Author's Note: Looks like I'm back, a couple of months late once again. I'm afraid my updates may not pick up until close to December, as I'm in my last semester of college and I have to work on getting a job after graduation and whatnot.

This happened a little while ago, but you may or may not have noticed that I changed the character tags for this story. Initially I included Keiichi/Belldandy to make a better point of Tangled Threads having taken place after the finale, but I opted now to change the tags to better reflect the actual main characters in the story. Please understand, Keiichi and the Norns are not the main players in this tale. Peorth, Lind, and Eira are; I could just as easily leave out the Tarikihongan residents if I really wanted to, as they are nowhere near the main focus. But they have a purpose insofar as I've written it, so they will be appearing, just understand that this isn't their story. This is the story of the Amazing Pair and Eira, and it's going to stay that way.

That rambling aside, please enjoy the chapter, and story notes are at the bottom!

The Tangled Threads We Weave

Part Ten: The Choices We Make

Somehow, a part of Peorth had thought that perhaps Eira might consider not playing so many outlandish pranks all the time, as it had seemed for a moment that she'd actually gotten through to the child, had made it clear to her that it was wise to be putting more effort into her magical studies. Somehow, a part of her had thought that perhaps the day after the little goddess's punishment was lifted, that she and Lind wouldn't wake up to some terrible prank waiting to rain misery upon them.

That tiny little part of her that had believed Eira might have been convinced enough to possibly change her direction was oh, so wrong. Incredibly so.

Peorth couldn't stop staring. It was like that human saying, about awful train wrecks and how you couldn't look away. She'd known Eira was devious, but not that devious.

For she was looking dumbly into a mirror, and her hair was now the most hideously-bright-pink color she'd ever seen. Normally, she was alright with pink as a color, but this was a scalding pink, the kind that seemed incredibly bright in the light, the kind that should be removed from existence for how horridly awful an assault on the eyes it was.

She was also avoiding looking at Lind for too long, because, as much as she thought kindly of her friend, the Valkyrie did not look good whatsoever with neon-green hair. It was a sight that was almost as revolting as the shade her own hair had become. While her original hair color could be considered 'plain'—dark brown was a naturally-occurring hair color in humans, after all, like many of the hair colors sported by other deities—at least in comparison to hair like Lind's, that sky-colored hue, or like Ansuz's, a shade of teal, Peorth had never had any cause to actively dislike her hair color. She'd grown rather fond of it, truly, after a couple of tries at dyeing her hair with different highlights of other colors. She was even a little attached to the nice dark shade of brown her hair happened to be, so it was a bit…traumatizing to see the horrors of an incredibly ridiculous color having replaced the brown.

"Lind," she said, slowly, carefully, "do you see what I see?"

The Valkyrie looked up from flicking her hair about through her fingers; it was still bright green. "…Maybe…she meant to make your hair the color of a rose, since you like those flowers so much…?" she offered, though it sounded almost like she didn't even really believe that suggestion in the first place.

Peorth let out a long breath. "No," she said, gritting her teeth and putting down the mirror at last, because even though a part of her just wanted to stare at the awful sight, another part of her knew that if she didn't stop looking at it, she wouldn't be getting anything done. "I'm certain she intended for it to be bright pink."

She climbed to her feet, frowning. She hadn't woken up when Eira had to have cast the spell to change her hair color, and as far as she could tell, Lind hadn't either, from her surprise at waking up to green hair. The door was closed, so the child must have snuck back out the way she'd come in, as Peorth found herself doubting that Eira could have come in through the window, since that would require her having to circumvent the entire house due to their rooms being on opposing sides.

Though that line of thought did lead her to another question… "Lind," she said, and her partner tilted her head curiously, "you didn't feel her change your hair color, correct?"

The other goddess nodded slightly, appearing puzzled. "Why do you ask?"

Peorth gestured somewhat awkwardly towards Lind, stating, "I don't know what all it is you Valkyries do, but you mentioned before that you're supposed to be able to tell when magic is being used on you, right? So how did you miss Eira's spell, especially when she's got to be clumsy at using it?"

