Wishful Thinking

It was well after morning by the time Camellia awoke. She lay in bed, relishing the softness that soothed every aching muscle in her body. As long as she stayed here, maybe the world wouldn’t change. Maybe she would open her eyes, and she would be back underwater, ready to have a great day of training with her friends.

She peeked out one lid. Nope. A dry wooden ceiling stared back. Sunlight streamed in from a window, illuminating tiny dust particles in the air.

Leaning up, Camellia found herself alone in the bed. As soon as her head left the pillow, reality came crashing back down upon her.

Phoebe was gone.

At least Camellia had gotten to say goodbye this time.

Voices carried in through the open bedroom door from the main room of the house. Camellia slipped out from under the covers. The cold sandstone floor sent a shiver up her spine, waking her all the way up. She headed towards the voices.

In the living room of the house, next to what looked like a medieval kitchen, Erasmus and Theio chatted with Lynn and Damos at a sturdy, polished wooden table.

Lynn noticed Camellia, and a blossom of red spread over her cheeks. Erasmus turned around to see what Lynn had been looking at. He arched his eyebrows in realization, and turned back to Lynn. “Ahh, I see now.” He held out a hand in a ‘calm down’ motion. “Don’t worry, I won’t say anything. You’re in good company, after all.”

“Good morning… Camellia, right?” Theio smiled brightly. “Your friends have told me a bit about you. Tired?”

Camellia nodded. “Yeah. Very. Thank you so much for the clothes, the bath, and the bed. I don’t know what we would’ve done without you.”

He waved his hand dismissively. “It’s nothing. Anything for fellow oceanites.”

Erasmus walked in carrying a pile of cloth. “I washed and mended your clothes. There was too much blood, but…” He held up one of the womens’ dresses. “This sea-dweller style is too nice to throw away. I did my best.” He handed the three their clothes back.

Lynn teared up. “Thank you, Erasmus. Thank you.” She enveloped him in a hug.

“Of course.”

Theio stood up, his chair scraping against the stone floor. “Well, now that you’re all awake, I suppose you’ll be wanting to head to see Tethys, at least, hm? Get that request of yours.”

Simultaneously, Lynn, Camellia, and Damos’ eyes widened.

Oh, it seems in the commotion of it all, they had forgotten about their reward for completing the Trials of Ascension. Phoebe even mentioned that in her last moments, didn’t she Obbie?

Well, I suppose it was a rather traumatic day.

We must all be thinking the same thing, Camellia thought.

After they changed into their original clothes, now thankfully clean, the three followed Theio out of the house and along the beach. “Had to have a place by the water, of course,” he explained, chatting them up while they walked. He was much more spry than his husband, Camellia noted, walking at the same healthy pace as she.

Rather than dive into the city, Theio guided them toward the outskirts and along the coast for a few minutes before arriving at a rocky peninsula. It extended down into the water, and there, a few inches submerged by the tide, stood a humble turquoise temple, a smaller, more modest version of the grand sanctuary they had started the trials in yesterday. Despite being barely a day ago, Camellia felt like eons had passed since then.

Theio led them into the temple. The water gently tickled their calves as they splashed down the stairs into a central shrine room. The old champion pulled out a small shell, and humbly offered it into the brazier, kneeling into the water. Camellia and her friends followed suit.

This time, a patch of light did not appear before them. Instead, the water around their legs rose, defying gravity to form the shape of a woman. It solidified, and Tethys manifested before them, radiant as ever.

She smiled, though it was pained, a look of bittersweet pity. “Hello, my lovely contenders. Well, or, I suppose now champions.” She held out a hand. “Congratulations.” She turned to Theio. “And it is good to see you, too, Theiodoros. You have aged well.”

“Thank you Tethys. I assume you know these fine young ones already.” Theio stepped back, leaving Camellia, Damos, and Lynn to Tethys.

Tethys smiled sadly. “I am aware of what happened. I am truly sorry, dear ones. Know that she passed in the arms of her closest friends. She would have wished to go no other way.”

The temple went silent, save for the steady splash of the tide against the walls of the temple.

Damos broke the silence. “Do we get our wish now?”

“Damos, you know it isn’t a wish in that sense,” Tethys gently chided him. “But yes. Now is the time wherein you may make a request of me.”

