"So, best to hold on to our godkillers," Fulgora said. "I wouldn't want to end up an ugly beast. It was a good thing we were able to find all of ours."

"I never had any made for myself, so I don't have to worry about it." Hisato smiled, almost proudly at the fact he didn't have a godkiller.

"Nor did I," Revna said. She looked uneasily at Enyalius and twirled the end of one of her braids.

Enyalius appeared unaware that everyone's eyes fell on him. He'd become distracted with cleaning his thumb nail. "Well, I'm ready to explore Tau Honnor, loves. Can we get a move on?"

Vatra crossed the room and cracked an open palm across Enyalius' cheek.

The god looked at her, dazed, but didn't react to the strike.

"You dumbass! We just reached the conclusion that you're the only one here without your godkiller, which means your life is at risk. Aren't you worried Hephaestus found it?" Vatra clenched and unclenched her fingers at her side, silently regretting how hard she'd hit him. Though, in watching the god's reaction, she momentarily caught a glimmer in his eye.

Gross, did he enjoy that?

Scoffing, Enyalius shrugged his shoulders with disregard to her concerns. "A godkiller can't kill me, right? Who's to say that melting down mine would kill me, too? I bet that old goat melted my godkiller down first. If he found it, that is."

Realization hit Vatra like a brick. She could almost feel the sting of it on her own face.

I'm so stupid for only now putting all of this together.

"Shit, I have your godkiller," Vatra breathed out.

"I definitely don't remember giving you my godkiller, love," Enyalius said. "And unless you are a beast that swallows ships, I'm afraid it isn't here. It's probably floating in the remains of our beloved Earth."

"Except there is a beast that swallows ships on the Agkistrodon." Vatra looked over at Spyro.

"Oh, you are speaking of your Aspidochelone," Spyro said once he met gazes with Vatra. "Yes, I can collect the beast if you wish."

"Your... what?" Enyalius' jaw slacked and he looked around the room in shock. "You had one of them on this ship the entire time?"

Vatra made note of the fact that everyone else looked equally disturbed by the fact an Aspidochelone was on board. "I promise Aspi is harmless and no bigger than a small turtle at this point."

"And you're sure this is the one with Enyalius' godkiller?" Revna asked.

"Yes," Vatra replied. "Laverna saw Aspi when we fled Earth with Loki and the others. And when Loki attacked me, he mentioned me having something they needed. Enyalius saying that his godkiller would have been melted down first made sense because Hephaestus hated his guts. And while it's clear that Hephaestus wants us all dead for some reason, Enyalius is the only god I've really ever known him to hate. Loki and Laverna snaked their way on the ship with you guys to try and get Aspi."

Chuckling, Geb tugged at the edge of his wolf pelt. "I would enjoy hearing this story of how you made Hephaestus hate you so much," Geb said.

"Yeah, yeah, can we get back to my godkiller being on this ship." Enyalius waved off Geb's words.

"Well, there's no way to get it out of Aspi until we can get him to grow larger. And, unfortunately, there's no in between for him. It's either a small turtle, or big ship eater," Vatra said. She sucked her teeth and rocked back on her heels. "But, we now know it's safe."

Enyalius lost all sense of humor and disinterest. His full focus was on Vatra. "Safe?"

"You just said you already thought they melted your godkiller down," Vatra shot. "Besides, while we're off on Tau Honnor, Spyro will stay behind with the Agkistrodon and our guests. He'll alert us through my watch at the first sign of trouble. We need to refuel, restock, and get our bearings."

"One spirit entrusted with guarding everything here?" Enyalius spun on his heel and followed Vatra's movements as she walked through the kitchen. "No offense, but the boy hardly appears intimidating to me."

"Really?" Vatra laughed. "Says the war god who can barely throw a punch."

An innocent chuckle left Revna, but there was raucous laughter from the others. Enyalius looked about, frowning.

"All right, but Revna stays too," Enyalius said.

Revna fell silent fast. She glanced between the others and tugged at a braid. "I suppose, but if this is punishment for laughing at her joke I-"

"I'd just feel better with more than one person staying behind, and, no offense, but I'd prefer that it was someone who isn't new to our group," Enyalius said, looking to the three storm gods at the end of his words.

Shrugging, Geb gave a small nod in understanding. "We would do the same. Besides, I think the three of us would like to see this Tau Honnor, and perhaps find a place where we might be able to part ways."

Vatra snagged a stick of dried jerky off the counter to gnaw on, and twirled it about. "Perfect, I'm glad we're all in agreement. Revna and Spyro will stay behind while the rest of us go out into Tau Honnor. Spy, are you good with that?"

"Of course, it was the same thought I had," Spyro replied. "Do not get yourselves into much trouble. And will you be taking your masks?"

"I don't see much point in it anymore. Our masks were to keep our identities hidden, but it seems pretty much every god out there knows we're alive. And I don't care much now about keeping our secret from everyone else," Vatra said. She gave a half-grin before dramatically gesturing for the others to follow her. "You heard the boss, behave yourselves. Especially you." Vatra poked Hisato hard in the chest as she skipped past him.

Hisato swatted her hand away. "You seem too excited about this place, Vatra," Hisato said. He smoothed out the front of his maroon flight suit before adjusting his rolled up sleeves to just the perfect length for his biceps to show through.

What a show-off, Vatra thought.

Biting her tongue, Vatra instead ripped into the jerky she'd grabbed from the kitchen. "Aren't you?" Vatra turned her head. "Gods, life has been so boring lately without all of this excitement. I'm kind of hoping we find ourselves in a little trouble."

 "You've enjoyed our recent events?" Enyalius asked. The tone in his question was one of shock, but also intrigue. He followed close behind Vatra, trailing along with everyone else as she led them to the boarding ramp.

"It'd be a bit macabre to say I have in some ways, wouldn't it?" Vatra didn't look behind her as she answered. "Of course not all of the death and destruction, but I certainly love a good enemy. It's been a while since I've been able to fight for something."

"Are you sure you're only a phoenix?" Geb inquired.

Vatra turned back as she stopped at the edge of the already lowered boarding ramp. She looked over the faces of the gods, who possessed equal expressions of acceptance and understanding for what she felt. And Hisato, grinning like an idiot even though she'd practically admitted the destruction of Belltower was worth it to have a fight she could be part of.

Fulgora reached forward and slapped a hand to Vatra's shoulder. "Sounds like a woman scorned, too. I think we chose the right crew to run with, after all."

"For now," Set added.

 "For now," Fulgora echoed the god's words in a mocking grumble. "But we'll see," she added with a wink.

Vatra gave a nod and turned back to the small bay the Agkistrodon was in. "All right, let's get out and find some trouble in Tau Honnor."