Elohim had started to wonder why he had even come to Asteraia. Aster was thick - there was no way around it. He wondered what kind of stone her skull must be made of. Yet, he had come nonetheless. And now, he had chosen to stay one way or another. It was a mess and he could not help himself but to step willingly into it even though her abdomen stared at him with such mockery that is made his stomach crawl into the back of his throat. Yet he persisted nonetheless and took in her words with a deep breath of understanding.

"I will be that, then," his words had found their place in the wind long before his mind had been able to process them and yet, he quickly collected himself with a wince. "But this world is no simple place. There is more beyond our wants." And he was ready to bleed himself out if it meant placing more webs of protection over Ehiyeh and Erebos; he would lay with as many spiders as he needed to if it kept their webs well spun. But he wondered if Aster was capable of that - could she care with nothing to gain? What could Ehiyeh give her that no other could? And did she truly want what Elohim could give? Time, he supposed, would tell. He just hoped she would not make him a liar or a traitor.

But before he had been able to proceed down such a path, another had emerged from the shadows; bristling, spitting, Elohim wondered if he had summoned a grand red snake from the plains as Halcyon wheeled forward. Yet, Elohim had no intention to flinch. Instead, he merely dropped his shoulders, his head jerking to be tilted in utmost curiosity as the male bit at him with his words. He wanted to grin and yet, he did not. Instead, he met the man - the king, the mate himself, no? - levelly with his eyes though his posture had not an ounce of dominance. Paradoxal, perhaps, but honest to Elohim's very essence.

"Who am I to deny a king a taste?" He could not help himself, his tongue a blade before Aster cut in. She moved to his side and though Elohim's own abdomen twisted as a part of him laughed, he remained ever passive, his eyes unfaltering from Halcyon's as he gave a shrug. "Do not act as if you were not listening in the shadows, Chieftain." His lip quivered at its edge and into the slightest shadow of a smirk. Be honest, Halcyon.

"I am here to make amends with your mate and the queen for I offended her some time ago. I have propositions, things to discuss." He was honest, at least, though he had been taught well to only ever be honest until a point. "The only danger I see here is you, Halcyon. Are you so offened by the salt of the sea that you cannot stand to even speak to the wolf to whom you showed the alligators of Iromar all those years ago?" An exceptional memory when needed. But they had both changed a lot, no? Whereas Elohim had been a quiet youth, introspective to a fault, he had grown more comfortable in the light now. He wondered just how deeply Halcyon had changed or if any parts of him still reeked like honor. "Ergo multo igne." So much fire, he murmured beneath his breath with a sigh. And so, he found himself now shoulder-deep in that very same mess.