Lind raised her eyebrows, seemingly unperturbed by the question. "Valkyries are trained to respond to magic meant to cause harm. Changing the color of my hair is not harmful. It's…odd, certainly, but it in no way impedes my ability to respond to a potential attack. Besides, magic like that should be more of something you would know how to deal with, yes?"

"I was asleep!" Peorth defended herself, crossing her arms.

Lind gave her an odd look, like that defense really wasn't helping her case any. "I was asleep also, you understand," the Valkyrie said at last. She was giving Peorth another look, and the formerly-dark-haired goddess turned her gaze pointedly to the ceiling, getting the distinct feeling that Lind was somehow implicating her, though if anything she should be used to Peorth's sleep-hugs by now. Admittedly, waking up and looking down to see green hair instead of light blue had honestly made her concerned that she'd somehow teleported into another house, but thankfully Lind had addressed her before she'd even come up with a vague excuse.

"Though…I am not very familiar with this sort of spell," the Valkyrie admitted after a pause, "no one has ever had cause to use it on me before, nor have I seen it performed, just the results."

"Oh?" Peorth tilted her head inquisitively. She presumed the reason that no one would dare mess with Lind's hair was her reputation; never mind that it didn't really seem to faze the younger goddess once she'd gotten over her surprise. "So you've seen other deities with their hair dyed in strange colors?"

Lind bobbed her head in a small nod. "Sometimes other Valkyries would play pranks on each other, or it was the cause of a sore loser seeking to lessen the victor's triumph. The only reason I knew the difference was that I'd have seen their original hair color previously, so I could tell when it changed. But those sorts of spats did not last long; if you cannot work with your comrades in some fashion, what good a shield of Heaven are you?"

"I suppose there's that," Peorth hummed absently. "Well, luckily for us, it's a fairly easy spell to remove, if the child placed it correctly…then again, maybe I'm hoping for too much." She raised her hands, casting the spell; a glitter of light crossed her vision, and she looked expectantly to Lind, who did not look appeased by the result.

"Ah…Peorth…" Blue eyes blinked swiftly. "You…" Lind apparently couldn't come up with a good enough description and held out the mirror to her again.

Peorth reached out and took the mirror as she let out a gusty sigh, inwardly preparing herself for a sight even worse than her hideously bright pink hair, and could only stare in surprise. While her hair wasn't back to her usual shade of dark brown…she hadn't anticipated that the child would be clever enough to just switch their hair colors, for she was now sporting pale blue locks, the exact same shade as Lind's true hair color. She turned her attention to Lind, removing what was likely only the first layer of the spell—suddenly she worried just how much effort Eira had put into this, because if it went beyond two layers that was ridiculous when the child couldn't even concentrate long enough to make a simple flower—and was mildly shocked to see that Lind hadn't been given her hair color in return. The Valkyrie's hair was now a deep, dark purple that could have been mistaken for black in dim light.

"…At least she's…imaginative?" Lind tried after a long pause to collect her thoughts.

"You can't tell me this isn't just a little odd to you?" Peorth deadpanned, swinging her ponytail around to rest over her shoulder as she waved the sky-hued strands at her partner.

"…Actually, I think I would be more alarmed if she had managed to change your eye color to match."

Peorth hesitated, considering the possibility, then shook her head. "She would have had to wake me in order to ascertain that her spell had worked, and that would ruin the fun of the 'surprise', I think. She could see our hair color changing without having to wake us, so that's likely why she resorted to the hair in the first place." She did think that the sight should have caused Eira to fall into a laughing fit, but then again, maybe the child had just held in her laughter until she'd snuck back to her room to revel in her havoc.

Lind looked a mite uncertain, but perhaps that was due to her unfamiliarity with such magic, and Peorth concentrated on their hair again, relieved despite her reconsiderations of Eira's 'talents' to see their true hair colors at last emerging. She made sure there wasn't any lingering pieces of the spell—she would hate to have missed something and have someone point out a streak of pink or blue in her hair—and swung her ponytail back around her shoulders, pleased with her efforts.

