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CAUTION: THERE IS A BIT OF CURSING OH NO BRACE YOURSELVES

("-") = translation. There was some words that were not translated and that's because I just didn't think there was any need to translate them. By the way, here are the languages that they are going to speak in order: first of Afrikaans, Japanese, Lithuanian, Spanish, and Greek. Sorry for the boxes for the Greek part. Enjoy!

Ch. 7: Rumors

There are many immortals around the world. Spirits, gods, nymphs, you name it. And they all come from different cultures. They tend to stick to their groups, so they don't really interact with any other spirit or god from another origin. Some are friendly. Some are...well, not so friendly. All of them have different kinds of unique powers and things that they rule over. But they all have one thing in common. They love to gossip.

Being alive for hundreds and thousands of years can get boring. There is the occasional war and a few rebellions that go on, but it's always the same. Fight, fight, fight, a few thousand people die, and then it's resolved. They could go around and mess with the mortals, but they're sometimes too lazy for that. So the most entertaining thing that they like to do was gossip about the other spirits and gods. "Did you hear? Triton's going out with Aphrodisia!" "The nightmare king is coming back!" "I think the Norse gods are going at it again." "The new winter spirit is HOT!" There is always something new. And on the month of October, they talked about Aeola.

It was a hot summer in South Africa. Ises, the African goddess of the bow and arrow, sat up against a tree near a river. Lying down on the shore was Jengu, a water spirit. He was looking up at the blue sky as he made tiny waves wash up on the dirt.

Ises groaned. "I am bored."

"So am I," Jengu replied back.

"I want to do something."

"Like what?"

Ises thought for a bit. "I do not know. How about mancala?"

"No. Too boring."

"Ampe?"

"We don't have enough people."

"What about stockings?"

"That is a game for girls," Jensu snorted.

"Boys can play, too."

"I do not want to play it, Ises."

Ises sighed. "Well, we are back to square one."

A cheery woman holding a basket of yams popped out of the bushes and shouted, "Hallo! ("Hello!")"

The bow and arrow goddess shrieked and jumped up, pointing an arrow at the woman. The woman dropped her basket and put up her hands.

"Oi!" she yelped. "Moenie my doodmaak nie! ("Do not kill me!") I just wanted to say hi!"

Ises lowered her bow and rolled her eyes. "Do not startle me like that, you crazy broad! I almost sent an arrow through your throat!"

"I am very sorry!" The woman bent over to pick up her basket. "I did not mean to scare you like that, Ises."

Jengu looked over and waved. "Hello, Aha Njoku."

The yam goddess smiled and waved back. "Hello, Jengu. So, how are the both of you doing?"

Ises and Jengu groaned obnoxiously.

"We have absolutely nothing to do," said Ises.

"I am so incredibly bored that I was even watching the grass grow over there earlier," said Jengu. "Aha Njoku. I was watching grass. GROW. For three hours. Until Ises came here. But we didn't really do anything. Ugh." He put his arms out. "Save us from the boredom, Aha! SAVE US!"

"Oh, stop being so dramatic, dom kop. ("stupid head.")"

Aha Njoku chuckled. "Alright then. Well, I picked up some juicy gossip from a mermaid before I came here. Do you wish to hear what she said?"

The two immortals scrambled to her, eager to hear anything that she said, as long as it kept them entertained. "Tell us, tell us!" they begged.

"Okay." Aha Njoku sat down in front of them. "You know about that new wind spirit that was born back in March? Aeola?"

"Yes," Jengu said.

"No," Ises replied, frowning.

"Well," the yam goddess continued. "Mother Nature brought her in. She is only about fifteen, I think. She controls the wind very well, and she has a bow and arrow just like you, Ises."

Ises grinned. "I want to meet her. She sounds interesting."

"Oh, I'm not sure about that. Aeola is very shy. She doesn't really talk to anybody. And she got into a big fight with that sea god."

"Triton?" Jengu asked.

"Yes. The mermaid said that they were battling with each other. And Triton was about to kill her until Aphrodisia stopped him from doing so."

