Hineni hums as he walks, holding Obscura’s hand. The two of them stroll around the northern side of the city, further away from the front-lines.

Catching himself doing so, he stops, blinks, and looks over towards her. Obscura looks his way.

“Sorry,” says Hineni, not sure why he’s apologizing. Maybe because it’s embarrassing to hum in front of someone. Although, he isn’t sure how that makes sense, considering the very intimate nature and state of their relationship. One would think that something as banal as humming wouldn’t be a big deal, but, well.

Obscura shakes her head and quietly hoots in a sing-song tone, copying his rhythm as she continues walking along, pulling him after her.

Hineni, still a little embarrassed, scratches his cheek and looks away, but continues humming. The two of them move like that through the night, on one of their first romantic night-walks in this new place.

Hineni stares around himself for a while as they walk. “You know, there was something that I wanted to do today,” says the man, thinking about it. “But I can’t remember what it was for the life of me.”

“Perhaps he wanted to buy pretty presents for me?” asks the owl-god, stopping to point in through a window of a clothing store.

Hineni looks at it and then her way. She’s always only ever worn her brown robe, now that he thinks about it. She’s never seemed too interested in clothes at all.

“I think we can make that work,” he says, looking back to the window. “But that wasn’t it.”

She clicks with her mouth. “What could take up more space in his head than the radiant beauty of his loving Ob~ scu~ ra?” asks the owl-god.

“Nothing,” replies Hineni, kissing her on the forehead.

She hoots. “His brash honesty pleases me, but causes my belly great discomfort.”

He rubs his forehead, looking up towards the sky. “I remember I was talking with Eilig before lunch,” he starts.

“She is doing very well, yes?”

“Yeah,” replies Hineni, nodding. “I’m really glad. I was worried about her, you know?” he asks. The man looks around the ruined city. “It’s pretty rough here. But at least this gives us a chance to really build up a new foundation together. All of us.”

“I agree,” says Obscura, rubbing her thumb over his hand. “The time will soon come for me to reclaim the owl-forest from the dirty frogs and things that creep,” she says.

“Oh. Was this a priority?” asked Hineni. “I had no idea.”

The owl-god shakes her head. “My only priority is Hi~ ne~ ni and the others of our nest,” she says. “But while I am here, I find it hard to resist the desire to right the past.”

He thinks about it for a while and nods. “Makes sense to me. Anyway… what was I talking about?”

“You wanted to buy me a pretty dress.”

“Yeah, but after that…” He thinks for a moment. “Oh yeah, Eilig. We were talking about some stuff, and she was being all flaky and weird. Wouldn’t give me a straight answer about anything.” He shrugs. “But I guess that’s normal for her.”

The owl-god clicks with her mouth. “I had greatly underestimated her affinity for you, during our first meeting,” says Obscura. “She had once feared me, but now she becomes emboldened and troubles my Hineni-treasure without remorse.”

“Nobody is supposed to fear anybody here,” says Hineni. “We already talked about the whole ‘demon’ thing, remember?” he asks. Obscura nods. “Besides. She’s not troubling me. She’s my sister. Obscura clicks a few times, hissing excitedly about something. “She’s just kind of weird, but I guess it runs in the family,” says the man. He shakes his head, looking at a broken window that somebody had smashed in. “Anyways, I keep missing the point I’m trying to make,” he says.

The owl-god stops, looking at him as they stand out in the middle of a crossing, bathed in moonlight. “There was this idea I had,” says Hineni. “It was… uh…” He blinks. “Hmm… Damn…”

Obscura coos softly, holding one of his hands and gently rubbing the side of his head with the other. “Hineni has become old and forgetful with a frightening pace,” says Obscura. “He must not age any quicker. I have need of many more years from him.”

He nods. “I’ll try to stick to growing roughly one year older every year,” he says. “If I can manage.”

“It would please me greatly. Poor Obscura!” hoots the owl-god. “What will she do in the years not far from now, when the Hineni-man has fallen to dust?”

“Hmm…” He shrugs. “I guess you’re gonna have to look after our grandkids.

She ruffles the feathers on her neck, fidgeting and then leaning in for a kiss. “My belly feels as if it is full of squirmy worms, but I am deeply pleased with his romantic answer.”

“Then I’ve done my part,” says Hineni, kissing her.