"You don't suppose we should add it to the rules that we ourselves aren't supposed to be used in pranks, either?" she hummed contemplatively, looking to her partner.

The younger goddess had a thoughtful expression on her face. "Perhaps. This is the first time she's directly affected us instead of attaching a practical joke to something in the house…"

Peorth narrowed her eyes. "And if she thinks we're fair game, she may very well—oh. She wouldn't take your axes, ah, your limiters, would she?"

Lind shook her head slightly. "Even if she knew their dormant state, and past conversation has told me she is not aware of the manner in which they are stored, and even if she succeeded in reverting them to their true form, she would be unable to lift them. A grade eighteen limiter is heavy even to a Valkyrie that has trained in combat with a level fifteen limiter. Eira, who would likely find it difficult to carry a grade three limiter, would not be able to budge it."

"What about those?" Peorth queried curiously, gesturing towards the golden bracelets on her partner's forearms.

The blue-haired goddess extended her right hand towards Peorth, and said, rather in an unremarkable way, "Why don't you try?"

"Ah, if you're sure, then is there really any need for me to…?" Peorth trailed off.

"You aren't certain, and if you can't succeed in taking them from me, there is no doubt that Eira would fail also. She may have some cleverness, but it is not cleverness that can remove these from me." Lind held out her arm again. "Make certain that these can't be used against you."

Peorth laughed softly; she couldn't help it. "You'd use them on me if you were ordered to," she pointed out.

"You are no enemy of Heaven, Peorth," Lind replied evenly. "And I doubt you would ever entertain such an idea."

The dark-haired goddess's lips twitched towards a smile despite herself. "Good to know that you care, cher cœur," she murmured, and reached out. Her fingers curled over the pair of bracelets, and she tugged lightly at them, trying to pull the closest one over Lind's hand. There was a soft buzz against her fingertips, latent magic surfacing, and she let go just as the bracelets condensed into shackle form, the topaz gemstone set into it flaring brilliantly white for a brief moment before subsiding into darkness.

Before Peorth had the chance to say anything, a shimmer passed across the runes carved into the manacle, and it diverged back into the pair of bracelets, clinking as they settled into place. "…So anyone that's not you, can't take them from you?" she surmised, tapping her fingers together.

Lind gave a nod. "They are tuned to my magical signature," she explained, "and so I am the only one capable of removing them in order to place them on anyone else." She tipped her head to the left, blinking. "Trying to remove the bracelets with magic would produce the same result."

Peorth shifted back, crossing her arms. "I agree that Eira wouldn't be able to mess with them, then. There's no way to override that?"

"Not unless you are either incredibly skilled in the making of magical artifacts and can successfully dispel the rune that binds my magical signature to the shackles, or…if you possess more power than I do," Lind conceded, pulling her arm back to her side. "And those that possess more power than I do, typically are not interested in such trivial a matter as a pair of shackles."

"…That's true," the dark-haired goddess admitted, and studied the bracelets for a long heartbeat. "Could I—" She broke off before the half-asked question could complete itself.

And her partner gazed back at her with bleak eyes, and murmured, "If you poured all of your energy into these, if you truly wished to take them from me with all of your magic, you could. It would not be pleasant, it would not be satisfying…but you could, if you wished."

There was something else in those words, like perhaps Lind thought Peorth intended to take something else from her, but the dark-haired goddess couldn't imagine what. She looked away from the younger goddess's gaze, her eyes finding the door. "As entertaining as this discussion has been," she said, with maybe a touch of awkwardly-placed cheer, "it's probably best to see what she's been up to, so—shall we?"

Lind inclined her head in assent, accepting the dismissal, and the two deities made their way to the door. Peorth considered that Eira might have put another trap in place, but for the most part she seemed to stick to one prank a day, as many of them were complex in nature. The hallway outside their room, however, was clear of any practical jokes on the part of their charge, and the dark-haired goddess allowed herself a small sigh of relief.

"Did you think she might place another trap?" Lind murmured from next to her.

