Tales of the Herd - An Under Gods Story

Chapter 3

Chapter 3

"Food, anyone?" a sing-song voice asked.

Grace looked up from her book to see a very tall, slender woman, her hair in two long braids and skin like violet-tinted marble veiled in a silky see-through gown, bound against her waist with a metallic belt decorated in moonstone and amethyst.

"Oh, sure," Grace answered. "Enki?" She turned to face Engilmu, who was reading a book of his own.

"Mm," Engilmu grunted. He turned a page.

"'Yes' for him, too," Grace said, annoyed.

Two more women, looking exactly the same as the first, walked into the study, each holding a covered silver platter, one round and another rectangular. The one with the round platter came towards Grace, squatting low to the table, lifting the cover to reveal an array of radiant jewels glowing with steamy, pastel lights.

"The mother goddess let me give your meals a try, I hope they're to your liking," the statue woman chirped.

"They look great," Grace said, plucking a blue gem from the platter.

The clatter of the rectangular platter opening was followed by the excited gasp of Engilmu. "This can't be what I think it is!" Engilmu blurted.

"A squad of me personally went to one of the worlds you grew up on, Master Enki, just to retrieve some of the meats and fruit you enjoyed in your youth," the body near Engilmu explained.

"You've outdone yourself, Alva," Engilmu said, almost sounding choked.

"What's the occasion?" Grace asked. She tossed the gem into her mouth, breaking it open with a bite, releasing a thunderous eruption in her that glowed even through her skin. Grace danced joyfully in her seat as the energy rushed through her body.

"Well--and I don't want to sound like I'm begging--I'd like to go with you on your next assignment," the body closest to Grace explained excitedly.

"Is that all?" Engilmu said through a mouthful of meat. "You didn't have to do all of this for that."

"I should've done this after, I know, but I couldn't help myself. I wanted you both to be fully charged and ready for anything," said the body in the doorway.

"We appreciate that, but we don't know when we're going back to that canyon place yet," Grace said. "Mom hasn't gotten back to us, and it's been, what, a year?"

"That can't be right," the body near Grace said. "It was a year ago that I went to gather things to cook for you both, which took two years to plan."

"So three years?"

"Five," Engilmu corrected.

"Five years?! What's mom been waiting on, the Elohimians to send a letter?"

"First, you need to learn to measure time," Engilmu suggested. "Second, she's been trying to figure things out about that ink."

"I'm too busy for time. And we just need to not get hit by it, right? What's there to figure out?"

"We don't know, and that's the problem."

"Whatever it is," Alva's body in the doorway began. "The mother goddess seems to be discussing it with her siblings."

"What?!" the siblings exclaimed.

"Yes, at least two of them have arrived."

"Where are they?" Grace asked.

"The other side of the world, in the cities somewhere, I believe. They may still be talking, I haven't heard much news since this morning about the meeting."