Author`s Note: Hey everyone. Sorry that updates currently take quite a while. I´m taking a small break, not write so much. Enjoy my vacation...and got enchanted by Elden Ring... But I want this to remain a hobby, so please bear with me until the updates come faster again.~~~~

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"My Odr, lunch is ready.~~~"

"Ah, thank you, my Love."

Bell got up from his place in one of the fields, he was busy pulling weeds. Freya came smiling from the house, carrying a tray with two empty plates, an additional one filled with roasted bread, a special kind of bread that Mia had created, called Ciabatta. And there was a bowl with cut tomatoes, onions, garlic, and olive oil.

He wiped his hands with a towel, after splashing water on it, then he followed Freya to their favorite lunch spot.

"It looks delicious."

"Hehe~~~ I poured all my love for you into it.~~~"

"Oh...that means there is no love left for me?"

"Oh, my love for you is endless and refills immediately.~~~"

Freya put down the tray on a tree stump, then before she could sit down, Bell put his hands at her hips, pulled her close, and kissed her, showing the depth of his love for her. She smiled happily, put her arms around his neck, and deepened the kiss. Freya loved nothing more than to get kissed by Bell and feel his body push against her own.
Even more since both didn´t wear a shirt, but had bare upper bodies. There wasn´t any lewd intend to it, but Freya got the habit over more than a thousand years, of wearing only pants during her fieldwork, since she didn´t have to wash her shirt then. Bell was the same during fieldwork, and he could always admire her beauty.

In the past, when both wanted to try all kinds of things together, they had even tried their best to paint each other. He could look at Freya´s body for hours and hours, admiring her beauty, without getting even the tiniest bit aroused.

And it felt pretty liberating to work like that together, it was a funny sight for them when the other wore boots, dungarees, a straw hat, and gloves, but no shirt.

There was also a deeper meaning for them, whenever they hugged like this or snuggled up to the other, there was much more skinship. Skinship was currently very important for them since it showed them that the other was truly there.

Eventually, both sat down together and started to eat, the recipe for this also came from Mia. Freya explained she didn´t dare to change even one recipe of Mia even one bit, since she was sure Mia´s ghost would then come to haunt her forever. Knowing how Mia had been, Bell strongly agreed to that possibility.

When he noticed that Freya had a small drop of olive oil on her chin, he leaned to her and kissed it away.

"Eheheh~~~"

She was just happy with him, no matter what they did together. And Freya knew it was the same for him, and how important she was for his mental health, as he was for her.

Bell had returned a month ago, and this month was hard for their emotions. Freya lost count of how often she cried in his arms, or how often she hugged him to her chest, holding him while he cried. She didn´t think less of Bell because of that, her love, her Odr was hurt, so she was there for him.

It was a matter of perspective, experience, and age. Freya was used to be truly alone for a long time, but ever since she met Bell, it hurt much more. Bell didn´t have this experience, so he got even more hurt than her. Also...because he felt like he fell out of his time. Coming back to the surface over a thousand years later, with every mortal he knew and loved gone, it devastated him.

Bell often sat in silence or with tears streaming over his face in front of Ottar´s grave. He saw more than just the grave, he saw and thought about everyone he knew and had lost. Freya then sat next to him, spending his company and comfort.

They spoke every day for hours about the past, it also helped Freya. That, for him at least, he lost everyone so suddenly, threatened to throw him into an abyss.

So Freya had decided to break a taboo of the gods and told Bell something. After they got reunited and shared three full days of being there for each other and making love without end, Freya had noticed something strange about Bell. He didn´t need to use the toilet anymore, just like the gods. And his stamina was beyond everything that he was ever capable off, being able to last for days with her. Even the regeneration of his semen seemed to be unnatural.

So when both finally calmed down a little, Freya had dropped a bit of blood on his back, and for the first time in ages, looked at a blessing she gave. He was the only mortal that had a blessing from her now.

Mortal.

