CHAPTER FIFTEEN
"Ma vhenan, you are aware that we have to go summon the rest of the pantheon now? Unless you would prefer to put it off for longer, in which case I completely support that in favor of staying here with you." Pharen smiled sleepily up at Fen'Harel, the corners of her vision blurring slightly from the light that was reflecting off the light and the water in the temple. Groaning slightly and sitting up, she sighed softly. "We need to talk to the pantheon, vhenan. I don't want Elgar'nan's wrath to be anywhere near me if he finds out what I can do before we tell him"
Fen'Harel nodded in acceptance. "If you would not mind terribly, I can summon them here so we may begin?" Seeing her confusion, Fen'Harel summoned the Wolf, the giant, jet black, six-eyed Roamer of the Beyond now stood before her. He bowed his head, albeit slightly, before allowing his ears to fall back against his skull, his head tilted up to allow a howl like no other to come from the very depths of the Dread Wolf himself.
Pharen watched in awe as members of the pantheon began to glide up from the depths of the statue behind her, being summoned by his call. The waters glowed eerily as each member rose from the water's depths. Elgar'nan came first, his water glowing bright white as he stepped forward into the hall. Looking around imperiously, his gaze finally settled on Pharen herself. His eyes narrowed in anger, but he did not speak; instead, he stood across from his eluvian, and crossed his arms to wait for the others. Each came in turn, and settled themselves either against the walls or sat on the fur floor of her temple. Some looks she garnered were kind; others, such as Andruil's, were fiery with hatred.
Once all had arrived, Fen'Harel changed back into his elvhen form, and walked slowly toward Pharen. Leaning close to her ear, he whispered to be careful, cunning, and swift, for the pantheon is vain. He would be watching. With that, Fen'Harel took a seat in between Sylaise and Dirthamen, kicking his legs over his seat, much like he did in routine pantheon meetings, and waited for her to speak.
Clearing her throat, and trying to gather what strength she had, she addressed the entirety of the most powerful of the elvhen in Elvhenan. "Friends, you have been summoned here to pass judgement upon my skills as a goddess. I have passed each test administered by the Dread Wolf himself, I have drank from the well to gain my immortality, and I have proven my gift with eluvians, as you can very well see. Today, I humbly request to become a part of the pantheon that is so revered here." Pharen stopped speaking, and consciously made an effort to not worry her lower lip in nervousness.
Not one person applauded her for standing in front of them, not one person gave her an angry stare. It seemed they were all at a loss for words, until a loud, booming laugh echoed across the hall. "You absolutely, positively cannot be serious in this endeavor da'len! You have no followers!" June yelled. Pharen bowed her head slightly in silent acknowledgement to June. "True. Yet, I am willing to find followers, if that is what you ask of me in your own form of a test, as it were." June's smile faded, before coming back in full force. "Of course da'len! You find followers, I will happily put you in the pantheon to be praised, worshipped for millennia! How about it," he asked the remainder of the pantheon.
"I disagree. Fully. She should be stripped of whatever powers she claims and rendered useless. Just as she has always been and will always remain to be. All she is, is a pet to that pup." Andruil sneered. "She went through these supposed tests without acknowledgement from any of us, save Fen'Harel, because as his new plaything, he can flaunt the rules for her." She scowled at Pharen, a disdainful look in her eyes, her mouth downturned into a severe frown. "You do not belong here. You are a mistake. You will not take what has not been given." Andruil had leapt to her feet and strode toward Pharen, stopping mere inches from her face; she could feel the body heat from the elvhen goddess, but did not cower before her ire.
"Come now, Andruil, do not be so harsh as to pass judgement on a potential goddess, especially within her own halls." A soft voice spoke from behind Pharen. She whipped around to see Mythal, long, flowing white hair, her eyes soft and golden, and holding Pharen's gaze. "Dear, sweet girl. You know much, yet so little. I wonder, then, if fate has decided to place you here, with us, or merely happenstance that you arrived here? I can never decide." Mythal's hand tucked under Pharen's chin, inspecting her closely, her eyes boring into her, before seemingly coming to a decision. "I approve. On the condition she can amount some sort of following."
