Gate of Memoirs/Tense Reunion

Aesys returns to the Shrine of Dawn and reunites with her son, who resides within Neferet, but the priestess is wary.
Portrait 	Dialogue
Music: "Source Hall" 	Music: "Source Hall"
 	
*Thoth: Architect! I beg—hold!
 	
*Ptah holds his hand up, his brow furrowed in annoyance.
*Ptah: Still your tongue. You will not speak on her behalf.
*Ptah: Mortal. I shall grant you audience, if only in acknowledgement of your strength.
*Ptah: Wallowed in sin, and now you come to beg for forgiveness?
*Ptah: Do you take us for fools?
 	
*Neferet: Is the Creator himself so callous as to assume all humankind is cut from the same cloth?
*Neferet: I fear and respect no god who so willingly judges all for the sins of the few.
 	
*Ptah: Insolent girl. You think me a mere god.
*Ptah: I do not expect an ant to understand the workings of the Universe.
 	
*Ptah: Look upon thy reflection.
*Ptah: Only a mortal, yet so full of self-assured pride that you could ever drive your own destiny.
*Ptah: I commend your foolhardiness, but only because that is your strength and flaw both.
 	
*Ptah: But your efforts are in vain, and if it brings you solace, so are the gods'.
 	
*The Architect turns away from the two, and looks wistfully into the distance.
Music: "Snowy Winds" 	Music: "Snowy Winds"
 	
*Ptah: The Sun is setting on the age of the gods, child. It has already been decreed.
 	
*Ptah: That is the Order of things.
*Ptah: Do what you will; I will not stop you. But heed this: nothing will change.
 	
*Years of training and endless prayers—all for the Creator himself to leave them to that intangible thing called "Order".
*Neferet's fists were clenched, and though her faith was visibly shaken, she didn't come this far to give up.
*Neferet: Lady Thoth, is there nothing that can be done?
*Neferet: You said you were waiting for someone like me. Someone who would defy the chaos.
*Neferet: Will you abandon us as well?
 	
*Thoth taps the side of her scroll handle thoughtfully.
*Thoth: Well, I cannot say I quite agree with the...sullenness...
*Thoth: As the Architect saith, there is no penalty in trying.
 	
*Ptah: Even you would share this unwarranted optimism, Thoth?
 	
*Thoth: 'Tis no optimism, Architect, but the search for Truth.
*Thoth: Only, this is *their* Truth. The only reality they've ever known.
*Thoth: The one they will fight for to the very end, even if Order demanded otherwise.
 	
*Thoth: In a way, that too is what thou commands us to do. Is that not correct?
 	
*Ptah: What foolishness...
 	
*Thoth: Now, if thou truly wishes to embark upon this most arduous mission...
*Thoth: Then it would do us well to seek the rest of our kin.
*Thoth: If thou'rt a Vessel, then there may be hope for the others yet.
 	
*?: Indeed. No mother should rightly abandon her child...
*?: ...just as the father of all things should not abandon all over a few misbehaving miscreants.
 	
*The Lady of Horizons steps out of the shadows behind the altar, blazing hair forming a radiant crown around her form.
 	
*Thoth: ...Speak of the goddess.
*Thoth: Where in Urzyma hast thou been?
 	
*Aesys: Fast on the trail of my Lord, of course. You remember, surely.
*Aesys: What a valiant soul he was, confronting that madman all alone!
 	
*Thoth: Whatever became of him, dost thou know?
 	
*Aesys: Gone...beyond, I'm afraid. His trail, I no longer sense it.
 	
*Thoth: I see...
 	
*Aesys suddenly turns her attention to Neferet, smiles, and reaches a hand out.
*Aesys: But fret not! Joyful is this day indeed, for I am reunited with my son at last!
*Aesys: My Lord's legacy doth live on, even in these dark days!
 	
*Neferet: I...I ask your forgiveness for my lack of manner, my Lady...But I'm not—
*Neferet: Wait, do you mean...
 	
*Thoth: Ah, yes. Neferet, recall thou what I said about thy talents?
 	
*Neferet nods and concentrates, and a small voice answers her from within.
 	
*Harakhte: Priestess.
 	
*Neferet: (I should have guessed. Harakhte, meaning "son of the Horizons"...)
*Neferet: (Then your true name is...)
 	
*Harakhte: Horus.
 	
*Neferet: (Horus, Lord of Skies, son of the sky and the earth...)
*Neferet: (You were the dying falcon by the roadside!)
 	
*Harakhte: You were chosen even before your time. 'Twas fortunate you were a worthy Vessel against the Chaos.
*Harakhte: When you slayed the God-King, my weakening spirit was bolstered by the divine powers he had locked away from me.
 	
*Neferet: (That means Rahotep and the others are Vessels too...)
*Neferet: (What would you ask of me?)
 	
*Harakhte: Heed, priestess. I do not trust that woman's honeyed tongue.
*Harakhte: I do not sense hostility...but neither do I sense warmth.
*Harakhte: Be on guard.
 	
*Thoth: Neferet? Is something wrong?
 	
*Aesys: I do not blame her, Thoth. I imagine this has been extremely taxing on the poor girl.
*Aesys: After all, mortal bodies were not meant to contain the Divine.
Music: "Dark Pursuit"	Music: "Dark Pursuit"
 	
*Neferet watches Aesys carefully, eyes slightly narrowed.
*Harakhte stirs, and the priestess feels the falcon's sharp eyes trained on his "mother".
*Neferet: (Even gods must feel congenial toward their blood-kin, and yet Harakhte does not.)
 	
*Sensing her hesitation, Aesys stalks forward, a menacing hint to her step.
*Aesys: Come now. You would deny me my son?
 	
*Neferet: I deny all but the Lady of Horizons herself.
 	
*Thoth: What...?
 	
*Ptah: (... ...)
 	
*Neferet: Pardon me, "goddess"—
*Neferet: But it is trial, or nothing.
*Neferet: I beg your understanding.
 	
*Aesys: Tch. As you wish...
 	
*Aesys: Do not regret your impudence.