Was he...a mortal?

Freya saw something strange in his blessing. It looked like a seal was around his blessing, stopping him from getting any stronger than he currently was. It had even taken a bit of his strength from him, leaving him only at the strength of a fresh level seven.

And there was something that looked like a skill, but wasn´t one, it was something else.

A curse.

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Immortality.

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From what she saw, Gaya had cursed Bell with immortality. Not a form of immortality like a god had, Bell could still get killed, but he was immune to aging, poison, and other things. And...it made him sterile. Bell would never be able to have children, no woman could ever become pregnant by his seed. Even when there was nothing unusual with his seed. The color, smell, feeling, and even the taste were all the same for Freya, but due to the curse, this would never get a woman pregnant.

Not that she could become pregnant, she was a goddess after all, and Bell would never share the bed with a mortal woman, his love was Freya and Freya alone.

It was probably Gaya´s revenge or something that simply got triggered when Bell struck her down since she was a bringer of life. For a mortal, immortality at first sounded very nice, since many of them were afraid of death. Gods knew that death wasn´t the end for mortals, it was how they called it "simply a setback to factory setting"...

But when a mortal would live long enough, he or she would experience the true horror of immortality. Everyone they knew and loved would become old and die. Their partners, their children, grandchildren, and so on. It would destroy most mortals, and lead them to an existence where they didn´t dare to get attached to anyone. Where they couldn´t even love or make love to someone since it could be a descendant...

Only two things kept Bell sane.

His lover was a goddess, Freya was also immortal, so they never had to part ways now, probably not something that Gaya had intended, but then again the curse wasn´t made especially for Bell.

And the other thing, to help with his mental health, was Freya breaking the taboo. She told Bell about souls and reincarnations. That some people he knew from past stories, had reincarnations that he had known. The only examples Freya gave Bell were Ryulu the Bard and Ryu. With her soul sight, she knew who Ryu was. She also explained to him that they weren´t 100% the same person, but that many habits and behaviors would remain the same. Freya told him that a few people he knew were the reincarnations of famous people from the past, but she didn´t tell him who.

And that there was a chance, even when it was a small one, that some people now lived a new life. So, as an immortal understood it, there was a chance for Bell to see a few of his loved ones again. Some were guaranteed, the gods that he knew and started to like. It could help him a lot to see them and talk to them.

The decision to break this taboo wasn´t an easy one for Freya, but she didn´t know how else to help Bell with this trauma. And she only dared to do it because he was immortal now. Some people might think it was oddly convenient that he was now immortal so that they maybe could find happiness together again. But Freya was really worried, what else might happen to him? Also, she was a goddess, he wasn´t a deity.

The mind of a deity worked differently from mortals. Their brain could only live for a certain amount of time before they got a bit strange. At the end of his life, Ottar had forgotten many things of the past, since his mind had to let them go, so he was able to bear with his very long life. For gods it was different, they could bear with it, to remember something that happened thousands of years ago. Yet they forgot some minor details, just because they weren´t important.

But for Bell...what would happen if he got older? Freya had explained to him that the first thing mortals tended to forget about someone else, was how their voice sounded like. Bell was afraid of forgetting his friends, his grandfather, how they sounded like, looked like, or what they experienced together.

And there were other things that troubled them at first, now they got used to it. About two and a half weeks after Bell returned, they dared to move away from each other far enough to not see the other anymore, Freya went inside the house to get something, but Bell was still working outside. The moment the door closed behind her, Bell heard a pain-filled scream of sheer despair and fear. In an instant, his heart got squeezed too, he ran to the house, almost ripped the door out of the frame, and found Freya shivering, crying heavily, halfway on the ground. He dropped to his knees and pulled her into a hug, her arms clutched around him and she cried heavily, as did he.

For Freya it was fear incarnate, when the door closed the darkness in her mind rose up and told her...it was all just a dream, Bell was gone again now...

