Aster awoke awakened- if that made sense. She was clear-headed again, no longer running a fever, and not in the slightest bit tired.

And very fine, it seemed. She stood up on her own, and had a moment to examine her body- it was naked, and her skin had never looked so clear. She had the faintest impression that, in her previous memory, she had been covered in burns and sealed wounds. Now her skin was clear and paler than usual, soft as if it had been soaked in water for a few hours.

Even old cuts seemed to be gone- an old bug bite that had left a soft purple mark on her arm was gone, as was the indent she had made on her head once from walking into a door.

The other people in the room were the same furry attendants as before, and even as she had the mind to look at them, she couldn't quite figure them out. They looked like dogs in suits. Like someone had just taken a dog and put it in human clothes. But they were somewhat bipedal, though standing with a slouch, and one was even wearing goggles. They were kind of cute, but something about their stretched-out faces creeped Aster out.

One stumbled about a bit on legs not meant for this sort of activity and put its paw on her back, guiding her to the door. Another brought her clothes, the same sort of meshed grey uniform the creatures wore.

The one with its paw to her back guided her down the hall. Though it took a few moments to steady itself walking, a few paces in it was as capable of walking as well as anyone.

A fairly short distance away, they came to the section of the hall that Aster vaguely recognized as the one she had arrived in. Two great glass doors, fogged so details behind them were lost, opened automatically to reveal a room suitably high tech. It was like Aster had expected, actually; two long bay windows on either side gazed out to what seemed to be outer space, and to either side of the doorway, more strange animals sat at odd machines.

Straight ahead was a man, sitting fairly arrogantly with pale purple hair. Half his face was covered in a chrome electronic in similar shade of violet. He had half a beard going on, in the same ridiculous color, and Aster was left to assume it was his natural shade. She supposed he was an alien of some kind, but he honestly looked entirely human.

The words of Ikina, also, were brought to mind. She had heard of this fellow before. Not a god, but very human.

And with naturally purple hair, evidently? Weird, but alright. He knew Ikina on a personal level. He had an allowance of oddities before he crossed any lines.

"Aster." The man said. "Artemis."

Aster pointed, confused, at herself. Was that some sort of title?

"That's my name. Artemis. I've been watching you carefully."

"Why?" Aster knew why. Ikina had probably told him to. But she was curious if he had any better explanation.

"Io- Ikina told me to."

Oh. "Did you almost say something else there?"

"I almost called him Ioro. But then I remembered he likely doesn't refer to himself by his birth name in your presence."

"He?"

"I'm not trying to be incorrect. To save on my tongue- and the ease of language- I try to just keep to whatever sex he was wearing last I saw him. I know he's bisexual- or, bigender, I suppose is the slightly less accurate but still truthful way to say that. He's probably bigender too, I guess, but I've never heard him talk about what his actual gender is. Regardless. The essence of the point is this: His real name is Ioro. But don't tell him I told you that."

"Okay. So what did Ikina tell you that drove you to... abducting me like this?"

"You're not abducted. You're saved. Do you recall when you were dying? I ceased that cycle. This is your way of repaying me."

"What about my previous question?" Aster asked. It was hard to focus when everything Artemis said seemed to bring up more questions.

"Ikina told me you were unremarkable. And I agree." As Aster raised her hands to gesture confusion at the statement, Artemis continued. "You are somewhat smart for your kind, and somewhat curious, and those are an acceptable state. There are thousands far better than you, but I confess to being too lazy to seek them out. Ikina offered you, and I accepted his gift."

"I'm a gift now?" Aster said. "...What exactly are you planning to do with me, anyways?"

"Train you, probably. A bit of apprentice work to break the tedium immortality brings."

"Train? In what?" Anything, really, would have satisfied Aster when it came to learning aboard this- well, it must have been a spaceship. She knew her science the best she had been taught, but Baased was one of the most technological cities on the planet and it was nowhere on the level of this spaceship. This was ridiculous.

If the idea of apprenticeship was on the table, she couldn't argue even if all she learned was maintenance.

Artemis gestured with one hand to the ship's bridge. "Everything." Then he went quiet, almost as if he was afraid someone was listening. "Genetics."

"What?"

"Ioro does not enjoy my work, but I specialize in the manipulation of the genome. It's not a hard field to dabble in, but dabblers rarely get away with it. I believe it's noble and Ioro swears on the devil it's disgusting- your choice is yours, I suppose, but I could definitely use someone to teach."

"What exactly do you do?"

"Tear something apart. Put something else together."

"And why does Ikina hate it?"

Artemis pursed his lips, but did not answer. A moment later, an unknown but still familiar voice answered. "If you follow in Artemis' footsteps, Aster, he'll have you killing your own young just to see if you could give them wings."

"You gave me the girl." Artemis said, testily, and Aster was shocked the god accepted the human's clear irritation.

"With the intention you might teach her what you know. What you know that I approve of. She will have to return to her home, eventually, and should not do so as a monster." Ikina stood behind Aster with a hand on her shoulder.

"She will be fine. If you're so keen on her apparent education, teach her yourself."

"Can't be bothered. This is all a petty exercise, and if we can't come to an agreement, I'd be better off simply terminating it, wouldn't I?" Ikina said, gripping tighter on Aster's shoulder. Their implications were not good.

"I really don't think Laila would like you killing her niece." Artemis said, almost bored.

"Laila must obey me." Still, their grip loosened.

"She ought to choose." Artemis suggested. "Illegal experimentation or... everything that isn't that."

Aster did not feel like choosing. As intriguing as pushing the limits of the human genome seemed, she could not miss not learning about a subject. "What is the 'everything else'?"

Ikina answered. "Godhood."

"Why would you offer that to me?" Aster exclaimed, quite alarmed at the apparent opportunity she was in possession of.

"I didn't choose you, necessarily. But you were pointed out to me, and the arrangement came to mind. You were there, that is all."

"It was easier than guessing at random and having that child fail you." Artemis offered her with a grin.

"Think of it like this." Ikina said, and it was odd how the they and Artemis were now working together to speak to her slowly. Like a small child. "No one is special when you're immortal and all-powerful. But spending time with those alike to you- and with your creations- leaves little space for comparison. I've learned, over eons, that I need an occasional refresher of my morals. A reminder of what a human is. So choosing one, and turning them into a god, helps me keep track of what separates me from them. The journey is what I watch."

"If you need any further proof, look at me." Artemis said, posing egotistically towards himself with an over-the-top flair. "I was the last millennium's child."

"So what will you do, Aster?" Ikina asked, leaning down to get on her level and stare into her eyes. The seriousness of their gaze made her suspect Artemis had been a failure of a project. They needed her to be properly obedient.

"Okay." Aster shrugged. "I guess I could be a god."