A very slightly shorter-haired Trickster followed grumpily behind the witch as she made her way through the forest. The ground was boggy, but the autumn had been wet enough to allow thick mats of moss to grow, allowing easy passage if you were careful of your footing--

"Hey, Trickster!" the witch called. The Trickster, distracted by the sudden call, stepped off a log into ankle-deep mud. She sighed.

"Yes?"

"Is it weird, being a woman now?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've mainly been guys before, right?"

"I mean, technically the crow was a girl," the Trickster said. "But I don't think gods experience it in the same way as humans. I can't really remember. In any case, I personally don't keep the, what would you call it, impression of the physical identity I guess? Of my previous hosts. You can't trick me by putting me into a very tall person after a very short person, for instance, or from a man into a woman. My sense of balance, my sense of self, my sense of identity, I borrow directly from my host. Who is Cassie, by the way. My name is Cassie."

"I'm Edith. Have you been a goat?" the witch asked, possibly getting bored by this metaphysical talk.

"Why would I have been a goat?"

"You've been a crow, why not a goat?"

"I have been," the Trickster said, counting on her fingers, "a crow, a mangy dog, a starving madman, sixteen cultists, a thief, and now Cassie."

"Who was she?"

"A farmer. A very unlucky one."

"Are you sad your old host is gone?"

"Angus was long dead. As is Cassie. But even if that was not the case, no. Angus was an extremely selfish, arrogant, and foolish individual. It just so happened that those traits were exactly what I needed at the time."

"You needed a self-obsessed idiot?"

"In my personality, yes. Without being more arrogant, I wouldn't have wanted to do things my way rather than the cultists'. Without being more selfish, I wouldn't have decided that actually doing what I want was the right thing to do. And without being more foolish, I definitely wouldn't have risked running away like I did."

"But you have spent the last hundred years as a fugitive," Edith pointed out. "Is that really better?"

"Well, Cassie thinks so too, so I think so."

"Wait, how does that make sense?"

"Anyway, why is your brother in trouble?"

"You can't just change the subject!"

"What the hell is stopping me? I have to know what's going on before I can help your brother."

"What's a hell?"

"Hell. The place you used to go to when you were bad."

"I have no idea what you're talking about."

"Don't humans have it? When they were still around, if you died the Grandparents used to put you into this nasty interdimensional pit to think about what you had done."

"Why would we have that? Humans don't go anywhere when they die," the witch said.

"How does that make sense? It's not like you guys tend to stick around."

"I... you really are a kid, aren't you?"

"I'm hundreds of years older than you."

"Did the other gods ever tell you anything?"

"They were a bit distracted when I was growing up," the Trickster muttered. First the Grandparents had disappeared, then all the Parents had died, one by one, and for some reason did not come back. The Trickster had killed the last of the Parents at his birth, and for most of his childhood the others were sure that they would be next. "You'd think that they'd be pleased that I came back!"

"What was that?"

"Nothing. Tell me your plan."

"Are the rumours about what happens if you are accepted into a village true?"

"I don't know. If the rumours say something about chaos and destruction, probably."

"Well, my brother is currently kidnapped by my parents because they say they need one of us to stay back to become the head of the family. So my plan is to get the two of you married, so my parents are forced to banish my brother to save the village."

"Wait, wait. Does this plan go against Cloe? Because I want to stay on her good side."

"It's too late for that, you're helping a witch. I thought she hated you anyway?"

"No! Not that I heard. How come there are so many weird rumours about me?!"

"Because people pay attention to gods. In any case, how are you at pretending to be normal?"

"I've been acting normal this whole time!"

"When I met you you were hiding up a tree from a goat."

"And any normal person would do that if a goat decided they were a meal!"

"In any case, how well are you at introducing yourself?"

The Trickster stopped, and gave the witch a bow. "Greetings--oh, shit, right." She gave a curtsey, wobbling a bit in the mud.

"Hmm," Edith said. "I think we're going to need some practice. But you can look charming, right?"

"Are you saying I don't look charming now?!"

"Well..."

"All I have to do is look charming enough that your parents buy that your brother could possibly like me, yeah? He's your age, isn't he? Early twenties?"

"Yes."

"Then no problem! Parents think their children have no discrimination at that age, show them some cleavage and they won't expect a thing."

"Don't show my parents your cleavage!"

"You want this done this year, right? It has to be an emergency wedding, and they're going to have to believe your brother and I have done something that warrants it. Trust me, I'm a good actor."

"As I said before, we're going to have to do a lot of practice," Edith said. "But I am glad you are getting into the spirit of it..."