The tall, mahogony door closed behind him, echoing throught the long hallway that the doors opened to. For a moment, Ahren stood there motionless, simply gathering himself. Of course, he was doing more than simply gathering himself, he was also familiarizing himself with the air that permeated Veronna's temple. While he had no plan on starting anything, the last time he had parted paths with the Goddess of Blades, they hadn't been on the best terms. He would not use the wind to strike out at her, but he would use it to defend himself however he deemed fit. Hopefully she would have had sufficient time for her temple to cool enough that she would not hold too many harsh feelings. While it had been some time since he had seen her last, she had a good reason not to like him very much. At the time, he had been spying on the city of Taras for the Goddess Ranewen, who was planning on attacking the city.

A small sigh escaped from Ahren. It was so long ago that had occured, it seemed ages. Then again, it had happened before he had ascended to become the God of Air. For a moment, he wondered whether or not Veronna knew he was a God now. It didn't matter, he had come today to try and repair what he had done that day. Glancing down at himself, he once again checked to make sure that there was nothing hostile about his appearence. Wearing loose robes a sky blue color, he had elected to leave his weapons at another place for now. A sash of a darker blue color wrapped his waist prevented his robes from flowing all over the place. As always, he had on a pair of comfortable pants and a tunic underneath the robes just in case he needed to move swiftly. Even in a place like this, he never underestimated the people around him. With another sigh, he realized that he was putting off the meeting that would be coming up. Settling his wings against his back, he stepped forward, still uneasy about meeting Veronna again.

Soon, the hallway branched. Stopping, Ahren waited there for a minute before making his decision. He didn't want to go snooping around Veronna's temple, so he would simply let her know that he was there, and she could see him if she wanted to. Summoning up a breeze, Ahren thought about the wording of what he wanted to say before deciding how best to announce his arrival. "Veronna, this is Ahren Elessedil. It would please me greatly if you would meet me and talk to me. If I do not hear anything from you within half an hour, I will assume that to be a denial and I will leave. I am standing in the first hallway upon entering your temple." There, that should work nicely. 30 minutes would be plenty of time for the message to reach her and for her to meet him here if she wanted to. With a cultivated patience, Ahren set himself down to wait for either an answer or for the 30 minutes to end, which would be an answer of a different sort.

Veronna swung her scimitars around her, going so fast they let out a mournful howl as they flew through the air. Her muscles flexing each time she moved one, her bare feet moving in a pattern around the room. Her dress reached to about her knees in front, but in the back it reached to around her ankles, keeping the black dress away from her practicing. It was made without sleeves, which kept her cool as she practiced. Her hair had been pulled back, but was now falling out of the piece of leather she had used to keep it back in the first place.

Her red eyes looked focused as she swung her blades around, almost as if she was staring off into the distance and was not in her private arena. Sweat clung to her skin, for she had been at this for more then an hour now. She was thinking, about many different things, her mind unable to focus on one topic for more then a few moments. She was hardly aware when someone entered her temple, and did not notice it for about another twenty minutes or so, not until she felt a slight breeze blow around her. She halted her scimitars and let them fall to her side as she looked towards the door, her eyes still unfocused as she listened to some sort of voice in the wind.

It was a voice she recognized, one she would never forget. She took a deep breath in then out, slowing her heart rate down. She mulled the words she had just heard in her mind, wondering if she should go down or not. She sheathed her swords in their scabbards at her hips, then reached up and put some loose hair behind one of her ears. She turned, and placed a hand on the wooden door, but hesitated, unsure if she wanted to go or not. But something forced her through the door and into her chambers, where Vaoulrah was sleeping soundly.

Veronna walked towards the stairs, but as she walked she grabbed a towel which was hanging on a hook on the wall near the stairs. She patted her face with it then hung t back up. She then headed down the stairs, taking her time, as she descended. She finally made it to the last few steps and then the ground floor, where standing in front of the stair case was Ahren, the new god of air. Veronna smiled, most likely a reaction he did not expect. "Welcome to my temple, Ahren Elessedil, God of Air. I was wondering if we would ever meet again." Veronna knew she should have been angry with him, but no harm had come to Taras, and Ahren no longer took orders from the goddess of darkness, which pleased Veronna, for she had never trusted Ranewen.

With a sigh, Ahren realized that the time limit he had given was almost up, and Veronna had not arrived yet. It was depressing to think that the last impression she would have of him would be when he was scouting out Taras so that Ranewen could take it over. And that would be her last impression, unless she came to visit him. If she did not arrive soon, then he would leave her temple and not trouble her again. Just as he was accepting the fact that Veronna wasn't going to see him, he felt someone coming closer. He had sent out several breezes to herald anyone's approach. That way, he would have some warning which way she was coming from. The person approaching stopped for a moment, but the continued. As the figure came closer, Ahren could feel himself tensing up. Although he tried to get himself to relax, the calm that normally enveloped him eluded him at that moment. He could relax when he knew how he was going to be received.

Finally, he saw the person he had come to meet. Veronna came down the stairs that stood directly in front of him. She looked at him, and smiled. To say that that was a shock was an understatement. Why she would have been happy to see him was a mystery, and one that he had no answer to. Nevertheless, that smile did what he could not. When he saw it, every mustle in his body relaxed. Now that he knew how he was to be received, he could decide how to deal with it. "Veronna Darkblade, I must say it is a surprise to see you smile. I was expecting to be met with bared steel. The last time we parted, I was facing the wrath of an angry goddess." While that was said with a slight smile on his face, he was still slightly nervous. It was possible that she was attempting to distract him and get him to relax before she tried to kill him.