"The moment we start to think she's predictable, she may think to change up her style," Peorth pointed out, and rolled her shoulders in an absent shrug. She paused briefly in step, considering what she was planning to do for Eira's lesson of the day. She felt that it was possible they were getting through to the child, on an incredibly miniscule level, and so she intended to try getting Eira to grow plants again. But that involved connecting with her element, and an earth element was something that Lind didn't possess. While she wanted her partner to take more of a role in the little goddess's learning, she also knew there was only so much Lind could do without having the same element as Peorth and Eira did. And she didn't want to leave Lind out entirely…

"Lind," she started, "did you want to train today?"

"Train?" the Valkyrie echoed, tilting her head. "What do you mean?"

Peorth twitched her fingers at her sides as she thought of a good way to put it, not wanting to unintentionally offend her partner. "I'm going to try and work on Eira's element again today, and I understand that you haven't had much of an opportunity to work on your fighting skills since you've been here, and I'd rather us not be the cause of you losing any of your hard-earned skills just because you don't have a chance to practice often…"

"…I understand, Peorth," Lind said, her voice level and with no sign that she was truly annoyed by this train of thought. "An ice element is far removed from earth, after all. And it is true that I haven't had the chance to train recently, but—" She shook her head slightly, as if dismissing that thought. "Fighting is one of my joys," she carried on, "and—it is too kind of you, to think of me, but…didn't you say you wished me to be more active as one of Eira's teachers?"

"You will," the dark-haired goddess responded with a nod. "I'd like you to try showing her transportation and manifestation tomorrow, which is why today is a good day for you to figure out a plan. As far as I'm aware, you haven't had a lot of experience in teaching others, right?"

Lind gave a small nod. "New recruits are often paired with an older Valkyrie for better instruction, but there are always more older Valkyries than recruits after a certain point—many decide that becoming a shield of Heaven is not the path they wish to take—and I have never been given the opportunity to take on a student." She didn't say that it was because of her angels, or her reputation as the most violent goddess in Heaven, but Peorth still got the idea that those words were the true cause of the matter and not the dwindling number of potential Valkyries.

Still, she kept those thoughts to herself, and said, "Well, then this is your opportunity to plan on how you want to teach Eira. You've seen my methods, but you don't have to copy me if you don't feel like it. Your skills aren't the same as mine, so it may be that you can't teach the child in the same way, either. And you may as well plan while doing something you like, correct?"

Lind stared at her in a faintly puzzled way, like she was surprised that Peorth would go to so much trouble, but at last she dipped her head slightly. "Very well," she agreed, "I will try to see what I can…come up with." She appeared a bit conflicted at this, and Peorth told herself that at least she'd given the other deity a chance to prepare rather than just waiting until tomorrow and springing it on her suddenly, so that she didn't have any way to refuse or to come up with a decent plan on how to go about it.

"That's all I can ask of you," Peorth smiled, patting the younger goddess's shoulder congenially; it was good that Lind had agreed to her plan so readily, since she didn't want to force her partner to assist in Eira's training if she really, really didn't want to.

Lind gave her a searching look, an odd expression in her eyes, but before Peorth could try identifying it, there was only a mild thoughtful look in her gaze. "I wish you luck," she said gravely, flicking at her right earring, the limiter expanding into its axe form. She started walking, the axe leveled over her shoulder.

"You're not going to change your clothes?" Peorth asked, following after her.

The blue-haired goddess gazed blankly at her for a heartbeat, looking down at her attire for a long moment—still a standard goddess's uniform, the golden bracelets that were her shackles' stored form clinking about her wrists—and said, after a pause, "…This should be fine. I don't intend to destroy anything, as the forest is the only adequate area for training that is away from others in this area."

Peorth raised an eyebrow. "…If you're sure," she murmured, shrugging, and turning to knock loudly on Eira's door.

"You needn't worry for me," was Lind's reply, and the Valkyrie disappeared around the corner as Eira's door swung open.

The child stood there with her normal unimpressed expression, though she did make the effort of leaning sideways in the doorway to try seeing around Peorth. As she came to the clear conclusion that Peorth was there alone, she asked, "Where's Mama? Usually the two of you are always together."

