Overplaying the hand

As the day went on, Mina tried to prod just about everyone to see if they actually knew the truth. Some were easy (Lefteris clearly knew, clearly was fine with it, and also clearly didn’t pick up on what she was doing), some were hard (Vasilis seemed like he saw right through her attempts and was amused by them, but she got absolutely nothing from him), and some were Nik (AKA, Dory was just as annoying to deal with as his son). Over all, it was a surprisingly productive day.

The day ended with a one-on-one training session with Iro after supper, something Agapi had suggested seeing as the two of them were likely going to end up pairing up again on future missions. The pair worked on their teamwork a bit, but honestly the pair mostly just used it as an excuse to goof off and have fun. Still, work or play, their training session left them nicely tired by the end of it, and the two spent the last few minutes of the day before the sun began to set sitting against a tree together.

“Whew, that was a good training session.” Iro said, exhausted but happy. “You put me through my paces way more than I expected.”

“I did way more than I expected too. Back home I wouldn’t have been able to pull half that off.” Mina admitted. “Uraina’s power is really something.”

“Heh, you got that right.”

The pair sat in silence for a few minutes, mostly just trying to catch their breath, but also just enjoying watching the setting sun. it wasn’t till a few minutes later that Iro spoke again.

“So, feeling any better since this morning? All those questions and voices quieted down in your head?” Iro asked.

Mina considered this for a moment. Less about the question itself because no, the questions she’d been pondering had absolutely not quieted down, but she had gotten more comfortable with them ringing around up there. Her talks with the others had cleared up some of her worries, for better or worse, and she now felt she finally had a much clearer picture of everything. But all the questions were still there.

No, Mina was considering what to say to Iro. She was absolutely certain Iro didn’t know the truth about the summoning, and was at least 75% certain she wouldn’t like the truth. So, the thing she was considering was how to tell her without making her freak out too much.

“Kinda, talking to the others did help a lot.” Mina said slowly, thoughtfully. “But there is one thing that… I don’t know… It doesn’t make much sense, but it’s been kinda bugging me.”

“Oh, anything I can help with? Or, do you want me to get Athan or Old Lady Sofos if it’s something confusing?” Iro offered, and Mina quickly shook her head.

“No!” Mina quickly said. “I… it’s something that I think might get them mad at me if I asked.”

“Oh? Is it that bad?” Iro asked. “Well, if you want to tell someone, you can tell me. You know I can keep a secret.”

“Thanks Iro.” Mina said.

‘Alright, now how to word this?’ Mina thought to herself.

…

“Alright, so… while I was out with Nik in the city, while we were wandering around… I heard something strange.” Mina started, and she could visibly see Iro grow more concerned. “We weren’t exactly side by side at that moment, so I’m almost certain he didn’t hear it, but…”

Mina paused for just a moment to consider the exact right words.

“Do… do you think that maybe, the summoning circle that brought me here wasn’t what Athan and Lefteris said it was?” She finally asked.

“Huh? I’m sorry, what? What could possibly make you ask that?” Iro asked, completely confused.

“Well, the people I overheard talking were saying that other kingdoms that worship other gods have been summoning people from my world too.” Mina said. “Except, they aren’t being summoned as agents of the gods or chosen ones of the gods like Athan says I am.”

“Then, what are they being summoned for?” Iro asked.

“… They’re being summoned to replace the gods.” Mina said, finally dropping the bombshell.

“W-” Mina, knowing what was about to happen, slapped her hand over Iro’s mouth before she could yell in shock. Iro’s eyes went wide, but she managed to contain herself after that, and instead leaned in closer to Mina.

“REPLACE THE GODS?!” Iro whisper yelled. “These other kingdoms are trying to replace the gods with people from another world??!!”

“Yeah, that’s what they said.” Mina nodded. “According to them, apparently the gods are getting weaker, so they’re summoning people from another world to steal the gods’ powers and kill them so they can take up the position instead.”

“That… that’s ridiculous! That is absolutely insane!” Iro exclaimed. “That-I don’t… hold on. You… you don’t think the summoning circle Athan used to bring you here was meant for that, do you?”

“I mean, it’s possible right?” Mina said. “If other kingdoms are using that kind of magic, what’s to say he didn’t use it. And, as much as I wish he thought what he told me was the truth, Elias and Lefteris are really smart. If Athan didn’t know the truth, they would have told him about it instead.”

“No. No!” Iro said insistently. “Athan is a good man, someone who loves Uraina! He wouldn’t summon someone from another world to kill her, and he certainly wouldn’t summon someone to take advantage of them like this. He found the summoning circle here, it’s ancient magic.”

“It’s not ancient magic; he brought the circle here not too long ago.” Mina told her.

“Huh? What do you mean, why do you think that?” Iro asked.

“The person that owns this island told me he did.” Mina said, making Iro even more confused for a moment. Iro then shook her head and abruptly stood up.

“No, no, you’re wrong. I know I said I could keep a secret, but this? We need to nip this in the bud. I can’t let you keep thinking like this Mina. We are going to go over to Athan and clear this up.” Iro insisted. “Oh, there he is now.”

Mina then stood up and turned around the tree to see not just Athan approaching, but Elias, Lefteris, Agapi, Dory, Old Lady Sofos, and even Natalia and Vasilis walking up to them. Seeing this, Mina paled. There was no way this was a coincidence. She’d overstepped her limits and made them catch on to her, exactly what Jordan had warned her not to do.

“Athan, I’m glad you’re here. You need to clear something up for Mina.” Iro said with false cheer, sounding openly desperate to prove Mina’s theory wrong. “Mina has somehow come up with this crazy idea that she’s not actually Uraina’s chosen one, that you actually summoned her so she could replace Uraina. It’s insane, I know, but Mina seems to think that’s actually true. Come on, tell Mina that isn’t true.”

Athan paused, looked over at Iro for a moment, before turning and looking Mina directly in the eye.

“Unfortunately Iro, I cannot say that. For Mina’s assumption is exactly right.”