Almost without thinking about it, Ahren gathered the air around him, read to throw it into a defensive wall if he needed to. While he could use the wind as a weapon, he would not do so against Veronna. Her anger was justified, so he would simply leave if it became necessary. For a second longer, Ahren visibly hesitated before asking a question. "Veronna...why are you so welcoming. I...tried to aid Ranewen in destroying your home." There, the question was out in the open, and the answer would determine whether or not Ahren remained in her temple or once again fled for his life.

Veronna almost laughed by the reaction on his face, but she kept herself from doing so, but the smile remained. She started to walk around him, examining him, seeing what might have change from the last time they had met. She let him talk as she walked, listening to his response to her greeting, knowing he did not expect her like this. Her feet were quiet as she walked around him, almost in front of him again when she felt air surround Ahren. She frowned, her hand right hand touching the hilt of one of her scimitars, just in case.

But no wind came at her. Instead she saw him hesitate, and then the question was out. She was now in front of him again, as she looked at his eyes, then turned away from him, and was facing the stairs, her back to him, a slight gesture to show she did not intend to hurt him, and to hide her expressions as she tried to come up with an answer. She sighed then turned, her gaze directed at the floor. "Do you believe you just somehow became a god? That this power was given to you because you deserved it? Do you believe Ranewen put a good word in for you?" She raised an eyebrow at him, "The right answers to these questions are no. There is something bigger in this world then the lives of mortals and even immortals. Our power is so vast, we don't even understand it. No, I am not angry with you, we don't have time to have our little fights, though some of us can not see this." With that last sentence she thought of Ranewen, who seemed intent to bringing Taras down, thinking there was only this plane of existence.

Veronna then brought her gaze up from the floor and looked at Ahren again, her eyes holding much emotion in them, "I will always fight for the place I call home, but I will protect all of Imythess, and if any of the gods, including you, believe war is the right way and the only way for this land, then you have no right to the title of gods." She hoped he would get that last part, to know that if he tried to make war, he would be facing her wrath again. "There once was an order to the gods, we use to work together and not hide in our little corners which were given to us. The order of the gods has to be reestablished. And maybe it can start here." She extended her hand to him, hoping he understood what she wanted, that all the gods be united and not separated like they were now.

For a moment, worry spiked within Ahren as he saw Veronna rest her hand on her scimitar. It had taken a great deal of self control for him to remain motionless while she had walked around him. He had trusted in the air around him to inform him of what she was doing. With his mastery of the air around him, he had been able to see her with his mind's eye as she stalked around him. Veronna turned away from him when he asked his question, perhaps to gather her thoughts, perhaps as a measure of trust. Whatever her reason, she had to know that she was leaving herself open to an attack if there was going to be one. Personally, Ahren didn't know if he would have had the nerve to do the same if their situation had been reversed. Then again, he had the advantage of having the very air around him as a weapon. Veronna's weapons consisted of steel, and even steel could break if enough pressure were put upon it. Not that Ahren thought he could beat her in a straight up fight. She was undoubtedly more skilled than he was, but he thought that he might have the advantage of magic.

Her questions made him think. In truth, he had been wondering why he was the one that was chosen to become the God of Air. For the moment, he had simply decided that his other connection with the air had helped to influence things slightly. But all he had was speculation, no solid fact. When she looked back up at him, Ahren forced himself to meet her eyes. Her last statement had caused him to be slightly ashamed. For Ahren, who had been involved in the war, it was easy to see that Veronna spoke of what Ranewen had tried to do. It wasn't something that he was proud of, but he had made a promise. But all of that was in the past and couldn't be changed, it was time to focus on the future as Veronna seemed to be doing.

For a second, Ahren thought about what Veronna had said, the words seeming to ring through his entire body. Extending his hand, he clasped Veronna's in a firm grip. "It would be my pleasure to help that dream come true. How much in the world has gone ignored because of these chasms that spread between the Gods and Goddesses?" Releasing her hand, Ahren wondered what else Veronna had planned. "It seems I have been at fault. I fear that I have been one of those Gods that stayed in my little pocket of the world. Although that was mainly from a desire to be alone." With that said, Ahren dispersed the air that he had held around him, letting it return to the normal currents that they followed. He had a feeling that he wouldn't need to defend himself while he was in the temple, and keeping them might seem like an insult. "Tell me Veronna, how can I help this dream to become a reality?"

A smiled touched her lips when Ahren gripped her hand firmly, as she did back. Perhaps there was hope for the world. And the way he put it was right: how much had gone ignored? Those were questions that needed answered. When he released her hand she let it drop to her side, resting near her scimitar but showing no signs of drawing it, it was just how she always rested her hand. She understood completely about wanting to be alone, but eventually it got too lonesome, and she would know, for she used to be ignored, no one ever there to be with her, though that had changed in the past few years.

She felt the air Ahren had been holding around him release, a slight breeze blowing the loose strands of hair from her face. She was glad he now trusted her. For now at least, and she hoped it would hold for a long time to come. When he asked what he could do to make this happen, she had to think, knowing there was a million different things that needed to be done, places that needed attended too, but there was one thing that had been tugging at the back of her mind, and it was something Ahren probably should know.

"There are a great many things that need done, but one thing needs fulfilled more then any others. The land or world can not be held by only three gods alone. There needs to be more, but the decision is difficult and I do not have time to look at every mortal to see if they qualify." She sighed, "I guess what I'm asking is that you be on the look out for mortals that show what it needs to be a god, but not let them know they are being watched. The only reason this needs done is because the world is going to tear itself apart before to long, and the only way to prevent this is to have more gods hold it together."

What she said was more then true, she felt the world failing apart, and something or someone else, waiting for it to happen, wanting it to happen. But they could not let this happen. They had to find others worthy to have the titles of gods.

(Sorry if it seems slightly confusing...I am still trying to work out a plot line with Laoura...)