Unexpected

L'veille de Gu

.....

The gods sat down silently, everyone fully aware of why the Full Court had been called for the first time in centuries, but waiting for one of the Kings to speak and formally announce it. And it was not just the Full Court of Heaven assembling, but the Dark Court as well. The Courts did not usually mix well, for obvious reasons, and this was no exception. The Hall of Divine Justice was split almost completely down the middle, the gods of the Sky Realm to the right, the gods of the Underworld to the left, and the few neutral gods were spread out between the two. They no longer separated by pantheons on a normal basis, but this had been deemed a completely formal event. The only gods not with their brethren were those few sitting at the long table in front of the Royal Dais.

Cocidius sat there, of course, as he was the reason for this Gathering, and he was flanked on both sides by a few of the gods that supported him, two from each pantheon. Ares, the Greek God of War, sat on his left with Thanatos, the Greek God of Death, next to him. Anuke, the Egyptian Goddess of War, sat beside Thanatos, while Am-Heh, the Egyptian God of Destruction, the Devourer of Millions, sat beside her. Mars, the Roman God of War, sat to Cocidius' left with Neptune, the Roman God of the Sea, next to him. Loki, the Norse God of Fire and Trickery, was beside Neptune, and Skadi, the Norse Goddess of Winter and Hunting, was beside him. At each end sat the two Celtic deities. Donn, the Celtic God of the Dead, sat by Am-Heh, and Taranis, the Celtic God of Storms, was next to Skadi.

The Royal Dais was made up of ten sets of thrones, alternating white and black marble. The Kings and Queens of the Underworld lounged upon the silver-veined black sets, looking utterly relaxed compared to their counterparts, the Kings and Queens of the Sky Realm, who sat stiffly on the gold-veined white thrones. On the far right, in the first black set, sat Isis and Osirus, Amun-Ra and Mut beside them on gleaming white, the feel of Egypt's heat and old power rolling from them. The next black set held Hades and Persephone, the white set Zeus and Hera; all smelling of long-forgotten magic and Greek forests. Then came the Celtic Afallach and Macha seated on black, Dagda and Dana on white beside them; thunder trapped within their eyes.

The forth black set was occupied by Pluto and Proserpine, the white by Jupiter and Juno; the civilized barbarity and crushing weight of ancient Rome in every movement that they made. Hodur and Hel sat on the far left set of black thrones, Odin and Frigg on the white, their faces as hard and icy as their homelands. There was another set of thrones on the dais, with one black throne and one white throne instead of two, but it was empty, as usual. It was very nearly impossible to get those two in a room together without some sort of major catastrophe. She knew that they were listening from afar, but Sulis still thought that it was sad, as they had once been the best of friends, back when the world was new and they were relatively...young. The word sounded so foreign to her.

"Silence!" Ra's voice cut through the whispers, speaking in the common tongue of divinity since mortal languages, even the archaic forms that the gods preferred, sounded harsh and strange in their mouths. Sulis closed her eyes briefly, before snapping them back open. It was beginning.

"The Full Court has been assembled this day," Zeus begun, "to deal with a pressing matter."

"No." Isis said, tilting her head to the side, her long, dark braids spilling over one delicate shoulder. "We are here today to deal with your stupidity." Murmurs broke out again. Isis was very nearly enraged about something, no matter how calm she looked, if she was already insulting the rulers of the Sky Realm. Zeus started to reply, before Hera lightly touched his arm and shook her elegant head.

"We are here," she said, "to address the issue of Cocidius and his recent actions."

"For those of you not yet aware of what has occurred," Frigg continued for her, "Cocidius broke the Ban, intentionally and deliberately, by Marking two wizards and a witch as his Chosen." No one moved or spoke. They already knew. Everyone had felt the renewed ties between their Realms and the mortal one after he had stopped shielding them.