When Slathir first heard the Waterway of Souls described to him, it fixed an image in his mind. He imagined a series of interconnected rivers, each moving in different directions, and along each being the uncountable Souls of the deceased, moving on to the many kingdoms and dukedoms of Galumtir. When he'd told this Frandwil, the god had simply smiled.

"In some ways close, and in many far off. You will see what I mean someday."

Now he understood what that had meant.

When he entered the Waterway, the first things he noticed were the wells. Hundreds of wells sprawled about the plane, which resembled a flat, trimmed field, whose grass was indigo instead of green. It almost looked as if it went on for eternity, but when it eventually did, it met a border covered in gaps and openings. Doors.

From the wells came Souls, uncountable, the Souls of Humans, animals, creatures of every kind. The tiniest ant's Souls alongside that of the mighty Wyrms. Each and every one of them was here, and they came like an oncoming torrent, a mass of wails, sighs, and silent passings up into the sky above. There, they broke apart, became singular and distinct, before fluttering down to the grass again, where they took shape.

And walking across the plane to meet them were Spirits aplenty. Old women, young men, snakes, dragons, each bearing the shades and stylings of who they'd been in life, but shimmering with that same colour that defined this place.

The Waterway of Souls, the gateway to Galumtir, and the realm of Steraf, Goddess of Spirits.

He looked around, expecting to find her near the centre of the land, or wandering the outskirts, inspecting the doors that covered them. After checking both of them, he was still unable to find her.

"Curious? Or are you here at another's behest?"

He blinked as he turned to the voice, and there she was.

She was bending beside the Soul of a little girl, her face Human but her eyes draconic and her flesh scaly. She directed her in the direction of the door and received only a solemn nod before they left. Then she looked up at him.

Her face was young, her indigo hair tied up, so it kept out of her face. Rather practical, though perhaps unnecessary, since where the hair was supposed to end, it instead trailed off into nothing, eventually vanishing. She was wearing a long dress that parted at her knees, and its white fabric reflected every colour of every Soul that passed.

When she met his gaze, it was like staring into a kaleidoscope, the patterns and colours constantly shifting.

"I came by my brother's recommendation, though for my own purposes. He says you two have spoken at length before."

"Ah, yes." She patted her dress, and something flaked off onto the grass. "Melgos brings so many new things into the world, and so many with Souls. He comes to me often, or otherwise sends word, asking for my advice on such things, though by now I feel he has exhausted what I know." Then she smiled. "It has been a long time, Slathir."

"It has, though I will admit how long exactly is lost to me."

"As it is to I, time is hard enough to keep track of as it is, but here?" She waved her hands around them. "I never saw fit to design a day-night cycle, or some other form of it. They don't stay long enough to need it."

"And your… servants? The Spirits?"

Her eyes lit up. "Of course, this is your first time, is it not?"

"It is."

She waved her hand at the nearest Spirit, a young lady with curved ears. "They are those who harness the magic of this land in life. The most committed I offer a choice, to pass on like the others, or to stay here and help those who come after."

"How many chose to stay, would you say?"

"I would wager half, perhaps a few more. Most of them are those who were isolated in life and have none they desire to see beyond here. Or they are the truly altruistic, who would sacrifice their own eternity to ease the passing of others."

"And you help them too?"

She nodded. "When I can. I couldn't say how much of my time I spend here, the entire system sort of runs itself now, but when I am needed in Andwelm, for those truly great Souls that pass on, that is where I will be."

"I will try to be succinct then, to not take up your time."

"Oh, Slathir, you're welcome to talk as much as you want." She patted him on the shoulder, then laughed. "Though I will object if it lasts more than a year as the Sun reckons it." She squinted at him. "How have you been lately? Loron says you've been asking him the strangest questions, and with respect, you've been leaving the Halls more often than ever before. Some new fancy amongst the mortals?"

He shook his head. "I've been… observing them, watching how they work, studying their physiology. It's all a bit strange, isn't it?"