"Why did she do that?"

"I do not know. The mermaid thinks it was because she did not want to be the girlfriend of a man who slays children or something like that. I think it's because she just doesn't want the girl to get hurt."

Jengu grinned. "Ah, Aphrodisia...lucky Triton. She is the most beautiful mermaid in the entire world."

Ises punched him. "Hoekom het jy nog nie 'n drukgang op daardie meisie? ("Why do you even have a crush on that girl?") Someone who is that pretty is untrustworthy."

"Of course you would say that. You're just jealous. I know it."

"Jaloers?! ("Jealous?!")"

"Yup." Jengu crossed his arms and smirked. "Completely jealous."

Ises replied back to him by calling him a "aaklige bliksem" and tackled him. They punched and scratched each other, calling each other vicious things. Aha Njoku stood up.

"Well," she said, taking a small purple bead out of her pouch. "It seems you two are not bored anymore. I shall be going now."

The goddess threw the bead onto the ground and disappeared in the purple smoke, leaving Jengu and Ises still on the ground wrestling.

Bakugami was in the form of a boar heading towards a large cherry blossom tree at the top of a hill near a small village. The cool evening air felt pleasant after a day of working on his cherry bombs and fireworks. Sitting at the base of the tree were four other deities: Kaya Nu Hima, the goddess of herbs; Kamado No Kami, the god of kitchen stoves, Sakuya, the spirit of the cherry blossom tree they were sitting under; and Tama-No-Ya, the god of jewelers. They were all sitting down eating mochi and discussing about current events.

"Kon'nichiwa, yūjin ("Hello, friends.")," Bakugami greeted.

The gods said hello and offered him a seat. Bakugami lied down on his side and politely declined the plate of mochi that was given to him.

"What are all of you talking about?" he asked sleepily.

"Oh," Kaya Nu Hima said, cheeks full of the sweet treat. "We were talking about that new wind spirit."

"Aeola is her name," said Tama-No-Ya. "You know, she is only sixteen, I believe."

Kamodo No Kami noticed that Bakugami was growling viciously and asked, "Are you alright?"

"Sono imaimashī kaze no seishin! ("That damn wind spirit!")" he bellowed, startling the other gods. " Ano chīsana mikkoku-sha wa sū-shūkan mae ni watashi no yoi sakura bakudan no ikutsu ka o nusunda!("That little snitch stole a few of my good cherry bombs a few weeks ago!") Sneaked right in my workshop and got them!"

"Really?" Tama-No-Ya tilited his head to the side. "That explains it."

"Explains what?"

Kaya Nu Hima swallowed the mochi that was in her mouth and spoke, "Well, about a week ago she got into this huge fight with Triton, the Greek god of the sea. A mermaid told me all about it. And apparently, she used explosives."

"Hai ("Yes.")," Sakuya said. "Watashi wa kanojo ga kanojo no yajirushi to shottotoriton ni sorera o musubitsukete iru koto to shinjite imasu. Dare mo kizutsukenakattaga, toriton wa hijō ni okotte seichō shi, kare no gārufurendo wa sō suru koto kara kare o teishi suru made, kanojo o korosou to shita. ("I believe that she tied them to her arrows and shot Triton. No one was hurt, but Triton grew very angry and tried to kill her until his girlfriend stopped him from doing so.")"

"Why?" Bakugami asked.

Kamado No Kami broke in before Sakuya could say anything. "Because she's a snob, that's why. She doesn't want to be the girlfriend of someone who likes to kill little children. She didn't want a bad reputation."

"Anata wa, kanojo ni tsuite no koto o iubekide wanai, ("You should not say that about her.")" Sakuya warned. "Kanojo wa anata ga kanojo ni tsuite katatta nanika o mitsukeru kamo shirenai to, kanojo wa ikatteirudarou. ("She might find out what you said about her and she'll be mad.")"

"Bah, Aphrodisia won't find out. It doesn't matter."

Bakugami grunted. "So she used my bombs, eh? At least she used them for a good cause."

