Angry over Val’s ignorance, Arius had somehow thought it was a clever idea to introduce the matter of Evalaite to the conversation.

Now, it was Tavras’s turn to stand up, pissed off. “I never enslaved anyone. I gave Evalaite plenty of opportunities to leave, but she wanted to stay by me for centuries. Everything was fine until you took her!”

“I took Evalaite off of your so-called Paradise because she asked for help. Yet, you still accused me of terrible things even though I am not that sort of god of war!” A new note of anger, more along the lines of distress entered his voice.

This was really bad.

With her head still on the table, Val plugged her ears by leveling both palms into the side of her head. She could not pet Foofy anymore like this, but at this point, it was a better alternative. Her own voice sounded in a muffle past her hands. “Both of you please stop. I can try to calm you down with Keep the Peace, if both of you would lower your Mind Shields.”

While she could not see their reactions, Arius released a big sigh and replied first. “I think that is an excellent idea, Val. It would make this discussion vastly more productive and hopefully make Tavras more rational. My Mind Shield is down.” Clearing his throat, he added. “I am sorry that you had to overhear part of our age-old dispute.”

Without a speech, Tavras grunted out, “Fine,” in agreement to Val’s request.

With both gods accepting to her influence, Val let Keep the Peace pour out of her at the maximum strength that she could manage. She was unsure if her ability would be effective on gods at all, even willing gods, but she wanted to try so that their fighting could stop.

Her mind connected with Tavras first because she was less afraid to do so with him. At once, Val understood what Arius had meant about his mind resembling water. Just as she could not stop a raging wave with Keep the Peace, her calming energy seemed to glance off of his mind. Only a small portion of its effect held influence over Tavras.

It was a shame because Tavras had been the one causing the most problems. If he would simply accept the fact that Arius was trying to help her, they could move onto what they actually needed to do.

Val picked herself up from the table to address Arius. “Um, I see what you meant about Tavras’s mind. I don’t think my ability works on him. It would not be fair for me to use it on you then.”

“All right.” Arius nodded along, saying, “I will try to keep my temper under wraps. I stand by what I said though.” His glare bore into Tavras. “It is deplorable how you are keeping Val in the dark.”

“Again, you are blaming me for something that I could not help.”

Both Tavras and Arius retook their seats at the table. With civility restored, Arius laid out his plan.

“First, Val is going to resume her true identity as a girl.” Setting a vial on the table, Arius rolled it across the surface to her. “This is a regrowth potion to restore your hair.”

Her mouth dropped open as she could feel her eyes lightening up. “Really? You got me a potion to fix my hair?”

“I flew to the capital last night and had Ludovico make it,” Arius said with a sweet smile. “You’re welcome.”

Her fingers clutched around the vial, eager to use it as soon as this talk would end. Arius really was trying to help her which lifted her spirits. With an irrepressible smile on her face, Val decided that she could not hate him so much anymore.

“Second, I want Val to demonstrate all of her abilities for me. We will have her fully documented with fake parents according to whichever god or goddess she most resembles in her powers.”

She nodded along. “I can do that.” It reminded her of when Tavras had done that with her, except now she would have Divine Judgement to show off.

“Third, Val is going to desist her association with the Sea Itself—”

“What?” Val asked. “Why?”

Arius looked at her with hooded eyes. “Tavras would have been killed for being a traitor already if not for his role as shepherd to the sea. That same protection is not extended to you. Your association with him will put a red flag over your head.”

Before Val could put up her point of disagreement, Tavras interjected. “I raised Iharu and Fangarus perfectly fine! Both of them were allowed to ascend once they had proven themselves. You cannot try to isolate Val from me.”

“Yeah,” she said. “Tavras has done nothing but try to help me. Even if he did not do a good job in concealing my identity, he has helped me learn more abilities and become stronger.” For a second, she wanted to say, ‘I like him’ but realized that would be horrible given her crush. “I want to stay with him.”

“Divide and conquer is the oldest trick in the book,” Tavras continued. “You do not fool me for one second.”

Looking between them, Arius sighed. “We can come back around to that point. Fourth, I am teaching Val a proper Mind Shield and then telling her about everything.”

“No,” Tavras said. “You will not taint her mind with your lies. I will be the one to tell her.”

“Fine, whatever. Why is this an issue?” Arius looked to Val, shook his head, and rolled his eyes before flitting his attention back to Tavras. “That’s it. Can the two of you agree to this arrangement? You would have to have a death wish for Val if you do not accept my help.”

Squeezing her fingers around the hair regrowth potion tighter, Val wanted Tavras to be sensible very badly. It would put her in an awkward position for her to side with Arius in the event that he would refuse.

“Fine, you bastard, you make some compelling points. We need a day to discuss this and think over your proposition.”

“Tavras—” Val tried to say.

“Now,” he said, pushing out his chair as he rose, “you need to leave.”

Arius stayed sitting and raised his brow. “I do believe that Val would like her hair back as soon as possible. She intends to take me up on my offer.”

“She also has no idea who you are. If she is going to make this decision, I will let her, but I want her to be fully informed about the demon that just offered her a contract.”

“You said that you don’t want me tainting her with my lies. Maybe I don’t want you tainting her with yours.”

Tavras grabbed one of Arius’s arms and encouraged him to stand up. “I will keep Val inside of the house so we will not run the risk of her being seen as a boy. She has a right to hear information from both sides, and that will be easier without you around, constantly interjecting.”

“All right, all right.” Walking towards the door, Arius turned back to Val. “Remember that this guy will say anything bad about me to change your mind. Most things are probably true, but that does not change the fact that Tavras is trying to manipulate you from making the clearly right decision.” An upward nod indicated to potion in her hands. “You can keep that.”

A tight smile lifted to her lips. Val pulled the vial closer into her chest. “Thank you, Arius.” Already, she was sad to see him go.

No matter what bad things Tavras had to say about him, Val did not see how she could refuse his offer to help.