The feeling was similar for him, so they held each other for an hour before they were able to get up again. They waited two days before they tried it again, then every day once. Now they could bear with it, Freya´s heart and mind understood, Bell was truly back, he wouldn´t go away. Yet both would always tell the other when they went somewhere so that they would always know where to find their love.

They spent all day around each other, never going too far away, they needed the comfort and presence of their significant other. To comfort each other more with their presence, they made love every day, sometimes gentle and loving, sometimes passionate and almost desperate. For them, this unity was much more than just sex, they could feel each other the most this way.

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"Are you done soon with this field?"

"Yes, maybe half an hour more, then I´m done for the day."

"Hehe, good.~~~"

Taking care of the fields was not only important for them because they needed food, but it was relaxing, calmed them down, and was great fun.

"Kyu!"

They looked to the side, and one of the bunnies sat there, tilting its head while it looked at them.

"Freya?"

"Yes?"

"Say...people can´t reincarnate as animals...right?"

"No, they can´t. Are you worried all these bunnies are actually the familia?"

"I was a bit at first..."

Especially when he thought about the big leader bunny, Ottar getting reborn as a bunny could look like that...

But Bell knew the truth about the bunnies, they were actually a changed type of monster.

Al´Miraj.

When all people except for Freya and Ottar left Orario and the surrounding areas, most monsters were gone already. But only most of them, small ones like Al´Miraj lived in various places and caves in the ground, too small for even pallums to get in. Something drew them towards Orario when it got deserted, and so they encountered Freya. She was at the height of her desperation, so in an outburst of emotions, Freya charmed them all. Every single Al´Miraj fell under her influence and became like an obedient pet. Freya ignored them most of the time and told Ottar to do the same. The bunny monsters started to guard her fields and ate unnecessary or leftover plants. And they reproduced in the way monsters did it. Every new generation was already bound to Freya, and over the course of over a thousand years, they changed a bit.

In some way, it was fitting that Freya got protected by an army of bunnies, they were one of her holy animals after all.

"""""""""Ky! Ky! Ky! Ky! Ky!"""""""""""

Again...all Al´Miraj stood in front of them, in front of Bell, and shouted at him, raising their paws.

"Ahahahahaha!~~~~~"

It warmed his heart to hear Freya laugh like that, for some reason, it looked like the Al´Miraj thought of Bell as their king... Well, he was Freya´s husband and she was their queen, but...

"It still hurts me a bit."

"Awwww~~~ Don´t be like that, my cute, strong rabbit king."

When Freya kissed him again, the Al´Miraj covered their eyes with their ears. Not that monsters knew shame, but it was their king and queen doing lovey-dovey stuff. Due to the influence of Freya for such a long time, maybe the Al´Miraj got a bit smarter since she was a goddess.

Freya guessed that there was also a different reason, but for now, she didn´t want to burden Bell with a few information.

He smiled. "Your lips taste really sweet."

"They do?"

"Yes, you´re my favorite candy."

Her cheeks got a bit red. "Oho? I thought you didn´t like sweets or candy."

Bell leaned closer with an amorous smile. "Except for you."

"Kya~~~"

She pretended to try to escape, but Bell was faster and kissed her again after pulling her into his arms.

"Mouh~~ Like this we won´t get any fieldwork done."

"Then let us rest a bit after lunch, it´s better anyway."

"Hmm...you might need to convince me, my Odr.~~~"

Bell knew exactly how, he pulled Freya onto his lap, and she leaned forward so that their bare chests touched and both lost themself in their small world filled with kisses and cuddles. Little by little, their endless love and affection for each other would slowly start to heal their wounded hearts. Even when the grief of losing everyone would never fully heal...and it would take a long time until this pain got a bit numb and bearable in the first place.

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In the morning of the next day, after they ate breakfast, Freya insisted on cooking every time, she explained to Bell it was an endless joy to have him enjoy her meals made with love, and both sat down to discuss something.