"You do not like Triton, right?" Tama-No-Ya asked.

"Hai ("Yes."). He is a little spoiled brat who likes to show off a lot. It's good that Aeola girl fought with him. When was the last time anyone has fought him?"

They all thought for a moment. "One-hundred and fifty years ago, I think," Kamado No Kami said. "Ba really got into it with Triton, but she eventually lost a battle and never fought him again."

"Sō (That's right.)," said Sakuya.

"So you are not mad at the wind spirit for stealing your bombs?" asked Kayu Nu Hima.

The god of explosions snorted. "Mad? Of course not. In all honesty, I would have given anything to go see that Aeola girl beat up Triton. It would be nice to see someone do something that we've always wanted to do to that little brat."

"Taigi ji bandė veriantis jam? ("So she tried stabbing him?")"

"Ji padarė dūris jį. Tritonas buvo teisus ant jos ir pasiruošę iškirpti savo drąsos su tridantis, bet ji paėmė peilį iš jos makšties ir nabbedhim teisę į pilvą! ("She did stab him. Triton was right on top of her and ready to cut out her guts with his trident, but she took out a knife out of her sheath and nabbed him right in the abdomen!")"

"Tikrai? Dieve mano, ji yra sudėtinga. ("Really? My goodness, she is tricky.")"

The Lithuanian god of grain, Krumine, picked up a heavy wooden ball, about the size of a bowling ball. Ten feet away from him were nine "skittles" (which were an old version of bowling pins) set up in a neat order. It took Ganiklis (the Lithuanian god of shepherds) a while to set them up because the grass was so bumpy and they kept on falling over. He watched carefully as Krumine stared intently at the skittles for a bit.

"Aš pasirinksiu trankyti per priekinį dešinįjį kėglių ("I choose to knock over the front right quarter.")," Krumine said.

Ganiklis shrugged. Krumine threw the ball and it rolled over and hit all of the skittles...except the one he was aiming at. The grain god groaned.

"Ha!" Ganiklis cheered. "Aš laimėti! Imk! ("I win! Take that!")"

Krumine rolled his eyes. "Nepriklausomai! Aš vis dar laimėjo daugiau žaidimų nei jūs! Leiskite iš naujo. Aš noriu žaisti dar kartą. ("Whatever! I still won more games than you! Let's reset. I want to play again.")"

As they put the skittles back up, Ganiklis asked, "Taigi, ką manote apie šią naują vėjo dvasia? (So, what do you think about that new wind spirit?")"

Krumine thought for a bit. "Aš tikrai nežino. Bet ji neatrodo kaip žmogus, norėčiau būti aplink. Ji atrodo labai ... Na, nėra draugiškas. ("I don't really know. But she doesn't sound like the kind of person I would like to be around. She seems very...well, not friendly.")"

"Pffft. Na, jums nebus labai draugiški, jei kas nors bandė skandinti tave, dabar jūs? ("Well, you wouldn't be very friendly if someone tried to drown you, now would you?")"

"Manau, ne. ("I guess not.")"

"O, ir aš taip pat girdėjau, kad ji net bandė susprogdinti Triton su bombų krūva. ("Oh, and I also heard that she even tried to blow up Triton with a bunch of bombs.")"

Krumine cringed. "Ouch. Priminkite man ne gauti ant blogosios pusės, jei mes kada nors susidurti ją. ("Remind me not to get on her bad side if we ever encounter her.")"

"Sutiko ("Agreed.")." Ganiklis stood up and cracked his back. "Gerai, mes ketiname būti žaisti kaip anksčiau. Ir šį kartą, neturi būti gerklės nevykėlis vėl, kai aš laimėti. ("Alright, we are going to be playing it the same as before. And this time, don't be a sore loser again when I win.")"

"Jis yra. ("It is on.")" Krumine smiled.

The Mexican goddess of drunkenness, Mayahuel, stumbled into the grassy area where the two other goddesses were weaving colorful baskets. Ahnt Alis Pok' shrieked. She was a child goddess (who seemed to be the age of 7), but she was only two feet tall. She dropped her basket and ran into the bushes.

