41 Adjustments

{KALI POV}

The Goddess of Flow couldn't help but frown as she watched her little sister Nyx pout and be petulant with her. While it was true that she did see the girl as a troublemaker, but that was something that just about any of her fellow gods and goddesses thought of their littlest sister. Nyx was just that. She was their cute little bundle of chaos that they all loved to tease and joke about, but they still loved her all the same.

Well, at least that was what she thought. The eldest of them in Themis might see things differently, if she was reading him right.

"It doesn't feel like it..." Nyx grumbled as Kali's hand kept up their affectionate petting, her little sister melting under her touch. "S-Stop doing that, sis..."

"But it calms you, doesn't it?" Kali warmly smiled at her. "It's the least I can do to make things up to you, if you really feel that way."

Without a care in the world, the eldest of the goddess kept up with coddling their youngest, determined to give the girl some love that she clearly didn't feel from them for some reason. It was something that Ragnarok had told her some time before the Game started, and while she scoffed at it thinking that it was just the second youngest being too worried for Nyx, seeing it now for herself almost made her want to change her plans to try and give Nyx a bit of a victory. After all, it was the eldest sister's job to worry and take care of her younger sisters. She should try and make them feel good, even if it was only giving them a bit of a taste of victory to not make them feel too bad once they lost.

"No, it doesn't..." Nyx whined, her cheeks blushing red as she sank into her seat. "S-Stop it!"

Chuckling, Kali felt that now was the time to actually follow those words and promptly withdrew her hand from her little sister's admittedly soft hair. Flashing Nyx a warm smile, she did her best to show how earnest she was even as she felt her Champion returning from one of the courthouse's many windows.

"There. Happy, Nyx?" Kali softly chuckled.

Nyx mumbled something to herself before turning her head away from her with a pout. "Are you here to just gloat or something?" she accused. "Can you just get on with it already and leave me alone?"

The Goddess of Flow did her best not to sigh as she maintained the loving smile still on her face. "Nyx, I just told you I'm here to check on you. And that's not in the sense of seeing if you're making trouble again," she insisted. "I'm genuinely worried for you."

"Huh? You weren't worried when I was getting reamed by Big Brother Themis a few years back," Nyx further accused. "You were there with the others just watching me get my ass verbally beat."

"That's... not untrue..." Kali sighed, relenting at the girl's point. "Still, what you did back then was kind of inexcusable."

"But I didn't deserve being locked into my own Realm for almost a hundred eons!" Nyx cried out, her voice cracking as she slammed the table. "Nobody told me anything! Nobody came to visit, nobody fought for me... It's almost like I didn't exist..."

Kali blinked, a dawning horror washing over her as Nyx's words rang inside her head. Her hands shook on her lap even as she did her best to compose herself. There was... She didn't think....

"W-What? Did it only now sink in, Big Sis?" Nyx scoffed. "None of you came to my defense. Maybe Ragnarok... but even I know she's powerless compared to all of you."

"I..."

Before Kali could even mount an apology, Nyx stood up, her hood resolutely covering her face as she walked away, her back almost telling her not to follow as she disappeared into the crowd. All the while, she herself was left stunned and horrified, her past actions coming back to her in droves as her little sister's words recontextualized what she thought were merely petulant whines and adorable complaints.

"What... This is horrible..."

For the first time in a very long time, the Goddess of Flow felt anger for herself, an emotion that was never a part of her being in the first place. She was Flow itself, a concept that embodies forgiveness and moving forward, and yet there she was stuck in her place, stunned at her own actions.

"Oh, Lady Kali. Did I keep you waiting?"

Blinking, the goddess turned to face her Champion. Curie was many things, but repentant was not one of them. In fact, she chose her to be her Champion specifically because of her refusal to remain still in her lot in life. Trying her best to match her far more famous cousin's achievements, the lesser known scientist refused to use her first name out of both respect and want for attention.

"Oh, my Champion," Kali forced herself to smile as she gestured for Curie to sit beside her. "Are you done with your submissions?"

"That's the thing, I have to do them all over again," Curie whined, her long braided white hair cascading down her shoulders as she slumped forward. "I was sure I did them correctly too."

"Well, there's no better time to start over than now," Kali advised her. "There's no rush to things. We'll all get to our destination eventually."

"Weren't you the one to say that this is a race?" her Champion frowned.

"It is, but there's no use rushing when taking your time will do just as well," the goddess told her.

Kali chuckled as Curie rolled her eyes before proceeding to finish up her forms. If there was one thing her Champion was, it was that she was the most impatient woman she had ever seen. It was amusing, to say the least. Curie had died after being too impatient with one of her experiments, and yet she didn't seem to learn her lesson despite it.

Still, she would suit her plans well. While it would be nice to win the Game, she didn't need to do so if she merely wanted to maintain the balance of power between her and her siblings...

Ragnarok had a point. Themis deserved to win, but perhaps she should make some adjustments...