"Bell, do you think...maybe...I mean I thought about it...shall we...go to Melen? To visit Hestia?"

He smiled wryly. "And Lord Njord of course."

"So you would want to go there?"

Bell nodded. "As much as I enjoy my time here, alone with you, having you all for myself, I think it might be a good idea to see some other people and a town again."

Freya grinned. "Melen is a port city, not a town."

He rolled his eyes exaggeratedly. "I´m so sorry for my mistake, my Queen."

They looked at each other, then a first chuckle followed my laughter.

"So, my Odr, when shall we go?"

"Hm, the fields could wait for a day or two, the weather looks nice, today?"

"Hm, today might be as good as any other day."

He looked down at himself. "But I don´t have many clothes except for these normal ones."

She shrugged her shoulders, only in his presence did Freya act so casually. "It is fine, what matters is what´s inside."

Bell covered his chest with his hands, turning slightly away, acting abashed. "Kya~~..."

Freya showed him a "dangerous" smirk. "You´re acting way too carefree with me lately, my Odr."

"Oho? Then should I treat you more like a Queen, Milady?"

"Hm, now and then I wouldn´t say no to that."

Bell got up from his chair, and knelt down in front of Freya, kissing the back of her right hand.

"Would you grant me the honor to accompany me to Melen, my Queen?"

She smiled with so much love, that her cheeks were about to crack. "Gladly, my Odr."

So both prepared themself for their trip, Bell was surprised when Freya pulled a simple, white dress and a large hat out of a chest. They looked like copies of the dress and hat that she often wore as Syr in the past.

She smiled when she started to undress and put on the dress, making sure Bell´s eyes were on her.

He raised an eyebrow. "No brassiere?"

"This dress doesn´t allow it, as long as it doesn´t rain it´s fine."

Bell gently took her hands. "Will you be alright? Being among many people when you were mostly alone for so long?"

"And you, Bell? Can you bear with it?"

"When I´m with you, I´m sure of it."

"It´s the same for me, but let´s take it slowly, alright?"

"Of course."

He looked around the house. "What about our stuff?"

Freya smiled wryly. "Except for Hestia, Njord, Demeter, and a few children that accompanied them, no one ever came here. Remember, Orario is now the "City of Death", no one has a reason to come here."

"True...I don´t know if that is better or not..."

"It is how it is. But maybe you should put Thrungva on your belt, hm? My Odr should be able to protect me.~~"

"Of course, a Queen needs a personal knight."

"Hm, but then you sure are a naughty knight, doing all these things to your queen...invading her bed chamber..."

Now he raised an eyebrow. "Should I stop that, my Queen?"

"Oh, no way in heaven and on earth."

Bell smiled amorous before he kissed her. "Good, because I didn´t have any intention of doing so."

Freya "fought back" when her knight pulled his queen into his arms to steal her lips. "Kya~~~"

It was good that Melen wasn´t that far away from Orario, only a few kilometers away. So they could walk there easily in half an hour since they weren´t in a hurry. But it was only half an hour since Freya was also a Goddess of War, and Bell was still level seven, even when his growth was sealed.

She enjoyed the trip so much, was pretty excited and yet a bit nervous, that Freya completely forgot to tell Bell something very important.

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When they came closer to Melen, Bell noticed some things. Melen was only a few kilometers away from Orario and in the past, they bought vegetables and fruits from the big city. But these days were over, now all sides of Melen that weren´t sea were made of fields, around a kilometer long. So around thirty percent of Melen Basically, thirty percent of Melen bordered Lake Lolog, while seventy percent of the border was surrounded by fields. In this way, the port city was able to be completely self-sufficient. Since Freya's and his house, as well as their small fields, were north of Orario, they couldn't see Melen or the fields from there before.

"They do a lot of farming as it seems."

Freya nodded. "They have to, but Hestia told me that my vegetables and fruits were much better than what they grow here. Even when they tried it with seeds from my plants, it didn´t turn out as good. I don´t know if that was a gentle lie to let me feel better, or if it has something to do with one of my aspects being Fertility."