"Mayahuel!" shouted Chulavete, the goddess of the morning star. She groaned. "Usted estúpida! ("You stupid woman!") You have frightened Ahnt!"

"Ayuda! Ayuda! ("Help! Help!")" Ahnt Alis Pok' shouted. "Hay una mujer borracha miedo nos ataca! ("There's a scary drunk lady attacking us!")"

Chulavete ran to her and picked up the child. "Cálmate. ("Calm down.") It is only Mayahuel." She frowned at the drunk woman, who was chugging down a bottle of Modelo. "What do you want? We are busy here."

Mayahuel chuckled. "I just wanted some amigas to talk to." Her words were slurred. "Y tú eres my friends, are you not?"

"If by friends, you mean people who you call when you are so drunk that you cannot even walk? Then sure. Whatever."

Chulavete put down Ahnt Alis Pok' and the child ran back to her basket. Mayahuel staggered over to a soft patch of grass and sat down. She threw the empty bottle of Modelo over the nearby fence and took out a bottle of beer out of her bag. As she popped the cap off, Chulavete crossed her arms.

"So what is it that you want to talk about?"

"Eh," Mayahuel shrugged. "Just some rumors I heard. ¿Sabes lo de that new wind spirit that was born earlier this year?"

Ahnt Alis Pok' looked up. "You mean Aeola?"

Mayahuel nodded. "Sí. She got into una pelea con Triton."

"Who's Triton?"

"He is the Greek god of the sea. Ahora cierra la trampa, hija. ("Now shut your trap, child.") Let me finish talking."

Ahnt Alis Pok' pouted and went back to weaving her basket.

"Why were they fighting?" Chulavete asked.

"Well," Mayahuel said. "Triton was just swimming around en el océano Pacífico when that Aeola girl saw him and..." She made a diving motion with her hand. "Whoosh! She dove in and attacked him! Triton was able to put up his trident before she could apuñalarlo with her knife. They had an underwater battle for a while. Then la niña no podía respirar so she grabbed Triton and brought him above the surface of the water."

"Then what happened?" Ahnt Alis pok' asked eagerly.

"Shhhhhh! Anyways, they continued to luchar until la espíritu del viento got angry and threw some bombs at the other merpeople who were watching."

Ahnt Alis Pok' gasped. "Why would she do that?"

"No se. I think it's because she wanted to hurt Triton's people to get back at him. And one of los tritones was so close to one of the bombs that his arm came off and he died from all of the blood loss! Triton was tan enojada Aeola that he stabbed her right in the stomach!"

The two other goddesses' eyes widened. "No!"

"Yes!" Mayahuel exclaimed. "And Triton wanted to finish her off, but su novia, Aphrodite, I think her name is, stopped him from doing that and he did. Then they left the wind spirit a sufrir."

They all sat in silence, thinking about what the drunk goddess had said.

"Are you sure that was how it happened?" Chulavete asked with an eyebrow raised.

"¡Por supuesto! I heard it all from a river spirit. Exact same words!"

"Why would Aeola do that?" Ahnt Alis Pok' asked. "Why would she just attack the merpeople?"

Chulavete answered her question before Mayahuel could. "I heard it's because they have this rivalry. Aeola wouldn't let him have his power over the wind, and he's been mad about it ever since. I guess the wind spirit was afraid that he would attack her first or something, so that's why she just dove after him."

Mayahuel waved her had at her. "Sure. Or maybe she is loco and likes to go around and fight people."

"Don't listen to that dreadful woman, hija," Chulavete said to Ahnt Alis Pok'. Mayahuel chuckled and took a sip of her beer.

Jack Frost was flying by a Greek city near the ocean and a river when he heard two other spirits talking in loud voices.

"What?" a girl exclaimed. "No way! That's not how I heard it!"

"I'm not lying!" said a young boy. "She really did that! The other river spirits told me all about it!"

"What are you two talking about?" Jack asked.

The two spirits looked up to see the winter spirit eavesdropping on their conversation. The girl blushed when she realized who he was while the boy only looked confused.

