Tavras and Val had moved further inland on the island, where the ground turned firmer beneath their feet rather than the shifting sand of the beach. In a wide arc, Tavras walked around her. “Tell me what abilities you have been developing thus far.”

Val bit into her lip, nervous to admit that she only had three abilities. So far today, Tavras demonstrated how he could move water to his will, command sea creatures from crabs to sea serpents alike, and heal injuries with water alone. His casual usage of his power already boasted three powerful abilities, as many as Val could use at all.

With a slight tremble in her voice, she listed off her meager abilities. “I have Keep the Peace, Mind Blast, and Past Insight.” Quickly, she described the extent of her abilities’ power since the names themselves were pretty self-explanatory.

Tavras raised his brow at her. “Is that it?”

“Yes,” she said sheepishly.

“Well, let me see for myself how strong this Mind Blast is.” Tavras clapped his hands and bounded backwards in one smooth motion. “Hit me.”

A god had just ordered Val to attack him “Are you sure that it is okay for me to do that?”

In emphasis, Tavras gave an excited hop. “Hit me!” he said with greater enthusiasm than before.

The playful demeanor of the Sea Itself made Val grin wildly. If a god wanted her to hit him, who would she be to object? Her eyes fluttered shut so that she could focus on producing her best Mind Blast yet. She had no reason to worry about hurting Tavras, so she cared only for trying to impress him with how strong she was for a young demigoddess.

When the impulse left her, Val was struck back by a far greater force. Receiving the blow straight in the gut, the wind was knocked out of her. She fell back onto her butt and a great amount of water dumped all over her. Opening her eyes, Val blinked rapidly at the puddle that she sat in.

Anger flashed within her. It was entirely unnecessary for a god of Tavras’s stature to whip her around like this.

Meanwhile, he doubled over laughing. “I broke right past your Mind Blast. I’m sorry about that Val, but I couldn’t resist!” Once he composed himself, he strode over and offered her a hand up.

While she sat there like a drowned cat, her heart raced away from the manner in which Tavras bent over her, nothing but pure kindness and happiness on his face. Gazing up to him like that, Val completely forgot that she had been angry with him. Her own smile pressed to her lips, and she placed her hand in his big, warm one.

“Let me dry you off again,” he said once he had pulled her up with ease. As he had done before, all of the water lifted from her skin and clothes.

The floating, swirling waters enamored Val the second time as much as it had the first. “Where did you get all of this water from?”

“Do you feel how dry the air is right now?” Tavras spread out his hands to send the water far away where it disappeared to nothing. “I borrowed the water from the air in our proximity.” Indeed, he had sent it back to restore the previous humidity.

It must be a profoundly advanced skill to access untraditional sources of water like that, so Val took that as a testament to his power. “That’s amazing,” she said.

“Why, thank you.” Tavras gave a little bow after his performance. “Aside from your abilities, have you learned any hand-to-hand combat?”

Val winced along with her twinge of annoyance, because it was not exactly her fault that she was useless in a fight. As a demigoddess, she was far too strong to engage in any physical pursuits with mortals. That left only her brother Ross as a training partner, but he had never been one for corporeal pursuits. Instead, he had encouraged her to develop soft skills like Keep the Peace and Past Insight.

"Well,” Val said, trying to talk herself up, “Keep the Peace is better than any offensive skill. The most effective way to win a fight would be to not start one in the first place.” She tried to mimic the thing that she thought that Ross would say, and only hoped that would serve as a good enough answer to Tavras's question.

He laughed, “How did that work out for you with my sea serpent?”

As much as she wanted to shrink back, Val evened her feet to stand taller and prouder than before. “My ability is still very much in development. The largest animals that I have quelled so far have been large dogs, and also mortal humans. If Foofy tried to attack anybody, I could stop him on a dime. In fact, I could calm a whole pack of dogs! As I grow more powerful with this ability, maybe one day I will be able to stop your sea serpent in its path, and maybe even demigods and gods.”

Tavras looked up to the sky with a long pause of consideration. “Yes, perhaps that could be useful. It is very much a tactical ability, though. As for your other skill Past Insight, again, it is a cognitive ability, not useful in a fight either. You will need something stronger than Mind Blast that makes you a more formidable foe.”

Val nodded along. While she had always known this, she had focused on abilities more easily developed in the mortal world. Now, it seemed that the time had come where she could push some of the more destructive limits of her power.

At the moment, Tavras continued to talk to her about her ability set. “I can sense that you possess a propensity for these two skills that you have developed so far. This is usually the case. Demigods typically gravitate towards abilities that are well-suited for them.”

This relieved Val to hear. At least she had gotten something right when she had been trying to figure out her powers all alone with Ross in the mortal world. “How can I tell if an ability is well-suited for me?”

“It is a combination of the inherent makeup of your blood and the personality that you have taken on—nature and nurture," Tavras said. "Obviously, you know your own personality so you have some idea of what abilities would suit you based on that. As for your genetics, you would either need to know your parents’ strengths or get have your heritage analyzed. Lucky for you, my close association with water lets me Read Blood to some extent! I can tell you that you have an advantage in learning skills related to time and justice.”