"I thought your Fertility is bound to living beings? That Lady Demeter has the aspect of growing plants."

Freya slightly shrugged her shoulders. "Who knows, if it was a lie, I´m glad she told me."

Bell smiled. "I have to thank Lady Hestia, Lord Njord, and Lady Demeter for being there for you."

"Oh, me too, my Odr. Me too."

Unlike Orario, Melen still didn´t have a wall, so no gates...and no guards. People were freely walking in and out of the small city, in the distance they saw boats and ships moving on the water.

And there was something moving through the air for a moment, it almost looked like someone jumped. Bell felt that Freya was more than just a bit nervous, he felt the same. He smiled at her, she returned the smile, and then both continued their way on the main street leading to Melen.

"I don´t see any cart tracks."

"Oh, Melen doesn´t trade with other towns or cities on the landway. Njord told me they trade a bit via the sea. But not much."

Bell squinted his eyes and looked into the distance. "Is that..."

Freya nodded. "The former Education District, now known as Smelen."

"Smelen?"

"Swimming Melen...it was a joke apparently, but the name stuck."

The enormous floating "ship" was slowly moving in the middle of the Lolog Lake, since Melen wasn´t directly built at sea, this way they were also safe from storms.

"Why is it here?"

"Since Monsters vanished to over ninety percent from the lands, there is no need for what the Education District did in the past. Also, it can´t operate completely anymore, since they don´t get new magic stones. So now instead of floating above the water, it became a giant ship. They use it for various things, rarely moving it out on the sea, only to some times of the year. It also keeps Melen safe."

"Keeping it safe? From monsters?"

"Yes, in the sea there are still monsters, but it mostly guard the Lolog Lake from ships of other nations. No country dares to mess with this ship, not even Rakia."

"Is Rakia still like "that"?"

"They are...and they are at a constant war with the Empire."

"So Lady Athena and Lord A-"

"Pff...don´t call Ares "Lord", he is a bloodhound...nothing more...what a fool they both are... Typical Gods of War..."

He smiled. "They are not like you, my Queen."

"Mhm, that´s for sure. Oh and also a few races live mostly on Smelen since the city isn´t big enough for everyone."

"Oh? And w-"

Bell forgot his question when he saw a few people coming out of the city, turning to the right side to work at a house. Most of them were humans, but among them was...how should he describe this "person"...

"What...is...this?!"

"Oh right...I forgot to tell you..."

"Freya?"

The person that shocked Bell was a head taller than most humans, the form was female. But the person had long, dark blue hair, two horns coming out of the forehead, pointy ears that looked different from an elf´s, a long scaly tail, and scales at various parts of the muscular body.

"Over time, a few new beastkin races appeared, three to be exact...all of them in Melen."

"So this..."

"Isn´t a monster, it´s a beastkin, they call themself Dragonier."

"Why are...her scales...all of this...dark blue?"

"Because she lives close to the sea, I heard a few that moved elsewhere have descendants with different colors, in green, sand-colored, and maybe a few other colors."

"How came this to be?"

"Maybe the name for all three races combined will ring a bell, my love."

"Hm?"

"They are called Xenos."

"What?" He blinked shocked.

"As I told you, Hestia took the Xenos with her, smuggled them out of the dungeon after it died, she gave them a place to stay, and explained to the people of Melen that they were different. At first, the Xenos helped to fight water monsters, saving a lot of people, then slowly they got accepted as being a special kind of monsters."

While they walked, Bell looked up when suddenly someone jumped over the rooftops...or...glided.

"Wha-"

"That is an Aeriel."

It was a man this time, he saw ears looking like feathers, reminding him of a certain siren. But instead of wings, this man had feathers going from his wrists down to the armpits, when he jumped, he stretched his arms out and could glide a bit before he came down again. It looked a bit like the man was on a run...and a moment later they saw from what he ran...