"Lind," Peorth said, emphasizing the blue-haired goddess's name, "is busy. She's going to teach you tomorrow, so she's preparing for that."

Eira's eyes lit up. "Do I get to break things?!" she asked excitedly, bouncing up and down in place. Little Brilliant Sunbeam manifested atop her head, waving her tiny fists in some sort of silent celebration.

"No, you don't get to break things," Peorth deadpanned, knowing that was just an awful disaster waiting to happen. "She's just going to teach you another form of magic. And it may prove useful for your silly pranks, so I would suggest that you should pay more attention, since that's the only thing that can apparently keep your concentration."

The little goddess's expression turned sly. "What did you think of this morning's prank?"

"I am reconsidering the rules," Peorth said, not truly a reply, "and might be adding one that you should do nothing that affects us, either. Changing our hair color is one thing—I know you have the capacity to pull off grandiose pranks, and as you do not fully understand the effects of your magic, you may cause us great misfortune for the sake of a practical joke, and it would be wise to stop that before it can happen." She certainly wasn't going to mention that it had actually alarmed her, at least at first, because a part of her had gotten terribly used to seeing a head of light blue hair next to her.

Eira's eyes narrowed. "You're just scared," she huffed, crossing her arms. There was something flickering in her eyes, though, as if she'd thought of something suspicious, but didn't carry on the thread of the conversation, instead leaning back against the door and crossing her arms expectantly. "So what boring torture are we going through today?"

"We're working on your element again," Peorth informed her, pointedly ignoring the 'boring torture' comment, "so, come on, let's go." When the young goddess didn't move, Peorth grumbled, "You should be glad we're getting out of the house again," and conjured up her vine leash, leaving one end looped around Eira's left wrist and the other around her own right wrist.

"You know it's not going to work, right?" Eira asked, following her despite whatever reluctance was evident in her words. "Just give up already and get used to disappointment."

"Eira," Peorth said, slowly, clearly, "you will, one way or another, find a way to properly access the power of your element. This is vital knowledge for a deity, knowing your own energy, and if you expect to get anywhere in your life, you will need to know this." She paused, frowning. "And it's not me you have to disappoint—it's yourself."

"Huh?" The little goddess stared at her, confusion the only emotion evident in her wide pale blue-eyed gaze. "You're not just spouting things to confuse me, are you?"

"Hardly. If I was trying to do that, I would make more of an effort," Peorth reassured her, as they made their way out of the house and towards the woods once more. Eira still seemed more convinced that her words had just been to mess with her, but Peorth had meant them—in the end, if Eira couldn't gain mastery over what magical skills she had, she would only be disappointing herself. A goddess who couldn't accomplish anything wouldn't have much of a place in Heaven.

The dark-haired goddess wasn't certain where Lind had gone off to—maybe even as far back as to the combat division headquarters, where, if she was recalling correctly from her singular visit there as a young goddess, there were a great deal of training fields available—but the clearing that they had used for the last attempts at Eira's earth magic remained undisturbed. She couldn't hear anything loud either, just the sound of the breeze through the trees, the distant chattering of small animals scurrying through the undergrowth. She sat down on the grass, gesturing for Eira to take a seat opposite her. The child followed her directions, though it was clear she was still puzzled about the previous comment.

Well, she'd had enough time to think, Peorth figured, and spoke. "We're going to try working with your earth magic again. But this time I want to make sure that you can feel the magic yourself, instead of making you grow anything with it yet. It may have been that we skipped a step—" Her face twisted at the thought, but she kept going nonetheless "—so I want you to concentrate. Watch."

She held up her hand, letting a rose sprout there, stating, "This was grown using my earth magic, and—" she focused on a nearby wildflower, plucking it from the earth and calling it to her hand with her magic, watching the tiny yellow flower unfold next to the rose "—this was done with the spell Lind used the other day. You were able to tell that there was a difference, so tell me: how are the spells different?"

Eira wrinkled her nose, unwillingly looking over the two flowers in Peorth's hand. "That one," she said finally, pointing to the yellow flower, "just poofed into your hand. The other one…grew?"