"I couldn't agree more." She replied, distracting herself from her previous questions. "The ways they chose to procreate, rather technical and involved, wouldn't you say? I've always thought lizards had it figured out to a tea."

"It does seem quite tedious, especially on the female's part. Almost unjustly so."

"Right, right." She shook her head. "But why does this interest you, of all people. Looking for some future dalliances?"

Her tone was playful, and as if to sell it, she rose off the ground, rising into the air as she put her hands under her chin.

He just snorted. "Honestly. As if I'd condemn a poor mother to raising a spawn of mine. And I'm not ready to be a father, not yet."

"You've got more conviction than some of our kin who will go unmentioned."

He frowned. "Who?"

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"Stratina, Kraton, Manather sometimes." She responded immediately. "She and Loron haven't quite figured out where they stand with each other yet. Hey, you distracted me again."

"You distracted yourself. I wanted to understand the way they worked at a basic level. How their bodies moved and functioned, how they reproduced, everything."

"Why would that have anything to do with…" She slowly closed her eyes before snapping them open again. She landed back on the ground. "Oh, OH. It's Demons, isn't it? That's what all those questions have been about, and why you've been spending all of your off time with Melgos. You want to Create Demons."

He winced. "I'm considering the possibility. On a scale of moths to Humans, how hard a time would you say I'd have?"

She folded her arms. "Well, I have next to no experience with the technical process; you're right to consult Melgos and others on that, but I'd say you would have a hard time starting off with it anyway."

"How come?"

"Because Mayare has been more protective of Ætesta recently, more restrictive of where she wanders and who can speak with her."

"But that's absurd, this is the Dolphin of Creation themself, this is what brought all Humans into existence."

"But she rules Clatharia, and so her law is sacrosanct, that was how she worded it at the last meeting. You should come to them sometime."

"Perhaps I should." He rubbed his chin. "It doesn't matter anyway, what I'm doing here is purely theoretical."

She raised an eyebrow. "Uh-huh, purely theoretical. So then, if you've done your observations of Humans, consulted experts on the fundamentals of Creating, I can only assume you've sought me out for one reason and one reason only." She smirked. "And it wasn't just because you missed my company."

"I promise to check up regularly from now on."

"Don't make promises you can't keep. No, you need me because you want to understand Souls, and I'm sorry to burst your bubble, but it's not that easy to explain. Even for us."

He leaned forward. "Elaborate?"

She sighed, "Everything that breaths and has any form of conscious thought has a Soul, but whether that's because they were given one when they were first Created is beyond even my understanding. If you asked me where they came from when a new child is born, I still couldn't answer you." She shook her head. "But they are, without a doubt, integral. Remove the Soul from the body, and the body ceases its functions. When the body grows old and dies, the Soul must pass on, or risk fading away."

"And Spirits, what are they in relation to Souls?"

She leaned down and took the paw of a passing Soul, an old lion, larger than both of them.

"A Soul is an imprint, it carries all the information and person of every being. It is as much them as their bodies are. When a Soul persists, or when it is called to from the living, they become Spirits, Souls that by my power are allowed to stay outside of Galumtir. It is the way of things, as Teratheer and I agreed." She let the lion go, and he wandered away towards a distant door.

"So if I were to theoretically create… Demons, their Souls would appear as they do."

"If you are able to do so, the same way every other new Creation has been brought forth, yes, that is what would happen."

He frowned. "You're saying that as if it weren't the only way. Which, as far as I know, it is."

"Well…" Her smile faded somewhat, and she inexplicably looked over her shoulder, as if someone might be watching them. "Because there are other ways, and those are paths where their Souls and how they work are not as clean cut as I'd like. Melgos? What he's able to bring into full being with Ætesta, sure, they count. But his half-made prototypes? The experiments that never see the eyes of anyone else? They are alive, but Soulless, husks only given half their shape and form. And that's not even talking about-"

"-Mariath." He snapped his fingers. "You're talking about Mariath and Platerno."