"""Come back here, you Casanova!"""

It was three women, moving with great speed over the ground. None of them had legs...each had the lower body of...a snake, but their upper bodies looked like normal humans.

"Wha-!"

"Lamias. The third and last Xenos race."

"Lamias?!"

"Yes, it might be hard to believe, but Dragonier, Aerials, and Lamias are descendants of the Xenos...of three special Xenos, who found lovers among humans."

"What?!"

Freya nodded. "Hestia told me that the young Wiene grew up into a beautiful dragon lady, and apparently she found a lover. It was the same for the Siren Ray and the Lamia Laura."

Now that Bell heard their names, he noticed how similar the feather colors of the Aerial were to Ray, and the Lamias all had green hair and a tail of a similar color to Laura's.

"But how could the Xenos have children with humans?! I mean really, how?!"

Freya looked up to the sky. "If I had to guess..I would say...Gaya."

"What do you mean?"

"Maybe it was a last act when she got slain by you? The Xenos were her special children in a way, maybe her power ran out of control, she is the Mother of Life after all. Maybe it was a plan she always had secretly? To mingle Xenos with humans, so that she could one day infiltrate humanity? I don´t know the true reason, neither does Hestia nor Njord. But around One thousand and two hundred years ago, the first of the new Xenos races appeared. Hestia told me they looked much more like their mothers, they changed over time, looked more and more like humans, but kept their special traits. Now they are normal races of beastkin, like werewolves, chientropes, and others."

"They changed so much in such a short time?"

"Bell, you are aware that most humans have children before they turn twenty? While Dragonier have a long life span, most of them get over a hundred years old, Aerials and Lamias have shorter life spans, similar to humans. So we´re talking about roughly fifty generations here."

"Oh...well taking that into account..."

Bell noticed that all three Lamias wore a kind of skirt, he wondered...

"Beeeell...my Ooooodr...you better not get any naughty ideas here..."

"I would never, you´re the only one I have naughty thoughts about."

"Good." She smiled pleased.

"I just wonder..."

"Yes they have genitals, how else shall they reproduce? Lamias and Aerials live mostly on Smelen, the Aerials with larger feathers can glide from the top of Smelen to Melen. And Lamias are excellent swimmers."

"Lady Hestia and Lord Njord told you all that?"

Freya nodded. "They tried to distract me a bit from my suffering..."

"Freya..."

She looked at him with a pain-filled smile, Bell knew how to ease her pain a bit and kissed her.

He heard the Lamias mumble.

"Kissing on the streets..."

"How lewd..."

"I bet they´re also holding hands..."

"Yeah, I can see it..."

"A Casanova..."

"I can see the heat rising in his pants..."

"""Lewd!"""

All three moved away when Bell separated his lips in shock from Freya´s.

"Oh, I forgot to tell you, Lamias apparently has slight heat vision."

Her eyes flashed to his pants for a moment, and she smirked. "So...what´s that about heat in your pants?"

"I-It´s a warm day!"

"Heeeh~~~ Don´t get horny again, my love. We have time for that later."

"I´m not horny, I swear. All I want is to become happy with you."

"Shall we continue our way?"

"Of course."

Both noticed that the other was a bit nervous, they were alone for so long, not used to all the noise around them. There were a few street stalls, selling food, more than a few of them sold potato snacks.

They heard a street vendor praising his food loudly. "You there, young man! Why not buy a potato snack for your beautiful companion?! The Empress herself blessed these snacks!"

Bell blinked surprised. "The...Empress?"

"Yes! Our fine Lady Hestia! The Empress of Potato Snacks!"

"Pft.." Freya averted her face and snorted.

Bell tried his best to remain calm. "I ahm...maybe later."

Just like in the past, Freya attracted a lot of stares, many people gasped when they saw how beautiful she was. But no one dared to approach her, because of Bell. His expression was always a bit sinister when other people seemed to approach Freya. Maybe he was jealous? Just like all of her followers had been in the past?

