Thuraya stared out the window of her house with an unhappy smile. Looking out at the sky usually cheered her up. However, the glittering stars didn’t reassure her today. She had a meeting with one of Celosin’s sons by the request of Irkala. Her father had told her it was time for her to take responsibility. It was time for her to learn what it meant to be the daughter of one of the divine progenitors. Thuraya didn’t have a problem with taking responsibility. She had a problem with those who looked down on her.

She sighed, leaning out the window. Dahakua were nicer to her than the others, but Celosin was an arrogant, immature god. She had no hope that he had raised his son to be better. Another sigh escaped her when a portal opened up in front of her. Her father stepped out of it with a smile. 

He greeted her, “Thuraya, how are you?”

“I’m okay.”

“Are you excited to meet Celaren?” Thuraya stopped herself from laughing out loud. She should have expected Celosin to name his son after himself. She wondered how the mother felt about the name. 

“Not really.”

Irkala leaned against the window and replied, “Can you try to be a little excited for me?”

“I can try.”

Irkala beamed, hugging Thuraya. “He might be a little difficult to deal with, but I know you’ll do well.”

Thuraya relaxed in Irkala’s hold. His skin was warm against her face, and one of her fingers absently traced one of his constellations. She wondered what Irkala did to make his hugs so comforting. She said, “I want to do well for you.”

“You know what time to meet him?”

“Yes, I haven’t forgotten.”

“Just making sure.” Irkala released her, stepping away from the window. “I’ve got to go but know that I’ll be rooting for you.”

Thuraya smiled, “You always are.”

She watched as Irkala left through his portal. She needed a visit from him to cheer her up. Moving from the window, Thuraya walked to her front door and exited the house. If she wanted to meet with Celaren on time, she had to leave now. She breathed in the fresh air.

Even though there was no sun, light touched every building. The different materials reflected the light in a variety of colors and patterns, painting the land. Thuraya lifted her hand into one of the rays of light. Her skin looked like it was splotched with paint. This world amazed her, and she didn’t think there would ever be a time where it didn’t. 

Pulling her hand from the light, Thuraya continued on her path to meet Celaren. The demigod would no doubt taunt her if she was tardy. She couldn’t afford to lower his opinion of her. Irkala was counting on her to make him proud. If she failed, she would only sully his name further. 

She passed by an underdeveloped portion of the world. The cosm plane expanded as the number of gods and demigods did. There were one or two houses in this area, but she expected that many more would come in the future. As she passed by an empty plot, pain lanced through her skull. She stopped walking and held a hand to her head. However, the pain did not abate. It felt like her brain was throbbing.

Thuraya stumbled to the ground with a grunt. She squeezed her eyes tight, pressing her head to the ground. The headache continued for a couple agonizing minutes. When the pain receded, Thuraya cracked her eyes open and looked up. Instead of the empty plot, she saw a hazy image of a house. In front of it was what appeared to be the afterimage of Irkala and an unknown man. She couldn’t see their mouths moving, but their voices echoed inside her head.

The man said, "I can't stay here."

"Why not?" Irkala replied.

"It's," the man took a deep breath, "Made of diamonds."

"Well, yes."

"I can't live in a house made of diamonds."

"Why not?"

"It's too...I don't know." 

Irkala sighed, "I don't see the problem." But he waved his hand, changing the diamond walls to brick. "Is this more acceptable?"

"Yes."

Thuraya blinked and they were gone. She rubbed her eyes before looking again, yet it changed nothing. Whatever she saw had vanished, yet she could hear a whisper of the conversation she overheard. She furrowed her brow, troubled by the strange experience. She would have to discuss it with Irkala after her meeting with Celaren. Thinking of that, she hurried to make it to the meeting on time.

She let out a heavy sigh of relief when she saw she was the first one to arrive. She sat down on one of the chairs. A moment later, the door was slammed open, bouncing off the wall. Celaren strut into the room with a cocky swagger. The smile he sent her was all teeth as he sat down across from her. She gave him a tight smile back.

He smirked, “I’m surprised to see you got here before me, Thuraya.”

“I don’t know why, Celaren.”

The mocking laugh that exploded from him made her grit her teeth. He replied, “I’ve heard all about your inadequacies. Pardon me if I thought tardiness was one of them.”

Underneath the table, her hand tightened into a fist. She knew that she would only give Irkala grief if she talked back, so she kept her true thoughts to herself. “I’m glad to have proved you wrong.”

“Hm. I see Irkala is pushing some of his responsibilities onto you.”

“All of us children have to take on some of our parent’s responsibilities.”

“I know,” Celaren leaned in close to her, “But they never start so young. How old are you again?”

“119.”

“Ahh, I remember when I was that age. I was but a babe. Father didn’t give me my first job until I reached a thousand.”

She didn’t know what he was getting at with this tangent. She knew not why it mattered at what age she started getting jobs. “Irkala puts a lot of faith in me and my work.”

“Or, he can’t afford to have something so worthless doing nothing, tarnishing his name.” Thuraya felt Celaren’s breath hitting her face. “You’re 119, and you still haven’t manifested your divinity. It’s pathetic.”