"Poios sto diáolo eínai af̱tó? ("Who the hell is that?")" he asked the girl.

"Eínai Jack Frost, to pnév̱ma tou cheimó̱na. Thymi̱theíte af̱tón? Égine Guardian pérysi kai voí̱thi̱se na nikí̱sei Pitch. ("He is Jack Frost, spirit of winter. Remember him? He became a Guardian last year and he helped defeat Pitch.")"

The boy nodded, remembering when all of the deities gossiped about the Guardians defeating Pitch the year before. Jack flew down to them and the girl waved shyly.

"Um...hello Jack," she stuttered.

Jack raised an eyebrow. "Hi. Uh, how do you know me?"

Her face lit up. "Oh! Well, um...well, when you and the other Guardians defeated Pitch last year, we all knew about it. Everyone talked about it and we all knew who you were."

"Okay."

Awkward silence. The girl suddenly burst out, "Agh! Poú eínai oi trópoi mou? ("Where are my manners?")" She bowed. "My name's Antevorta. I'm a nymph. O-of that fountain over there. I am the nymph of that fountain...yeah."

The boy waved. "And I'm Hermus. I'm a river god."

"Hello, Antevorta and Hermus," Jack said, giving a bow. "Nice to meet the both of you."

Hermus smiled. Antevorta smiled as well, but in her head, all she was thinking was: OH MY GODS I AM ACTUALLY TALKING TO JACK FROST OH MY GODS OH MY GODS OH MY GODS ALL THE OTHER NYMPHS ARE GOING TO BE SO JEALOUS OH. MY. GODS I CAN'T BELIEVE THIS OKAY OKAY JUST STAY CALM AND DO NOT SAY ANYTHING STUPID.

Jack leaned against his staff. "Anyways, I didn't mean to listen in on your conversation , but I was kind of wondering what the both of you were talking about back there. Must've been really interesting if you guys were practically shouting about it."

Antevorta shrugged. "Oh really nothing. We were just talking about that new wind spirit...ugh, I forgot her name."

Jack frowned. "You mean Aeola?"

"Yeah, yeah! That's her name!"

"Huh." Jack didn't think they'd be talking about her. He hasn't seen her or heard anything about the wind spirit ever since he accidentally pushed her into the pond back then. There were a few times where he went out to go find her to no avail. He wanted to be friends with Aeola since she seemed like a nice person and (this was the main reason) he felt bad for her. Her family was still alive and she couldn't even talk to them. The other spirits and gods never really talked to her and she never really wanted to talk to the other spirits and gods anyways. he just thought that she could use a friend.

"So what did Aeola do?" Jack asked the two immortals.

"Well-" Antevorta began but was cut off by an excited Hermus.

"Aeola got into this really big fight with Triton and then he tried to drown her in the ocean but then she got really mad so she shot out of the water and threw bombs down at him and some merpeople that were watching and all the merpeople exploded and died and Triton got super mad so he sent an army of sharks after her and they attacked her and then he told the sharks to stop and he went up to her and she was practically almost dead and all bloody and Triton was gonna stab her but then she took out her knife and stabbed him a bunch of times and then she flew off and no one's seen her since! It was so trelós! ("crazy")"

Jack was looking down at Hermus in horror. "What? Are you serious?"

"Yeah! The river spirits told me all about it!"

"That's...that's strange."

"Yeah," muttered Antevorta, who was still upset that Hermus had ruined her chance to talk to Jack.

"That's not exactly how it happened," a girl said behind them.

They turned around. A mermaid with beautiful red hair rose put of the ocean water and leaned on a railing. Antevorta and Hermus bowed.

"Geia sas, Afrodísia ("Hello, Aphrodisia.")," they both said in unison.

The mermaid greeted them back. Her green eyes turned to look at Jack, who was staring at her. She smiled.

"Jack Frost, isn't it?" she said. "It is a pleasure to finally meet you. I am Aphrodisia, a maiden of the sea."

