From the whirling typhoon of mana emerged Berodyl’s first ever demigoddess. Her face was Pippy’s, but everything else about her was a blend of the two. Her hair was still tied in backward pigtails, but was no longer braided, and the light pink ribbons at the ends were even larger now and also frilly, and a more vibrant shade of pink than before. She was also not blonde anymore, taking on Ponima’s hot pink colouration. Her eyes had also become that same pink.

Her attire was much the same as before, but looser, longer, more airy, and also all white now, a blend of her original clothes and now also Ponima’s outfit. Even her weapons had changed. Doom and Gloom were no longer a paired mace and buckler, but had become a greathammer with a round shield affixed halfway up its length, the entire thing shining gold with glimmering streaks of red all over it.

“I am Pippy Tearcry,” she declared in a double-layered voice, both Pippy’s and Ponima’s speaking as one. She looked down at her hands, flexed her fingers, and whispered: “thank you for trusting me, Ponima.”

“Her trust is not easily earned,” Phyrn said. “I was right; she does like you.”

“I knew it,” Pippy beamed. “I get her. And she gets me.”

Livia couldn’t help but feel a dull sinking feeling in her chest… but it was mostly excised from her when the fused demigoddess embraced her.

“What’s the matter, Livia?”

“It’s… it’s nothing.”

Pippy considered for a moment, and then stepped back. “Alright,” she said with her mouth, but with her eyes she said we’ll talk later, in private.

Livia slow-blinked in response, a silent thank you.

“So she is stable within you?” Phyrn interrogated almost aggressively. “She has safely become part of you?”

“She has!” Pippy was happy to confirm. “I am three souls strong now, and… it feels wonderful!” she pumped her fists and nearly took flight, though it seemed that specific power currently eluded her.

“Wait,” Bel stammered, “three?”

“Oh, right,” Pippy burbled, “I only told Phyrn that full story. Something for later, I guess. For now, let’s keep going! We have to get through this place as soon as possible, right?”

“You heard the demigoddess,” Krey projected with surprising enthusiasm, “let’s move!”

Demigoddess, hmm? Phyrn thought to herself. Apt, I suppose… I just hope they can sustain that form until we’re clear of the incongruence.

For a while, they marched on in silence. During this period, Krey patiently and subtly worked his way around the group to get Livia’s attention and draw her to the back, where they might share a quiet, private word. “At the risk of making an arse of myself this way for the second time, I have to ask… isn’t trusting Ponima so completely a bit sudden?”

“Yeah, it is, but this time is different. Last time, I asked you to take a leap of faith, and though things got heated, I do get why you were… reluctant. This time, though… her life is at stake, Krey. Our choices are: trust Ponima, or let Pippy die in horrible pain. I’m not picking the second option. It’s not a spur-of-the-moment leap of faith this time, it’s just… desperation.”

“Yes,” Krey hummed and hawed, “you’re right. Things can look very different when a life hangs in the balance.” His eyes glazed over, his mind going back to his last mission with the Garnet Inquisition.

Livia nudged him lightly with her elbow when she noticed him becoming distant, seeing all the emotion evaporate from his face. “Krey? You okay?”

“Huh? Oh, yes… sorry. I was somewhere else.”

“Where?”

“Ardour Temple.”

Livia smiled and pinched her chin between her thumb and forefinger. “Hmm. That’s a long way back now.”

The corner of Krey’s mouth curled up into a slight grin. “Yes… yes, it is.”

There was a brief, sudden increase in the ambient warmth and humidity, steam rising from the soil… and then, as was inevitable, something crossed their path. Its form was difficult to discern at first, but movement was clearly visible in the dense foliage ahead.

It seemed to only take on a solid form as it emerged into view, a writhing, fluid mass that defined itself into the mocking shape of a person as it came out of hiding, quickly enough that most of Phyrn’s chosen thought it might’ve just been their eyes playing tricks on them. However, Phyrn - and, with Ponima’s vision instilled in her, Pippy too - knew better. Its form was that of a little girl, coloured haphazardly in several bright hues.

“An algafae,” Pippy cursed. “Foul fetish of unfettered hunger and lust.”

“What?” Livia regarded her with utter bafflement.

“She’s right,” Phyrn insisted. “Don’t be fooled by its innocent visage. It has chosen this form explicitly to disarm you.”

“Can it understand us?” Krey asked in a low tone, putting his hand on the hilt of his sword, but not drawing it just yet.

“Some algafae races can,” Phyrn elaborated, “the centaurs, the spriggans, the pygmies— they would be able to, and they might even let us pass unmolested if we were lucky. However, this is a changeling… a creature of pure instinct and mockery. See how it’s coloured? A result of its merely animalistic understanding of outward appearance, and a telltale sign of its true nature. Some algafae are almost civilised… and then there’re the more primal of their kind, like this.”

The algafae smiled and waved at them, unspeaking.

“Draw not your weapons,” Phyrn urged as she stepped forward. “Observe.” Slowly and deliberately, she approached the thing that had given itself the form of a little girl. She made sure to smile softly at it, making sure to not appear at all threatening. Finally, when she was within arm’s reach, on her knees right in front of it… her hands darted faster than the eye could see, and she snapped its neck. With a bubbling, sizzling scream, the creature died, melting into a puddle of shiny, almost-reflective slime.

“I’m sorry, little one,” Phyrn mourned. She stood and turned to face the others. “It’s truly a shame. They aren’t aware of their own dangerous natures… but they’re dangerous all the same, and so must be dispatched.”

Pippy clenched her fists. “If only the presence of Faeden didn’t hamper our divine power so severely… I would gladly burn this incongruence away and splay the shining gore of this unwitting parody of the fey across the stars! IRREDEEMABLE! WRONG!”

Livia put a hand on her shoulder. “Pippy! Calm down!”

“Oh, ah, sorry,” she dithered, snapping back to herself at Livia’s touch. “That was more the Tearcry talking than the… uh… Pippy. Being more than just one person is… disorienting sometimes, apparently.”

Livia looked into her eyes for a time… and then nodded, letting go of her.