Thuraya hated how she felt tears burn behind her eyes. Celaren’s words were nothing she hadn’t heard before, but it hurt to have all her shortcomings thrown into her face. As if she didn’t already know. As if she didn’t berate herself every night before she fell asleep, telling herself that she would never be good enough to be Irkala’s daughter. 

Divinity was the blood of the gods, found in every being that had the pleasure to be born from their flesh. It was an innate power that not only gave them their abilities but a copy of their existence. While they would not die without it, she speculated that ripping it from them would be comparable to death. No one had ever taken away away a god’s divinity before because they feared what the Ethereal Mistress might do in response. They dare not take away one of her gifts without serious reason.

Those with divinity manifested their abilities within their first one hundred years. All of them except for Thuraya, a fact that caused her great distress. It was embarrassing that the daughter of one of the divine progenitors had not manifested anything yet. 

Thuraya replied, “We’re here to discuss Celosin’s actions on Peyrn.”

“My father has done nothing wrong.”

“Irkala thinks otherwise. He has been reaching beyond his sphere of influence.”

Celaren scoffed, “His power comes from the people. The humans love him!”

“The humans love him because he abuses his divinity! He shouldn’t be interfering in their lives as much as he has!”

Celaren shook his head, standing up from his seat. She remained in her seat, not wanting to raise to his bait. “Peyrn isn’t even under Irkala’s domain. My father has not heard a single complaint from Ujumas.”

“Peyrn may not be, but the Dahakua are. We are to come to an agreement on what to do with him.”

“I refuse to negotiate with you. If Irkala has a problem with my father’s actions, he will stop them himself. I will not stand to see my father disrespected!”

“Disrespected?” Thuraya shot from her seat. She glared at Celaren. “How are we disrespecting Celosin?”

“We obviously mean nothing to Irkala if he sends his useless spawn. If he respected my father, he would talk to him in person.”

“Irkala has no spare time to correct the actions of every lesser god. He means no disrespect by sending me.”

“Yet he has mortally wounded our pride.”

“Don’t be dramatic,” Thuraya snapped. As soon as she said that, she knew she made a mistake. Celaren reared back in offense.

He sputtered, “Dramatic? How dare you!”

“I’m sorry, Celaren. I didn’t mean it. It just came out.” Despite how much she hoped her apology would calm Celaren, she knew that he would not accept it.

“I don’t care what you meant,” he seethed, “I will not tolerate speaking to you for a second longer. If Irkala truly has a problem with my father, he will attend to it.” 

With that, Celaren swept out of the room. Thuraya fell back into her seat, banging her head on the table. When will she be enough? The sound of someone entering the room caused her to turn her head. She groaned at the sight of Irkala.

Irkala asked, “That bad?”

“Yeah, that bad.”

She felt his hand land on her shoulder. “Will I have to personally deal with Celosin?”

Thuraya nodded. The tears that she had kept at bay welled up. She tried to choke them back down. She croaked, “I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay. I should’ve known that he would have been too difficult for you to handle.”

“I lost my temper.”

The hand on her shoulder moved to stroke her hair. “You’ll learn to control it in time.”

“But,” Thuraya burst into tears, “How can I say nothing when all they do is belittle me?”

“You will learn.”

She cried, “Why do they hate me?”

“Stop crying.” Irkala’s stern voice shocked Thuraya. She looked up at him, surprised to see such a serious expression. “Your tears will not change a single thing.”

“I know, but I can’t help it. Do you know how upset this makes me?”

“Do you think I’m not upset as well? I abhor how they treat you, but we have our place. No daughter of mine will be unable to control her emotions.”

“And what is my place?”

Irkala sighed, “You are neither god, demigod, nor soul. You have divinity, but you have yet to manifest an ability. You may be my daughter, but all you are is a creation. What place do you think you have?”

Thuraya slammed her hands onto the table, pushing her chair back. She brushed past Irkala toward the door. She said, “I’m going home.”

“I’ll fix your mess.”

She was glad her back was to Irkala so he couldn’t see the hot tears that streamed down her face. She replied, “You do that.”

She stepped out the door and closed it gently behind her. She took a deep breath before she ran back to her house. She wrenched open the door to her bedroom, collapsing onto the bed. She shoved her face into her pillow to muffle her heaving sobs. It took over an hour to calm herself. 

Once she calmed, the throbbing pain from earlier returned. Curling into a ball, she tried to rock herself to sleep. However, the pain only increased. She bit her pillow to stop screams from tearing past her throat. Minutes passed with the anguish escalating each second until she was knocked unconscious. 

From the shadows, a god appeared and placed a hand on her damp forehead. They had come into her room while she was writhing in agony, watching her suffer. They sighed, “Ethereal Mistress, why have you burdened me so?”

When the god removed their hand, Thuraya’s face smoothed out, drifting from unconsciousness into sleep. They whispered into her ear, “I hope your visions are kind, you worthless asteris.”