Tides of Ruse and Ruin

Rules

Delphina | 3rd day of autumn, year 739 of mortals

There is only one way to survive in this world: we must connect with the gods. However, there's only one problem. We've been forgotten.

We all felt it.

"Girls! Tell me what our number one rule is."

All of us chanted as one as we have many times, "Never trust the god of tricks and deals."

She nods in approval. "He is a god that you should never mess with. Failure to do so will cost you your life."

There was such a mystery around him. His gold statue in the temple had been melted into a bowl that we use in the kitchen. I wanted to know but no one wanted to talk about him.

"Enough of that talk. Can anyone tell me what Dom's favorite fruit is?" I didn't care what his favorite fruit was. I just wanted to go into the woods and hunt. I needed to hunt and not listen to the teacher babble about the likes and dislikes of the gods.

"Strawberries!" A little girl shouted in the back.

Twelve girls sat around a small fire in front of the temple as our teacher, Miss Mira, stood over us with a family tree of the gods behind her. Her nose was always stuck permanently in the air and a hand on her hip. Maybe two if she was feeling angry. "That is correct." All of us girls were 'of age' and chosen for a purpose as they called it.

I imagined that I was sailing on the ocean with everything I needed to sail away. I looked out into the water and the waves crashed into each other in perfect harmony. I glanced over my shoulder and the fleet of women in our village manning the ship. I wanted us to fly away from here. There was nothing for us here anymore.

Maya nudges me slightly and I wake up from my trance. "Maya, can you tell me Chace's favorite animal to hunt?" She stiffens but just smiles.

She doesn't even have to think, "Deer."

"Correct."

Miss Mira cocks her head and looks at me. Then she uses a stick she picked up before this meeting and points it in my face. I stand up straight while she asks, "What is Vander's favorite food?"

I didn't know this one. I usually knew everything about the gods and what they liked. I guessed I didn't know too much about Vander. One, because I really didn't care for war, "Sweet bread?"

"No, dear." She sighs, "It was chocolate redberries. You need to pay more attention."

I shrug and lean back on the ground. I knew enough to hold my own against one of them in love and battle.

"You're missing one, miss." A smaller girl said in the back.

"And which one is that?" I looked at the map of the gods and there was one that was marked out with squid ink.

"The god of deals an-."

The teacher cut her off and snapped her stick in the air. I felt the wind on my face as it went by. "We do not speak of him. He ruined us. We must not speak about this any further."

The god of deals... I didn't know about him. I don't think any of us did.

"One thing to remember is that the gods cannot lie. It's not in their nature. They will tell you exactly how they feel about you."

I wanted to roll my eyes and go to sleep.

"Okay everyone, stand up." Everyone groaned as we stood. "I want..." She pauses to think. "Ara and Delta come up here." The two girls did as they were told and stood beside Miss Mira. "Delta, I want you to pretend to be... Heft."