Peorth let out a long breath. "That's a bit more…literal than I was hoping for, but…you're technically correct. What I did was creating a plant through my own earth energy; the other was called to me from another place, which is why it didn't 'grow' in your eyes."

Eira made a face. "Am I supposed to touch the grass again?"

"Eira…" Peorth sighed noisily through her nose, clapping her hands together, the flowers falling to the grass in front of her. She was honestly considering just asking the child how she felt her own magic then, if she couldn't feel the energy in the grass, if she really did have an earth element like Yggdrasil's records said she did. But then another thought occurred to her, distant like the memory it came from, Keiichi speaking of how he had been able to carry Cool Mint: Lind said it was because I was supported by the love of many goddesses. Love was the root of a deity's power, and just how much love had Eira ever experienced?

She turned her attention back to the child, asking, "Eira, do you have any friends?"

The little goddess gave her an odd look. "What does that have to do with anything?"

"Just—answer the question."

Eira scowled. "I have Brilliant Sunbeam!"

Maybe it was due to the transient nature of her life, Peorth thought, since Eira wouldn't be in the same place very often and likely didn't attempt to establish any friendships with those in her age group. The only permanent constant in her life was likely only the presence of her angel. She supposed that perhaps Loki might also be one, perhaps, though she doubted that he could count as a friend to the young goddess, more like an irritating mentor, or like what she called him, a wacky 'uncle' of sorts.

But she didn't have a chance to reflect long; the child waspishly asked, a spectacular frown on her face, "Do you have any friends?"

"Of course," Peorth answered immediately, raising her eyebrows. "And no, Gorgeous Rose isn't my only friend, before you ask."

"Is Mama one of your friends?" Eira questioned then, something like both suspicion and triumph dancing in her eyes, and Peorth hadn't the foggiest idea why.

"Yes, Lind is my friend," she answered, a bit hesitantly though, as now she was concerned that Eira was starting to make some sort of plot. "Why do you ask?"

Eira looked at her blandly. "I just don't get why you'd want to watch me with your friend, when you already know who I am. Don't you know you two aren't going to be friends anymore by the time all of this is over?" She gestured vaguely towards Peorth and then towards the surrounding trees, maybe to indicate Lind, who naturally wasn't in their presence.

Peorth's lips twitched at hearing her own concerns straight from the child's mouth, but she felt the need to correct her on one particular point. "We didn't choose to come to you," she stated, drumming her fingers against her knee. "We were assigned as your caretakers, so the only choice we had was in accepting."

Eira smoothed out a dirt patch in front of her idly with one hand, picking free some tiny pebbles from the earth. "You two are throwing off the way this works, though," she said, frowning. "The way it's always been, the pairs of caretakers have never known each other before they come together to watch me. But you and Mama are already friends."

Peorth blinked. "It's possible that we were the only first class deities available at the moment the High Council opted to search for caretakers in our rank rather than from the second class deities. There are far more lower-ranked deities than there is that hold first class rank." She didn't know what had caused the High Council to consider that first class deities would perhaps be a better match for a caretaker for Eira than someone second class or lower, as she couldn't recall anything too terrible that Eira had done recently, but maybe it was more that she'd reached fifty-six, and that was an absurd enough number on its own. Maybe it was just that second class deities weren't getting anything done.

"Maybe," Eira looked rather doubtful of that fact, "but they've gotten a system going and who would want to mess that up?"

"…What do you mean?" The dark-haired goddess tried to think of anything in particular linking the changing of Eira's caretakers, but as she'd never actively taken an interest in the girl until Eira had become her charge, she couldn't think of what it was the young goddess was trying to tell her.

Eira scrounged about in the grass, coming up with a little stick, and pointed it at Peorth. "Were you called together for me?"

Peorth narrowed her eyes, not appreciating the fact that the child was brandishing a stick in her direction, but at least she knew that Eira couldn't really do any harm with it. She didn't know why the fact of whether or not they had been summoned at the same time even mattered, given that they were both here now and were most certainly acknowledged as Eira's current caretakers. "…Lind was called first," she answered all the same, despite herself curious to know what the child was going on about.