Mythal nodded to Pharen before moving back to Elgar'nan's side. A kind voice rose from the silence. "A gift, presented to a member of our pantheon. I daresay she is here by fate, Mythal. I agree with June and Mythal; garner a following, and you will become a member within our ranks." Falon'Din smiled at Pharen, his kindness showing in every way. She chanced a glance at Dirthamen beside him, who was one of the few remaining who had not said anything; the glare in which he fixed Pharen with suggested that he did not agree with his kin.
An eruption of fire from the other side of the statue caught Pharen's eye. She peeked around the statue to see Sylaise, playing with embers on the ground, forcing them to grow very hot, starting a fire, then forcing them to super cool themselves into glimmering gems. She was surrounded by several small mountains of them; Pharen could only assume this is what she had been doing the entire time. Upon feeling eyes upon her, Sylaise looked up and met Pharen's gaze, and simply stated, "No." She did not bother to go into any further explanation, and returned to her task of making gems.
That left Elgar'nan and Fen'Harel who had yet to make their opinions known. Turning slightly to face the All-Father, his fiery gaze had not settled, and he was a sight to behold; Elgar'nan stood tall, long dark hair framed his pale skin, the crown upon his head displaying a sun and moon, each revolving in turn around a temple in the center. Lacing his fingers together and narrowing his gaze once more upon Pharen, he leaned forward to inspect her. "You formerly had vallaslin." Pharen audibly gulped as he neared her, his finger tracing the lines of where June's slave markings had once been.
Noting her discomfort, Elgar'nan drew back, a small sneer on his face. "Call that my test. Once you are able to tell me why they were removed, I will give you my blessing to become an Elvhen goddess in the pantheon." Pharen murmured a soft "Thank you" before Fen'Harel finally spoke. "I removed them. She was in my temple. What more reason do you need?" He said, nonchalantly, as if he were talking about the weather or the stars in the sky.
Elgar'nan's face began to flush red for mere seconds before Mythal was at his side, sending calming magic across the length of his body. "Ma nuvenin, pup. I will take your answer." He was still sneering as he rounded on Pharen. "You have my blessing, da'len, to go through with this." He then angrily stomped toward his face in the statue, whispering to it, before his likeness opened up and allowed him to step through to the other side.
It was Mythal who finally broke the silence, "You have been given judgement, Pharen. You will amass a following, and be guided into the pantheon. Once complete, you will have your place amongst us. Dareth shiral." With that, everyone save for Fen'Harel got up and glided to their eluvians, whispering amongst themselves and to their statues, before all but three people remained. Andruil bowed her head in front of her mirror, and cast a glare at Pharen, and redirected it to the Wolf who sat lazily in the corner. "This is not over, Wolf." She sneered. Fen yawned, and made a shooing motion for her to be on her way. Andruil scoffed but stepped through the portal anyway, and was swallowed up quickly. Only Pharen and Fen'Harel remained.
"That was…tense. Are you alright, ma vhenan?" He walked over to her, and gently gathered her in his arms before pressing a kiss to the crown of her head, as he so often did in private moments like these. "I'm alright. Though I have no idea how I'm going to get people to follow me when they have no idea who I am or what I can do. How did you get a following?" Fen'Harel grinned smugly, as if he'd known all along this was to take place. "I have an idea. You remember how much I detest slavery? I have several ideas on how to amass several thousand elvhen into your service. You have only to ask." Curious, she gestured for him to go on.
"Come, walk with me. I need you to channel your foci into the summoning font, and see where we end up." "What do you mean 'see where we end up?'" The Dread Wolf smiled but said nothing as he handed her foci to her. Pharen did as he asked, pouring her magic into the foci, and thereby channeling that magic into the summoning font. A sickening tearing sound, and then an eerie green glow poured from behind them. Turning, she noticed a rip in the fade had been opened, and she stopped casting her magic into the orb. "Come, vhenan. We have someone to save."