Basilisk Event Part 3

    It was yet another long, stormy day in the summer country of Alora. Most of the country's citizens were used to one of these storms blowing in every once and a while, especially when their seasonal god was under stress. For the most part, people treated those as a function of normal as they came and went within a few days. This was nothing like any of those times.
    The driving rain came down in torrents for hours on end before stopping abruptly and moving to a different part of the country. Even during these lulls in the rain the wind, especially in and among the buildings of Auric city, howled in an uncanny mockery of Ayre's grief. The gray sky and near constant rain seemed to leech the color out of everything. Even the Marble House seemed to have lost some of its luster.
    Irelia hurried up to that building hooded and cloaked. She despised having to wear one, but her comfort was a small price to pay if it kept the hard rain from damaging her wings. What she wanted was to have been out with the others searching for the reincarnated autumn goddess. That was what she knew she was good at. It was part of her job after all. But even as she thought that she looked down at the small bundle she carried with her and knew that she would not be as much use as she thought she would.
    Even still, she had to do something. That tenseness, that readiness for action that came to her in the face of danger, even possible danger, kept her from continuing her usual life in peace. She volunteered for 'Ayre Watch' more often than not, feeling that doing something, even standing guard over a grieving god, was better than simply waiting.
    She slipped inside the Marble House just as another torrent of rain began. The hooded cloak was the first thing to come off, and she wrapped it loosely around one arm as she stretched out her wings a little before politely furling them again. Her daughter, Anwyn, slept rather peacefully in her arms as she wove through the crowd toward Ayre's private quarters. The young dragon gijinka was her only reminder of Leigh while he was out, and she cherished her all the more as her only spot of color in what was quickly becoming a gray land.
    The hours went by seamlessly and into oblivion almost impossibly fast. She stood guard to protect her god from the angry, grieving people who wanted an explanation as much as whatever danger had threatened Yuna. Every so often she had to step away to care for Anwyn's needs, but much of the time those selfsame people were able to find something to keep them going just at the sight of the young mother doing what she could in this crisis.
    Her ears had grown used to occasionally picking up the sounds of pacing in the room beyond, but they still worried her. It bothered her all the more when they would suddenly stop only to pick up again at a different pace. For most of the day she contemplated begging an audience with him, just to listen to what he had to say. Something told her that that was probably what he wanted most right now, even if he would never admit it to anyone.
    Midafternoon came and went and the people who had been filing in all day were beginning to leave. She decided that now would be as good a time as any to try and comfort her god. She knocked on the door three times and the pacing that had picked up again came to an abrupt halt.
    "Lord Ayre," Irelia said slowly, making sure that she spoke loud enough for him to hear. "Would you mind if I come in?"
    The response he gave was too soft to be heard clearly, but it was definitely not a "no". She took it to have been more along the lines of a careless "if you want to", and when she opened the door to slip inside, his expression confirmed that.
    Ayre looked like he had not slept since the news had spread across Voleros. The hair and wings she remembered seeing in the sky had lost their brilliance, and his eyes were hollow and ringed with dark circles. She caught his eyes flick from her face down to her daughter and back as he seemed to be checking them over for any danger. The door swung shut with a soft click and she watched him start pacing yet again.
    "What do you want?" he asked. His voice was not unkind, but it seemed to be waiting for some kind of lecture. Perhaps he had been getting visits like this on and off of people trying to tell him how to be strong.
    "I was wondering if you wanted to talk." That slowed him down again as he looked over at Irelia. "I thought you might like someone to just listen."
    That statement alone struck a chord in him. There had been people, from his guards to his leaders, which had come to try and get him to snap out of his grief. He understood why they wanted him to. He could look out the window and see the weather that made it impossible to safely search for his friend and sister by air, the rain that fell so hard it damaged the fields. It was not that he did not care about that, but his grief ran so deep it was not just a matter of looking the other way.
    Irelia waited patiently for an answer. She pretended not to notice him warring over words or motives or whatever was passing through his head. She unconsciously hummed a little tune for her daughter while she waited. It was a happy little thing that allowed her to pass the time without seeming at all rude.
    "I think…," she heard him say slowly, and the pain in his voice made tugged mournfully at her heartstrings. "I think I would like that."
    She waited again for him to start. The minutes passed slowly as he walked gentle circles around the room, collecting his thoughts. Irelia would not interrupt him. When he began, it was clear that some kind of floodgate had been opened, and he would not stop until he was done.
    He spoke of his concern for the people of Voleros, and how much he cared for them. He spoke of his fellow seasonal gods and how heavily he depended on their eternal relationship. He spoke in confidence of his thoughts and fears, of how hard Yuna's reincarnation had struck him. That it left him having nightmares, which also explained his lack of sleep. All the while he spoke Irelia listened attentively, and most importantly, without any sort of judgment.
    She did not find it strange that she could empathize with Ayre so easily. For all that he was her god, he was still a gijinka. He still felt the way they felt. He was prone to the same vices and temptations as any of the rest of them. He still needed someone who would listen to whatever he had to say and not think of him any differently.
    "Feeling better?" she asked softly when he had finished.
    He nodded slowly in response. He still grieved for his loss, and the weather was still as dreary as it had been hours earlier. Still, it was not so deep or dark as it had seemed before now that there was one other person who knew exactly how he felt.
    "Good." Irelia cleared the space between them in a few short steps and wrapped her free arm around him in a loose but kind hug. "If you ever need anything, or just want someone to listen, all you have to do is ask, okay?"
    Perhaps, just perhaps, things were starting to look a little brighter already.