Perhaps - given the bizarreness of Ellie’s family history with the goddess - Ellie should have been less surprised when Aura marched up to her, grinning from ear to ear, and flings her arms around Ellie. But it was less the presence of Aura before her that was shocking, it was the glow of joy that seeped from her pores.
Ellie flings up a forcefield around herself as soon as Aura backs up enough to allow it.

Draco has never quite told the entire story but Ellie knows that her father was instrumental in Aura’s death one time (she cannot keep up with the whims of the gods and the tenuous relationships they have with the realities of a life cycle), and when he married Poppy the whole thing just got more complicated. She and Jasper tried to stay out of Poppy’s way and so the intricacies of Aura’s feelings towards her son-in-law have been lost to the memories of a man who forgets his bearings when he sees a mirror.
But Ellie is certain that Aura has never been this happy before.

Flo slips past the invisible barrier and settles herself at Aura’s feet. It’s not really Aura. Or if it is, she’s been spending a lot of time with Kota. Can’t you smell it? Flo drawls in her mind, and Ellie frowns. No, of course she can’t smell it, but she pulls at the tracking thread she used for Kota and sure enough, it’s her, standing before Ellie, cloaked in her grandmother’s body.

”Kota,” she mutters, still keeping the forcefield up because one can never be too careful around deities, ”is that you? What’s happened? Do you need help?” Not that Ellie has any idea how to help her sister, but she could take her to Jasper and see what he comes up with.

i o d i n e .

kiss me,
beneath the milky twilight.