A/N: Thank you to everyone who's reviewed this for me so far. Sorry it's taken me so long to actually get this written and posted, but I had exams and stuff, then really couldn't get back into it. Hopefully now I've got back into the sing of thing I'll keep this updated more regularly ;)

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The door clicked shut quietly as Talen left Danae alone in her room once more, thinking over the new problem she had caused for herself. In a way she thought it ridiculous that one mortal man, who wasn't even Styric, was causing her so much hassle. As the Goddess Aphrael she had lived many lives as many different people and had never met anyone like Talen. Something about the young thief intrigued her, and she loved him for it.

"How am I going to do this?" she asked herself desperately. "Why did I let myself get so close to him as Aphrael? I should've known something like this was going to happen, I should have been more careful."

The wind blew softly through the open window of the room, causing the curtains to billow out, almost dancing across the room. Danae quietly considered all of her options as she sat with Mmrr once again in her lap, watching their hypnotic movement.

"I have to tell him." She decided "That's the only way he'll ever understand and see how much I love him…but how to let him know without destroying him?"

Danae sat there pondering for many hours, and by the time she'd come to any conclusion about her current predicament, it was dark outside and the room was cold, the fire long since having gone out.

"I need to see Sephrenia." She said out loud, standing suddenly, a very angry Mmrr falling to the floor, "she'll know what to do."

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Sephrenia sat on the terrace of her house, watching in vain as Vanion tried to perform one of the more intricate Styric spells.

"I'd give up with that one if I were you dear."

"No!" he replied stubbornly "I will get it right."

"Ok, whatever you say." She said resignedly, knowing that trying to convince him otherwise was hopeless.

Sephrenia stifled a yawn and looked around the untidy garden, before silently whispering a spell, releasing it and watching as the garden restored itself to perfect health, the trees and flowers in full bloom, the weeds all gone, the grass newly cut. She smiled; rather satisfied with the way that particular spell had worked, and made a mental note to herself to teach that to Vanion later.

"I wish you wouldn't do spells that are so completely useless sometimes you know Sephrenia"

The woman jumped as the voice of a young girl came from behind her, and she spun around in her seat to face a young girl sitting cross legged on the back of one of the goats that roamed freely through the gardens of Sephrenia and Vanions' home. Sephrenia smiled at the comment from the child Goddess and looked around the garden at the handiwork her most recent spell had done.

"But it's so much effort to do it all by hand." She pleaded "and Vanion makes a lot of mess with all of the spells that turn out wrong. It rips the garden to pieces again before I even begin to get it back in order."

Aphrael, currently in the form of Flute, Sephrenia's younger sister, watched Vanion as he began weaving another spell, smirking as she heard several of the key Styric words pronounced wrongly, then followed a bright orange ball of light as it flew across the gardens, hitting an oak tree with a resounding crash and causing it to burst into flames.

"See what I mean!"

Flute smirked and Sephrenia turned round in her chair once more to face the child Goddess, smiling warmly at her.

"What brings you here then Aphrael? It's been a few months now since we've had a visit from you."

Flute shrugged.

"Do I need a reason to visit two of my favourite worshippers? Besides Sparhawk and mother have gone away, and life at the palace on your own is pretty boring."

Sephrenia nodded knowingly.

"I should expect it is pretty boring…but there's something else troubling you, you don't normally make a trip all the way out here just to see us. I know you too well to accept a lie like that from you now."

"Talen came back."

Sephrenia looked at Aphrael unblinkingly.

"You still plan to marry him then I suppose, despite my warnings against it?"

Flute nodded silently, and watched the look of disapproval on one of her most loyal followers faces. No, Sephrenia wasn't just another worshipper, she was a friend.

"You're a Goddess Aphrael, even if you do appear to him as Danae…you need to be careful about what you do."

"I know all that Sephrenia, don't you think I've thought all of that through a million times before? I know that if I take a mortal as a lover then either one of two things will happen. He'll either die, or he'll become immortal also and live by my side for all of time. I don't know which, but I can't bear the thought of losing him. I already know all the risks behind this. I'm well aware that it could kill me too."

Sephrenia nodded again, her lips pursed and her eyes unemotional and slightly cold.

"So…why does there seem to be a problem?" she asked after several moments of silence.

"Talen doesn't love Danae," Flute said softly, climbing down from the back of the goat and sitting down in the freshly cut grass, her feet already stained green, "he loves Aphrael, which is where I have the problem. He does love me, but he doesn't…how am I going to tell him that they're both me?"

Sephrenia smiled almost sadly and looked closely at Flute, finally realising just how much she cared for Talen, and knowing now that there was no way that she'd ever talk the young Goddess out of the decision she'd made.

"It's not going to be easy on either of you, but you have to tell him…take him back to yours, along with Sparhawk and Khalad and Berit."

"Why Khalad and Berit?" Flute asked naively. "They don't need to know really…"

Sephrenia shook her head and rolled her eyes, almost laughing to herself.

"I thought you were meant to be the all knowledgeable one here? I thought you would have noticed that for a long time they've both suspected who you really are."

The young girl shifted uneasily on the grass.

"I did notice." She lied, standing up as she spoke "Now if you don't mind, I've got a lot of work to do"

And she vanished from the small garden, leaving Sephrenia sitting there watching as Vanion mutilated several more trees. He walked over to her slowly, kissing her lightly on the cheek before sitting beside her.

"What did Aphrael want?" he asked curiously

Sephrenia sighed.

"I'm sure you'll find out soon enough Vanion dear. I think all of us will be discovering a few new things about our little Goddess over the next few days."

Vanion stared at Sephrenia for a moment, then stood up, taking her hand and leading her back towards the house.

"You know, sometimes I really don't understand you." He stated matter-of-factly "but I still love you all the same."

Sephrenia smiled and punched Vanion playfully in the arm, while whispering another small smell to put out the miniature bush fire that had begun to spread through their garden.

"I'm glad of that." She whispered happily as she pulled him into an embrace. "So very glad."