening? What do you want? For us cease this infighting? To act unified and ignoring the discrepancies and grievances between us? They’ll never do it, they’ve had thousands of years to do it, why would they start now when they feel nothing to gain? Well now I say to all of you, that were in not that our very survival hinges within the choices made in this hour I would not care if you bashed in each other’s brains to your hearts content, but it seems even some part of me long dormant and diminished still loves as kin.

“But please father, do continue, see how far they go to please you without compromising their egos.” When he was finished his body seemed to relax, and rested his hands upon the table supporting himself, and sighed deeply, “I’m sorry,” he apologized. He then he looked to his father apologetically, “I’m not known for my temper, but even you don’t know what I saw, and I shouldn’t blame you. Nonetheless this can’t be put off for another minute.”

He rose again and addressed them, “Let me tell of my visions. Think of them as the sense of hearing, you don’t typically choose what you hear though you can tune yourselves the sound around you to detect what is near. Normally what I see is far off, distorted, subject to change. But earlier today the vision I had was the equivalent to putting ear to a jet engine, it is something that is just short of being inevitable.”

And so it was that the Far-darter sate them down, recounting the events concerning the return of the Titans who visited Persephone’s shop, and foretold in explicit detail the world he saw. Of the earth caked in the ash of mortals, of the fall of Olympus and detailed descriptions of the corpses of the Olympians not even omitting the fate of his dear sister. Of and age in which all would be laid to ruin under a red sky and sea, of a Crimson Age yet to come.

He finished and regarded them grimly, “You know me not to be an exaggerator, nor paranoid nor deceitful. But this will happen if we do not act, and sooner than any of us would like. What say you, my kin?”