Jack shook his head and waved. "Oh...hi. Nice to meet you too."

"What are you doing here?" Antevorta asked. "Aren't you with Triton?"

Aphrodisia smirked. "Not today. I needed to get away from him for a while. He wanted to show me his armor collection, but I said I was going to go back to my home for a few days. He bought it, thank goodness. I don't think I can take anymore of him."

"I'm sorry," Jack said. "This might sound really, really stupid, but Triton is the Greekgod of the sea, am I right?"

"Yes. And I am currently dating that eleeinoú. ("Wretched man.")"

"Okay. Sorry."

"No worries, child." Aphrodisia turned to Hermus. "Now, where did you hear that whole story about...ah, Aeola blowing up all of the merpeople and stabbing Triton?"

Hermus looked down. "I heard it from the other river spirits. they seemed really excited about it, too. What, were they not telling the truth?"

Aphrodisia laughed. "Not quite. I was actually there when they fought that day. I should probably tell you the real story so that no one here gets confused."

And so, the mermaid told the real story of what really happened. How Triton and Aeola had a rivalry, and Triton saw Aeola flying up in the air one day and decided to attack her, and how he tried to drown her, and Aeola defended herself by throwing down cherry bombs without causing any harm to anyone except the sea god, and how he tried to stab her with his trident until Aphrodisia stopped him and they left her alone. there was never an army of sharks sent after the wind spirit, and Aeola never stabbed or killed anyone during that fight.

"Well," Hermus said after knowing the true story. "Wait until I tell the river spirits what really happened. I can't wait to see their faces when I tell them!"

Antevorta scratched her head. "I didn't know that that was how it went. The other nymphs told be a completely different and totally bizarre version of that. The rumors just went totally crazy."

Aphrodisia nodded. "All of the deities are discussing it. Unfortunately, many of them heard it differently and they make Aeola seem like a bad person. She really isn't. She's a nice girl. That's why I didn't want Triton to hurt the poor thing."

"She is nice," Jack said. "The other Guardians told me about Aeola since they encountered her. She's pretty skittish, but harmless. I even got to talk to her."

"Really?" they all said.

"Uh, yup. Well, it was only once, and I haven't seen her since then. But she wasn't dangerous or anything."

"How did you meet her?" Hermus asked.

"She was passing by a town I was in and...we talked a little and threw a few snowballs, but then she left." Jack left out the part about pushing her into the pond.

"Huh. okay."

Antervorta chuckled. "Well, at least we know that she's not some crazy maniac, since that was how it sounded to me when I first heard about it."

"Well, I better go talk to the river spirits," said Hermus. "Make sure they know what really happened."

"And I gotta get back to my fountain."

"I should be going as well," Aphrodisia said.

Jack nodded. "Me too. I've got some...Guardian business to take care of." And by Guardian business, he meant filling up Bunnymund's warren with snow again.

All of them waved to each other goodbye (and Antevorta kissed her hand and blew on it in Jack's direction when he wasn't looking) and left to take care of their stuff. As Jack left, he thought about looking for Aeola to say hello, but decided not to. Even though he knew the real story of what happened between Aeola and Triton, he didn't want her to attack him. The rumors freaked him out a little, so Jack told himself that he'll go find her another day. Besides, he had to go fill a Warren with snow right now.

This chapter is a bit rushed. Sorry. I just wanted to write the next chapter after this one really bad so I rushed it. Hehe.

The languages might not be accurate. Not everyone in Africa speak Afrikaans, but I decided to throw that in there for some diversity and stuff.

Yes, there is a goddess of yams. yes there is a god of kitchen stoves. Yes there is a goddess who is only two feet tall. Welcome to the world of mythology.

This chapter basically shows how rumors can be spread and get completely twisted, making it sound completely different that the original. The world is a crazy place.

Next chapter might take a while. I've got stuff to do so don't expect me to post up a new chapter this week (if I do that will be a miracle.) Review, follow, and favorite! Thank you for your support! It's the only thing that keeps me writing! I frickin' love you all! xoxo

-psychochirpingmistress