[He watches her walk away, sees the flower she brings back--but it isn't until she reaches up to tuck it behind his ear that Xie Lian actually reacts.
He freezes at her touch, gaze focused downwards, a young man lost amid a sea of worries.
You're wrong, he wants to reply; they left him, but they needed--what was it they needed? There's other gods, but did they ever move on to those gods? They probably did...he barely remembers the days after his fall, months and years blurring into a haze of general despair. There's no way to know, now.
He was never meant to be a god of weather, or medicine, or prosperity. He shouldn't have let them believe he was, shouldn't have convinced himself of it--but which of those came first? Did he ever even think about what his powers could do, back then? He'd simply answered when they called, regardless of the prayer, regardless of his own limitations.
But it's also true that...not everyone died. Despite everything, despite his hubris, the fall of the kingdom, the loss of his family--there were still others left to keep living.
1/2?
He freezes at her touch, gaze focused downwards, a young man lost amid a sea of worries.
You're wrong, he wants to reply; they left him, but they needed--what was it they needed? There's other gods, but did they ever move on to those gods? They probably did...he barely remembers the days after his fall, months and years blurring into a haze of general despair. There's no way to know, now.
He was never meant to be a god of weather, or medicine, or prosperity. He shouldn't have let them believe he was, shouldn't have convinced himself of it--but which of those came first? Did he ever even think about what his powers could do, back then? He'd simply answered when they called, regardless of the prayer, regardless of his own limitations.
But it's also true that...not everyone died. Despite everything, despite his hubris, the fall of the kingdom, the loss of his family--there were still others left to keep living.
They needn't be reliant on you.]