This all made a lot of sense, aside from maybe the seemingly unrelated attributes of time and justice.

Messing with the flow of time was regarded as one of the most difficult abilities for those with divine blood to develop. Given the way that she could see the past, and Ross could see the future, it only seemed logical for their shared genes to empower those respective abilities. As for justice, that came as a surprise, but a welcome one at that. Val always wanted to be a force for good with the power granted to her.

To continue on with this conversation, she said, "I absolutely agree with you that I need to develop some more powerful abilities next. What would you suggest that I work on?"

"Think for yourself for a moment," Tavras said. “Given the information that I have just shared with you, try to come up with something on your own.”

Just as he suggested, Val thought. Eventually, she would need to become independent from Tavras, so this would be good practice in learning how to construct a useful ability set. “Could I develop an ability that makes me physically stronger? That way, the difference between me and other demigods could be as stark as demigods are to mortals.”

“No.” Tavras shook his head. “While you could do that, you would struggle in developing that ability. In the end, others who played to their strengths would outclass you. Try again.”

Val racked her brain. Time and justice were her strengths to work with. As far as her personality went, she had a bit of a temper, but she always did her best to keep things under wraps. Naturally, she wanted to assume the role of a peacemaker, trying to diffuse tense situations rather than encourage them. Could she create a shield of energy around herself or others to protect people from an attack? That would only be just.

The idea of this, she liked, so she voiced it to Tavras. “How about a forcefield?”

“That skill would suit you.” Tavras said with a nod. “Definitely, a shield should be one of the abilities that you look into developing in the future. First, though, how about you work on something more offensive?”

Val swallowed hard. “I don’t know if my personality is inclined to an offensive skill set." Unless of course she tapped into her temper somehow, she could not think of a good way to unleash a belligerent force. In all honesty, Val did not trust herself to not go off the rails while enraged.

"The same thing goes for my blood,” she continued. “If you said that time and justice are the attributes that I have to work with, I don’t know what I can do with that.” Simply put, violence was unjust under the vast majority of circumstances, nor did it relate to time in any way.

A snide laugh of derision came from Tavras. “Ha. You’re trying to tell me that you are not inclined to violence at all? Again, I hardly know you, but I can tell that you put in a good amount of effort to control your temper.”

With a hard swallow, she shifted awkwardly in place. Val preferred to pretend that she did not have any temper around others, always doing her best to remain calm and collected.

“You also have a strong sense of morality. Whether or not you truly know right from wrong, you do believe that you can pass some judgement onto the world. Combine that with your temper and what do you have?”

This all made sense. With a little analysis, Tavras determined an intersection between the strengths of her personality and her genetics. “So, are you saying that I should develop an ability to play judge and jury? Should I punish those that I deem in the wrong?”

A wily smile climbed to Tavras’s face. “Yeah, I think that you might make for a good candidate to run around smiting people.”

This suggestion, she found hilarious as a joke. While Val may have laughed aloud, some part of her genuinely liked the idea. She did always intend to use her powers for good. As long as she kept a level head on her shoulders, there was no reason why she could not take goodness a step further.

“Okay. I will do that.” While Val would commit herself to learning this new ability, she had no idea how to begin. For guidance, she looked to Tavras.

An engorged drop of water balanced in his palm. It bobbled and twitched as he seemed to be playing with it. “Well?” he asked, redirecting his attention to her. “Have you come up with a name?”

“What do you mean?”

It was customary for immortals to name the abilities that they developed with their divine blood, but Val always did that after she had successfully learned an ability. In the past, she had tried learning a number of skills to no avail, such as the ability to fly. As a kid, she thought that flying would be the single coolest thing to do with her divine blood. Hence, Val would rather invest the energy in coming up with a name only after she had secured the ability.

“It is easier to learn a new ability if you centralize its idea around a name.”

“Really? I always did that after.” Apparently, her order had been all wrong.

“You should always do it before,” Tavras confirmed.

To think up a good name, Val closed her eyes.

‘Smite’ perhaps? That name connoted too much force and violence for Val’s liking. Sometimes, she may want to deliver a punishment that was more fitting to a lesser crime. Since all retribution would be best consolidated under this one ability, she wanted a more appropriate name.

‘Divine Judgement’ how about? Val was indeed a demigoddess with divine blood and she would be casting judgement onto others. The phrase did not have a superfluous meaning of violence, so she felt content with this name.

“I really do like the idea of this! Only, I imagine that it will be a challenge to practice this ability.”

Tavras shrugged. “I am sure that you will have ample opportunities.”

By the gleam in his eyes, Val swallowed hard and braced herself. She would need to watch herself, as Tavras might just try to create the sort of conditions necessary to train with her new ability.

Character Update

* New information is marked in cyan.

* All entries are based on what Val knows.

Tavras Title: The Sea Itself Rank: God, Fifth Seat Attributes: Water Abilities Name Class Description Aquatic Rejuvenation medical - heals injuries with water Bend Water combat, practical

- move water at will

- can pull water from humidity in the air

Marine Ally combat, practical - controls aquatic animals Read Blood cognitive - sense a person's heritage Unknown n/a - probably has a lot more abilities