No, for him it was something different. He wanted to protect her since he felt how nervous she was. Bell had no reason to be jealous, he knew she loved only him. He was worried the situation might be too much for her, but after a few minutes, Freya chuckled softly for some reason.

"Freya?"

"Hehe~~ It looks like some things are just like in the past."

When Freya smiled at a female Aerial, the woman got red cheeks and chirped, this sound was quite cute.

Naturally, the rumors spread quickly through the city, about a woman so beautiful, that no one could be compared to her. These rumors made it to a big Mansion in the middle of the city, as well as the harbor.

"Do you know where Lady Hestia has her house?"

"Hm, we could probably ask someone at the marketplace, since she is the ruler here, most people most likely know it."

"Good idea."

Freya grinned halfway. "Or do you want to go to the harbor right away? We might meet "him" there."

"I...would prefer to meet Lady Hestia first, I need to prepare my heart..."

"Hehe, are you that nervous?"

"I´m going to ask him to give me your hand in marriage."

"We are married, my dear Odr."

"Still, I would love nothing more than to renew my eternal oath to you, after such a long time. And with your father´s blessing."

Freya smiled at him like a pure maiden in love. "That makes me really happy, Bell."

He raised her hand and kissed the back of it. "For the rest of my days, it is my goal to make you happy."

Freya´s smile put the sun to shame, when she leaned to him to kiss him, just as they arrived at the marketplace.

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"Freya?!"

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The kiss got interrupted before their lips could meet, and both looked forward. A very small goddess with an enormous rack stood before them.

She wore light sandals, without socks. The biggest part of her body was covered by a mixture of a white dress and olympian style tunic. Under her knees, the dress got see-through, and around her waist was a golden double belt, going crosswise, tucked under the belt was a long, blue piece of cloth, with golden edges. There was a golden string ornament under her breasts, her chest itself was covered by pure, white cloth, held in place by a necklace and white cloth that went around her neck. The shoulders were bare, the hair open. On top of her head, she wore a long piece of cloth, of similar color to that on her hip, it looked almost like a hood or a long veil. The goddess had golden bracers and bangles.

In her right hand, she held a staff with a small pot on top of it, in the pot burned a bright, yellow-orange-red flame. This flame didn´t seem to be an ordinary one.

This goddess looked very much like the owner of a sacred, holy flame.

Freya smiled brightly. "Hestia! You look wonderful in that outfit! Why have you never shown it to me before?!"

Hestia blinked perplexed. "What are you doing here? So far away from your farm? I th-"

The small goddess stopped when she noticed the man next to Freya.

"It...it...how...how can this be? Is that...really you? Young Bell?!"

Bell was equally shocked, finally, he saw someone else that he knew! He smiled brightly. "It is a true pleasure to see you again, Lady Hestia."

Of course, Bell knew Hestia, Freya had told him lots of good things about Hestia, that she was a dear friend and important person back then even before Bell vanished.
The flame on Hestia´s staff somehow mimicked the surprise of the goddess, it flickered up and down, back and forth.

"How can this be? I thought you...so long ago...I...it´s over a thousand years!"

Freya smiled and put both of her hands on Bell´s, while she leaned against him. "He came back to me, Hestia. I told you I would wait as long as necessary."

"But...how...I mean...ahm...w-we should maybe go to my house. Come, you two."

"Gladly, my friend."

"I thank you, Lady Hestia."

While they walked, many people cheered for them. At first, Bell thought it was because of Freya, since she was so beautiful, but he was wrong.

"Lady Hestia!"

"Our Lady!"

"The Empress!"

"Milady!"

"The Flamekeeper!"

Many people seemed to be overjoyed to see Hestia, she smiled to all of them, sometimes giggled when a creative nickname came up, and she waved to all of them.

A man passed their way who looked like a sailor.

