Note: Immediately after this thread.


Ereshkigal was livid. She was so angry that she couldn't eat and didn't sleep. There were dark circles beneath her eyes and her lips were compressed in a hard line. Servants scuttled around the corners of rooms to avoid her gaze and attention, because there was nothing soft or winning about the Queen of Irkalla these days.

( He'd left. )

Ereshkigal liked order to her day. Not that she had a specific schedule, it really wasn't applicable given her duties and how those that entered Irkhalla arrived. But she did have order. And now that order was being disturbed by an unannounced visitor from the Heights above. But she wasn't about to complain, because there was every chance that it was a messenger from Enki, even if it was probably not Enki himself. ( She did miss her twin dearly. )

The battle had ended. At least for the moment. Each side was tending their wounded and counting their dead. Nergal was confident that each general would exaggerate those numbers in any reports that they made. Less dead of their own, more dead from the enemy’s ranks. He was rather amused at the way mortals determined who won the wars. They were so limited in their vision. They saw only land gained as a sign of victory. For the Beast of War, it was not the numbers or borders that he cared about. It was the war itself. ( The war and the blood )

Nanna had been outside for less than an hour, but in that space of time, he'd come to a conclusion that his earlier opinion was absolutely correct: he did not like the daytime. Oh he still loved the desert, with all it's mystery and wonder, surprisingly busy and full of life. But he preferred it when it was shaded and muted, under the light of his moon. ( It was so much prettier that way. )

Ninlil had always hoped to provide the best for her children. She aspired for them to be the best at what they were gifted with. She was born a simple maiden, ancient in a way, the daughter of great people but plain. Through Enlil's wanton actions which eventually lead to her loving him and then her marrying him... She became more than the maiden. More than Sud. She was Ninlil. Equal to her husband and maybe even slightly wiser than him. Though she would never say such aloud. They had wonderful children together, whom she loved more than life itself. But Ninlil was human in a way.

What she was witnessing was terrible. The land was scorched with fire. The land soaked in blood. It was the wind that called her here. The wind which doused the fire in places and spread it in others. Ninlil could not control it now. Tears were flooding her eyes because she knew. She felt him. He was everywhere and nowhere in sight at once.

( This was Nergal's doing. )