"You need more funding than what you have now? Surely if you sold the Folkvangr and Twilight Manor you'd have enough, no?"
"You mean to say we have to give up our roots in Orario."
"Yes. Your familias are no longer welcome in the city, you will only be tolerated long enough for another ship to be fully constructed."
"This is the price of losing. Perhaps we shouldn't have intervened in the war game to begin with?" Freya said, clearly seeing if there would be a tell.
"It wouldn't have mattered, your familia was planned to be the first ones to go. And then Loki's. It just happened to work out this way because Loki refused to give up Ais, despite the clear evidence that she had already permanently weakened her, failing the child and her future prospects." Hathor explained, with a huff.
"Let me guess this was his idea."
"Damn it, what does that brat have against me!? I just wanted to keep my Aissepoo!"
Hestia raised her hand, and Hermes noticed, he shook his head. "What is it, Hestia? Don't go revealing any secrets the mortals shouldn't know."
"Fine, none of the children in attendance can speak our language, and those who might understand a bit probably know the whole story after all… Actually, Freya, does your child Hedin know any?"
"Enough to be considered a scholar, but that's all. You can speak it."
Hestia cleared her throat and then spoke the truth. All about what happened in Tenkai, and about the promise Shurry had made with the hero Albert. Of course she spoke all of this in the language of the gods.
Freya's eyes went wide. Loki's eyes went wide… The gods' mouths fell agape. And though he couldn't understand everything, Hedin felt a shiver run the length of his spine when he heard a few words… something about a promise with Albert that's all he understood, and he nearly fell to the floor barely grabbing the table to hold himself up.
"I don't understand the full context there, but that name… and a promise…" Hedin proceeded to have a mental breakdown, and hyperventilate. "We didn't just offend one hero, but two…"
Loki was shaking, angry, but she also couldn't deny it. There was no falsehood in those words. She finally relented, reluctantly of course. She slumped back down into the chair.
"Lady Loki, what's wrong? What other hero did we offend?"
"Albert, Ais is his daughter."
Finn's eyes went wide, and he underwent a similarly defeated posture, Noir followed suit, realizing they'd all collectively spit in the face of the Hero Albert. The last great hero from the previous era before the gods descended.
"Fine, I'll accept these demands… Is there anything else you want to demand?"
"All of the children in your familia will be given the chance to find new familias during this meeting." Hathor said, snapping her fingers, and the doors opened up wide. "I took the liberty of gathering all of them to come here. And one by one they will make their choice, to either continue to stand by you, or to leave you. And with the rest of our kin assembled here in this chamber, they will have plenty of opportunity to continue living a reasonable life, or perhaps even becoming a teacher of their familia. We will be fair and leave the choice up to them."
First up, the Freya familia's members, all who could not be held responsible for murdering Alraj. They stood in as perfect a position they could make with the limited space inside the Denatus hall.
"Hermes, if you would do the honors. I wouldn't want anyone thinking I charmed them with my voice."
"Like you just did to me?" Hermes sighed, and then smirked, poking up his hat. "Very well then, I am the mediator this time around. Freya familia, you are required to make a choice, it will determine your future. You can leave Freya's familia and join another, or you may choose to continue serving Freya. However, should you choose to stay with Freya, you too will be banished from Orario, a banishment that will begin the moment a travel ship has been properly constructed."
The response was unanimous, they would stick with Freya regardless. These were members who had such an insane feeling of love for Freya, it made every other emotion feel small by comparison. One took a step forward.
"Respectfully, Lord Hermes, none of us would ever abandon our goddess. If she were to leave this world…" His voice grew serious. "We would follow after her. So, leaving the city is no big issue. We are meant to be by our Lady's side. Until the very end."
Another took a step forward.
"We understand exactly what happened, but we also know that Origin Wolf is honorable, and would not target those who have no reason to be assaulted. And finally, when the day comes that our captain finally bites the dust, we will still be there to hold our Lady's banner."
Hermes smiled, he knew this was going to happen. "Good, then you may all leave this chamber, and begin managing your affairs."
The Freya familia members were shown out of the room, and moved with a purpose. They had a lot of work to do, and not a lot of time to do it. Replacing them were the Loki familia members, all of the ones who joined within the last 8 years.
"I will ask the same question of all of you, will you stay with Loki, and follow her out of the city, to be banished forever, or will you leave her familia and join another's?" Hermes began, knowing full well this was going to end up being very different.
"How could any of us trust a goddess that betrayed us every single day for the entire duration of our membership? I refuse to stay with her. Even if it wasn't her fault, she enabled Finn to be such a vindictive evil man…" Orba paused. "I thought about it all night long, he's evil. I wouldn't be surprised if he'd been a member of Evilus. No, he might be even worse! Hiding such a terrible crime from the public, and masquerading as a hero. Criminal scum." Orba stated, being the semi de facto voice for the Loki familia's new members.
"Yeah… I had a feeling that would be the case…" Hermes sighed.