"Eduard, can you tell Njord I have to talk to him? It´s important."

"Of course, Lady Hestia!"

The man ran off to the harbor.

Bell looked curious. "Is he a member of your familia, or Lord Njord`s?"

Hestia shook her head. "We don´t think in these terms anymore, young Bell. The city is under Njord´s and my protection. Someone else could say we rule the city, but we don´t."

"Then who does?"

She smiled, it was a warm, motherly smile, fitting to the Goddess of the Hearth. "The children, of course, it is their city, we just live here."

"But you live longer here than all of them are alive?"

Again, Hestia shook her head. "Gods shouldn´t rule like that over mortals."

She looked a bit glum. "It´s sad that other people see that differently...like Ares, Athena, Kali...or Sekhmet..."

Hestia mumbled with such a low voice then that Bell only understood two words. "War...everywhere..."

Bell noticed that the flame got a bit smaller when her mood seemed to go down. Then when a small child came running to her and Hestia hugged the child, the flame got big again.

Freya looked curious. "Hestia, is that your divine flame?"

Hestia nodded. "A few years ago, priests from Olympia came and asked me to help them with a huge problem. Olympia almost got destroyed because my flame went out of control. So I went there and took it with me, to keep it always in check."

The small goddess looked with an almost loving expression at the flame. "I really missed my old friend."

The flame looked almost like a living being in some way.

He leaned to Freya and whispered. "Is that a spirit?"

Hestia grinned. "I got good ears over the years, you know? No it´s not a spirit, but something more divine. Something that went down to the surface before we gods did. It was a gift of me for the mortals. Zeus and Hera scolded me back then when I did that."

"Were they mad because you broke some law?"

Now Hestia looked quite embarrassed, which was cute. "No...it was...something else..."

Freya tapped her chin. "Hm...wasn´t it you that accidentally turned Olympia into an island?"

Hestia held a raised index finger in front of her lips. "Shhhh! That was an accident! I forgot to hold back when I threw the flame down. How should I know that it would land with the force of a meteor?!"

Bell gasped. "What?!"

Freya laughed, a beautiful sound. "Hestia wanted to give the Olympians a source of hope and warmth since they were constantly attacked by monsters. So she sent down her flame. Instead of just giving them hope, she obliterated the land connection between Olympia and the mainland, and destroyed hundreds of monsters in the same moment."

"Is that why Olympia is worshipping you like that, Lady Hestia?!"

Hestia´s cheeks were red. "Maybe...b-but they also like other olympian gods!"

Freya grinned. "But they only worship you, Hestia. What happened to Olympia after you took the flame with you?"

"They´re doing fine. Some of them came with me and settled down here. Most of them work and live on Atlantis over there."

Hestia pointed with her thumb at...the Education District.

"Eh?"

The small goddess looked at Bell when he made a surprised sound. "What?"

"I thought it´s name was Smelen?"

"Huh? Who told you that?"

Freya frowned. "It was me, you told me that name, Hestia."

Hestia had an empty expression for a moment, then..."Pfft!~~"

"Hestia?"

"Freya...that was a joke..."

"What?!"

Hestia snorted. "I thought it was obvious, no one would give it such a silly name."

Freya looked embarrassed and her cheeks got quite red...a precious sight for Bell. She got even more abashed when Hestia laughed loudly and happily.

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.

Hestia´s house was much smaller than Bell had thought it would be. It was only twice as big as other houses in that area, but it had an Olympian touch. But most of all, it looked warm, nice, cozy...like a home should.

"A beautiful house, Lady Hestia."

"Hehe, thanks, took me long enough to build it."

"You built it?"

"Weeeell, I had much help, but I did my best!"

"Do you live here alone?"

"No, I don´t want to be alone anymore, hehe~~ I was alone long enough in heaven."

She opened the door with a bright smile.

"Welcome to my home, you two!~~~~"

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While they went inside, a certain male god ran with great speed from he harbor to towards Hestia´s house.