The little goddess nodded slowly. "Then it wasn't you together. Or at least, that's the way it was explained to me by one of the other caretakers."

Peorth couldn't quite stop herself from asking, "Are you saying I have no reason for being here? Lind can't lie to me, and she told me herself that we had been given an assignment."

Eira's gaze switched to the stick in her hand, then dropped to look at the dirt. She smoothed it out again, and dragged the stick across the dirt. "Okay, okay, so I guess you don't know how it works." She drew out a shaky box, placing two smaller circles inside it—though they looked more like lopsided ovals—moving to a space above it, making another box, this one with several overlapping circles clustered inside it. Then she drew one circle off to the side, drawing arrows to connect them—an arrow pointing from the single circle to the box with two circles, an arrow from that box to the other box, and then an arrow to the single circle from the second box.

"So," Eira said, tapping the picture, "this is how it works for single caretakers. This is me, and my last caretaker," she added, tapping the box with two circles. "The last caretaker will say they've had enough, or something, and contact the old fogies—" She tapped the box with many circles, and Peorth made a strangled noise.

"Eira, you don't call the High Council old fogies—"

"But that's what they are!" The child stuck out her tongue and carried on. "Anyways, the old fogies get together and pick someone new, and they tell that goddess or god, and then that poor sap comes to get me, and life goes on. Right? And for two caretakers—it's pretty much the same." She drew in another circle next to the singular one, and Peorth had to admit to herself that it looked more like a blob than a circle, but Eira was a child and couldn't be expected to draw reasonably well.

"I've never had any caretakers that knew each other before they met to come for me, and it's never changed in that the two caretakers are always notified together by the old fogies. So, why weren't you?"

Peorth frowned. It was true that the High Council did like to keep to particular precedents, and she didn't believe that Eira would be telling her misinformation about the way her caretakers were chosen, because it wasn't the kind of information she could really do anything with. If anything, it might be that she thought more havoc could be wrought with the truth, when recalling the emphasis the dark-haired goddess herself had placed on the fact that first class deities couldn't tell lies. "We were on Earth," she started, frown deepening, "but we were both there, too. Yet they called for Lind first, and then she called me…"

"That's not normal. That's why I said it wasn't you two together, not at first." Eira squinted at her, shaking her head slightly.

And then Peorth was recalling a past conversation with her partner, when Lind had said, It was the High Council who gave me this assignment, so it was never your doing… "She said 'me'," she spoke carefully, her eyes widening.

"Huh?" was the child's response, but Peorth ignored her.

She said 'me', not 'us', she thought fervently to herself. Now she cast her mind back further, to that time after Lind had been called back, the morning after Keiichi and Belldandy's wedding, when she'd heard the phone ringing. What was it that Lind had said then? She had said—she had said you and I have been given an assignment. You and I, not just me. So what had changed between Lind's summons to the time she had called Peorth with the news of their new charge?

Then again, the Valkyrie hadn't said that the High Council had given both of them the assignment—that was what Peorth had assumed, yes, but it hadn't been in Lind's exact words.

She climbed to her feet, pulling Eira up with her. "Come on."

"I thought we were supposed to be 'feeling the earth magic' or something?" Eira said, coming up next to her, but it was clearly more a rhetorical question than anything, as the child was equally obviously happy to leave behind magic lessons for a time.

"We'll come back to it. You've made me suspicious, that's all." Peorth started walking, the child keeping pace with her, though for every one of her strides, Eira had to take two and a half, so she was practically jogging to keep up. It took hardly any time at all for them to arrive back at their lodging, and while Peorth knew that Lind couldn't have lied to her, there was a part of her that was concerned there was something more going on than she could see.

The terminal in their house was very basic, but it could access Yggdrasil's files, which was what Peorth wanted it for. She flipped through files, knowing that if she searched for Lind or herself first, it would give her general information, but not quite what she wanted. So instead she looked for Eira, or rather, the list of Eira's caretakers that was attached as part of a file embedded in Eira's general profile.