He doesn’t remember what it is that he wanted to do. But this is nice as it is. Besides, if it was really important, he would have remembered, right?

A day passes.

The walls of the house are polished off as roofers arrive to start covering everything over.

The rectangular structure will serve as their exterior base of operations. The guild, the forge, the connection to the road, and everything else will be there. Their private lives will be retreated back into the courtyard, into the house that will be built in the tree, which is growing at a significant rate.

“Well, I’ll be,” says Hineni, staring at it with his hands on his hips.

The tree that was a sturdy, but small, sapling just the other day is now what he would consider to be a real tree. It’s gotten much taller and wider overnight, with strong roots pressing out around the hill.

“That god-magic is wild stuff, huh?” asks Sockel, knocking on its trunk.

Rhine, standing next to her, rubs his hands over the bark to feel it. “It’s not just god-magic, Sockel,” he says. “All of the chaotic magic from the war is sinking into the soil, making it really fertile.”

“— That and all the blood,” says the elf.

“Mm,” nods Rhine. “But between those factors and the leylines, this entire region is just pumped full of juice,” he says. “The soil is going to be crazy fertile here for a long time.”

The owl-god hoots. “This is why we must work hard now,” she says. “To secure as much of this rare-power as is possible, before others realize the game of many screams being played.”

Sockel tilts her head, lifting an eyebrow. “What an odd way to say it.”

“No, she’s right, Sockel,” says Rhine. “This kind of magical power is rare. Once the war cools off, people are going to be going crazy over the region.” He nods. “That’s why it’s smart for us to be here now, getting in on the game.” He points down towards the north, towards a group of engineers working in the distance. “The military knows about it too. They’re setting up all sorts of wells in the safer areas.”

“That seems like a bad plan,” says Hineni. “With the elves pushing in and out all the time, they might be building a lot, just for it to be torn down tomorrow.” He rubs his chin before looking back at their own house. For a moment, he wonders if he should worry about it, but then decides not to.

“That’s just the risk they’re taking,” says Rhine. “But if the gamble pays off, it’s gonna be a big win.” He pokes down at the soil. “With this kind of magic, this place is going to be a gold-mine a decade from now. I bet even the nobles and the other gods will get in on it.”

A voice chimes in from the side. Seltsam. “A- actually, it might even let a dungeon spawn in the region,” she says, adding on to Rhine’s explanation. Hineni turns around to look for her, but he can’t see her. “It would be a done deal then.” All of them look up towards the top of the tree.

“Seltsam, are you hiding in the tree?” asks Hineni.

“M- Maybe…”

“How did you even climb up there?” asks Sockel. “We’ve all been standing here the whole time.” Rhine rubs his chin with the back of his lip, thinking.

“I’m very nimble,” replies Seltsam. “You all looked away for a moment and whoosh! Up I went.”

They stare at the tree for a time.

“W- was that weird?” asks Seltsam. “Was that a weird thing to say and do?” The leaves rustle. “Sorry. I wanted to be a part of the conversation.”

“Aw,” says Sockel.

“Don’t worry, Seltsam,” says Rhine. “You’re not weirder than Sockel is.”

Sockel presses her knee into his side with an annoyed look on her face. “You’ll live to regret this,” warns the elf.

“Nope,” replies Rhine. He grabs her leg, suddenly yanking it to the side, and the two of them tumble down the hill, vanishing as they degrade into a new fight like siblings fighting over an unimportant slight.

Hineni and Obscura watch them wrestle their way down.

“Anyways…” says Hineni. “Seltsam, the new library should be done today,” he says. “Make sure you keep an eye on the workers, to make sure they do it right.”

“You got it!” says the voice from up above.

A talon presses itself lightly against his chest. “And you will make many pretty, sharp things today, yes?” asks the owl-god. “Many, many weapons?”

Hineni nods. “I guess so,” he replies. “Not sure what else I would be doing.”

The owl-god hoots, pleased. The three of them split up to set to their tasks for the day. Meanwhile, Rhine and Sockel continue to scrap for another twenty minutes or so, until they tire themselves out.

Hineni, meanwhile, does his best to remember what the hell it is that he wanted to do, but he just can’t think of it.

Oh well.

He’ll just ask Eilig next time he sees her.

The man looks around the area, not seeing a trace of her blue glow anywhere.

Weird.