She nodded her head. "Very astute, you took the words right out of my mouth. When Mariath created Platerno to be her husband, she bisected her Soul in twain, and by machinations and designs I cannot comprehend, it formed a new god, with a new Soul. It was his and his alone, but still connected to his wife."

"You know, I assumed you'd have a better understanding of this. It is your deific domain."

Steraf crossed her legs and again began to hover in the air. Her hair followed suit, floating around her in its braid. "It isn't always as clear-cut as you'd imagine. Maybe Mayare has the perfect understanding of the Light, and for Frandwil the Abyss, but me?" She pointed a finger at her chest. "I'm the Goddess of Spirits and Souls, but my job is always in the past tense for them. I help guide their Souls into the next plane, but like a captain waiting at the docks, I don't know the sort that'll climb aboard. I see only what is, not how it came to be, nor the deepest facets of it. And that's enough for me."

Mirroring her, he crouched down and sat on the purplish grass, shifting aside to let a Spirit walk around him.

They engaged in a lengthy conversation about the intricacies of Spirits and Souls, going as deep into either of their understandings as they could go. And because they were gods, and time was not a resource they needed to bother with, their conversation went on for longer than they could keep track, though he did keep his word and consciously made sure that there was no chance it could go for more than a year. That would be extreme, even for them.

Eventually, they both went silent, taking in everything that'd been said, and though his mind was elsewhere, he felt Steraf slowly lower herself down to the ground beside him. When he turned to look at her, she had leaned back, eyes gazing off into the sky.

"You know, Slathir, you don't need to do this if it means proving something to everyone."

He shook his head. "It isn't just about that, it's about finding a purpose for myself. Look at me, I'm not really the God of anything right now. Just myself."

"And sometimes that can be enough. There's a group of Humans who've peered far enough through the web of reality to see this land, and they now call me the Goddess of Rivers, much to Nilara's chagrin. The domain and designation are not the be-all and end-all of who we are."

"But it plays such too important a part for me to ignore it." He ran a hand through his hair, passing by the flaming horns and feeling the colour burning off of them. "I want there to be people I can call my own, not to worship me or sacrifice themselves for me, but just to have a part of me with them, and I'll take with me a part of them."

"But why define them like this? Like Humans or other sentient beings in Andwelm. Who says that a Demon can't be like a snake or a bear?"

He rested his hand back down on the grass, idly picking at it and watching the blades dissipate in the air. It took him a while to search for an answer, and when he had it, he turned to meet her gaze.

She smiled.

When he spoke, it came from his heart. "Because I want someone I can talk to when I get lonely. Because if they are a people, they will stand on their own two legs against the other mortal races, and the Gods will see them and know that the Lonely God isn't alone anymore."

It came out a lot fiercer than he'd intended, and for a second, he was afraid she'd laugh. But her smile never faded, and she placed a hand on his arm.

"You only ever had to ask."

He felt their Souls, the gargantuan Souls of beings beyond any mortal or creature, brush against one another, and for that briefest moment, he understood her, her passions, her commitments, her ideas, and he had no doubt she felt the same. It was an intimacy he'd never shared with any of his kin, not even Melgos or his father.

When they pulled away, he thought for a moment before saying, "If I Create them-"

"When."

He smiled. "When I Create them, what say you to a little bargain when it comes to their Souls?"

She leaned in a little. "I'm listening."

Once he was done relaying his idea to her, her cheeks bulged, grew red with a blush, and then she burst out laughing. She threw her hands back and swirled in the air, making passing Spirits look up with alarm.

She cackled and looked down at him, never losing the effervescent look in her eyes.

"If there was a price for originality, Slathir, I dare say you've outcompeted your brother, the reigning champion. And oh, how confused you will make the poor Humans."

"Is that a yes, then?" He rose from his spot on the grass.

She floated down to him and reached out her hand. "On one condition."

"Let's hear it."

"When you're sitting by the fire with your children, and they ask you stories of what came before. You will tell them about me." She thrust a finger at her chest.

His face broke into a grin that matched the ecstatic look of the goddess in front of him.

They clasped hands, and it was done.

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