She grimaced at how many names happened to be on that list—there were fifty-six slots, just as Eira had claimed—and though she couldn't access the point prior to Eira's first caretaker, a god called Bragi, she was more concerned about the end of the list than the beginning. Line fifty-five read Skadi, Goddess Second Class, Category One, Limited; Lind had said she'd retrieved Eira from a goddess called Skadi, so that was true…

Her gaze fell to the next line.

Lind, Goddess First Class, Special Duty, Limited, and Peorth, Goddess First Class, Category Two, Unlimited, line fifty-six read. And below that, in tinier lettering, it stated that she and Lind were Eira's current caretakers. Slowly, she lifted her head, turning to Eira and raising her eyebrow. "You see, cher cœur and I are right there, both of us."

Eira crossed her arms; Peorth had let the leash dissolve since they were back in the house for the moment, and the child was unencumbered, though there was a devious glitter in her eyes. "I didn't say you're not both the caretakers now. I meant that you weren't chosen before. Somehow you were added, because you would have been called with her if you were both supposed to be here from the start." She hesitated. "Though, I have to say, if this is your plan for practicing, you're really going big. If you two can deal with me, you can deal with any kid!"

Peorth blinked, turning away from the terminal, shutting it off as she did so. "Just what do you think you're implicating?"

Eira raised her hands in what would have been a gesture of surrender on anyone else. "I mean, I don't know how you guys thought you were hiding it, so I figure I don't have to be sneaky in telling you, either."

"Eira," Peorth said sharply, leaning in and narrowing her eyes. "What are you going on about? There's nothing we're trying to hide. And whatever are you talking about when you say 'practicing'?"

The little goddess spread her hands, grinning widely. "Oh, well, ma-a-a-aybe I'm wrong," she said, drawing out the word 'maybe' so that it was evident that she firmly believed she was in the right, "but, you know, you're making it too easy for me. If you didn't want me to think you two are in love, you should have tried a lot harder."

If you didn't want me to think you two are in love, you should have tried a lot harder.

Peorth stared, her mouth hanging open. A flurry of feathers drifted past her shoulder, and she felt the slight weight of her angel settling at her shoulders, but Gorgeous Rose was equally surprised by the child's belief.

"What…did you just say?"

If you didn't want me to think you two are in love…

"You think—you think that Lind and I are in love?" She wanted to laugh, it seemed like such an absurd thought, as at the moment she considered Lind a friend, yes, a good friend, but—in love? No, no, that was too far.

Naturally, that had to be the moment that she heard the door open. Naturally, that had to be the moment that Lind returned—perhaps she forgot something, or wanted to check something, since Peorth and Eira were back early also—and naturally, that also meant that she had to have heard the tail end of Peorth and Eira's conversation.

Of…course.

Some minor story notes: Somehow it seems like Eira never gets any magic lessons done with all the havoc she tries to wreak. She is being legitimately honest here, though, even if it's another way to mess with Peorth and Lind. The comment Lind makes concerning the High Council is from chapter eight, and yes, Peorth is remembering it correctly! How she became a part of the assignment is a mystery she will have to resolve by asking Lind, but who knows what answer she'll receive in return.

The hair colors at the beginning are both a chance to make myself laugh and a minor homage to other things: Lind's hair being purple is a reference to her original hair color from the cover art of volume 25, as well as that Dreamcast video game. Peorth's hair being light blue is a shameless reference to my other story for this fandom, Angel Wings, because I am incredibly lame and like to leave Easter egg things like that. The other colors of their hair are just for laughs.

Also, if it's not clear that I like to use tropes on occasion, the ending of this chapter should make that evident. Poor Lind. She just wanted to make sure that Peorth locked the doors and everything, and yet the universe had to screw her over for the millionth time by making her walk right into the hole that Eira was unknowingly digging [for Peorth, sure, but Lind's a part of it]. Also, do remember that this is an assumption on Eira's part! She does not know for certain what's up with the Amazing Pair, though to be fair, they're not really sure what's going on with them either. She just made an assumption based on what she could observe and ran with it.