A few drops of water splashed on Camellia as Damos jumped up. Fire in his eyes, he demanded, “Bring Phoebe back. Please.”

The somber smile fell off Tethys’ face. “Damos…”

“Please!”

She knelt down, reducing her godly stature to Damos’ level. “I don’t have the power to do that, Damos. I’m sorry.”

“Wh- What?... You can’t?” Damos stuttered. “But you’re the goddess.”

Lynn stepped back, falling onto the stairs behind her, hanging her head in despair.

Meanwhile, Camellia marched forward. “What do you mean you ‘can’t’? You deities are insanely powerful. You can teleport anywhere. You can be in multiple places at once. But you can’t even heal an injury?” She was furious, her fists clenched as she glared at the goddess. “What the hell is the point of worshipping you, then?” she spat.

Tethys remained silent.

“Camellia!” Damos turned to her.

“What? After all we’ve been through, and with all the power she has, she can’t bring Phoebe back? That’s bullshit!” Camellia shrieked.

Something whumped into Camellia’s back. “Please, Camellia. Stop. Please,” Lynn whispered, hugging Camellia. "There's nothing we can do. It’s over,” she whimpered.

Camellia turned around. “You’ll just give up? Just like that?” she said indignantly, her voice catching on the last word.

Closing her eyes, Lynn spoke, her voice breathy and tender. “If she says she can’t, then she can’t.” She opened them, and looked at Camellia, tears rolling down her face. “What more can we do?”

“I am sorry,” Tethys slowly admitted. “But it is true. I have not the power to resurrect.”

Camellia sat on the steps, steaming.

Tethys returned her attention to Damos. “Is there something else you would like, Damos?”

Face sunken and devastated, Damos stood in contemplation for a minute before answering. “Is there anything you can do down in The Bed? I think it would be nice if Mom had some more room back in the smithing area. A bigger shop would help them a lot.”

He’s thinking about his awful parents at a time like this?

The goddess nodded. “I can make this happen,” she turned to Lynn and Camellia, “Lynn? Camellia? What about you?”

Lynn mumbled, “I need to think about it some more. I’m not sure. I’ll… come back.”

Tethys hummed in response.

“I want to know about my past, and why I’m here,” Camellia flatly announced.

Tethys paused. “Of course. I cannot tell you everything myself, but I shall tell you where you may learn more.”

“Why can’t you? You can’t bring people back, sure, but you aren’t even able to answer a simple question? What kind of fucking goddess are you?”

Theio, Damos, and Lynn gasped, abhorred by Camellia’s sacrilegious response.

The goddess’ face looked pained, Camellia’s rage stabbing her in the stomach. “Camellia, know that I am pained by the loss of Phoebe, too. I take no pleasure in denying you — I would do more if I could.” She let out a bitter laugh and looked away. “I was never the strongest of my sisters.”

Flicking her gaze forward, she knelt down to Camellia. “Moreover, your request is not something I can answer easily. It is not my information to give. What more can I say?”

“I don’t know, tell me why? Say anything of use at all?” Camellia waved her arms around in anger.

Tethys sighed and stood up again. “The answer you seek lies in the sky,” she said.

What? The sky? Do I need to fly somewhere? “Okay, fine. Where do I need to fly?”

Tethys’ reply was simple, annoyingly so. “Up.”

“That isn’t very helpful,” Camellia complained.

“All in time, dear Camellia, all in time.”

With that, the goddess fell back into the water, a fountain shutting off, leaving nothing but the splash of the tide and a frustrated Camellia, with more questions than answers, behind.

As Theio walked them back home, Camellia took deep breaths. “Sorry for flying off the handle, guys. I just— it made no sense.”

Lynn nodded. “I was shaken by it too. For the goddess I’ve so staunchly believed in, my entire life, to admit powerlessness… It scares me.”

The commiseration soothed Camellia. She took another deep breath, and shelved the goddess’ cryptic answer, curious to talk to Damos instead.

“Damos, why ask for something for your parents?” she asked.

A few steps passed in silence before he answered. “I want them to be happy and succeed. Is that really that crazy? Plus,” he continued as he kicked a pile of sand, “it’ll be proof. Proof that I made it up here.”

With a sudden sense of shame, Camellia realized she had never actually apologized to Damos for the fight on the spire that one night. It was probably about time to do that, wasn’t it?