Written April 3rd 2022 10:10 PM

Ailith wasn’t religious. She wasn’t pious, holy, saintly, or devout. She didn’t believe there was a higher power out there somewhere looking over her. Sure, the gods existed – more than one of her party had conversed with several of them. But that didn’t mean they were kind, or benevolent, or even aware of their followers, let alone Ailith, at all. And it certainly didn’t mean that Ailith felt any kind of compulsion to dedicate any of her time and effort to thinking about them, except to occasionally curse their very existence. So far, they hadn’t seemed to care. She took this as yet further proof to her point.

Ailith was a follower of no one and nothing. And yet, kneeling at the end up of the bed, looking up to where Feyra lay with her head thrown back and her eyes closed tight, her fingers digging into their sheets until her knuckles were white… Ailith finally understood what it meant to worship something.