"And now some words of wisdom, perhaps? Master Chuta did I introduce you correctly?" Jancis smiles in good humor.
Chuta Allfriend looks around and points to himself. "Who, me? I 'spose I can cook up something."
"By all means."
Chuta Allfriend looks around and points to himself. "Who, me? I 'spose I can cook up something."
"By all means."
![[Image: l7z7Bkq.png]](http://i.imgur.com/l7z7Bkq.png)
Chuta bows his head humbly and steps front and center. The suncat's looking a bit harrowed by the weather as he pulls his coat tighter around him, but he settles into place.
"...ya ever wonder why Menphina's considered one'a the Twelve? I don' mean that in any sorta... blasphemous way or nothin'. Just sayin' that when you share company with a daddy who can see over all'a space and time and an older sister who symbolizes the sun and all'a the truth under it..."
"Well, it might seem a bit funny that we've got a happy lover with a cook pan standing next to sky-splitting thunder gods and battle goddesses. Though, I say -might- because it makes a lotta sense to me. I brought this up when you and I chatted about Nophica; Even when we're talkin' the really big kinda powers, there's something to be said for the smaller ones. Menphina doesn't have any mastery over the elements, and she's not a watcher of the skies or seas, but she's just as important as those who claim to be."
He glances through the crowd and casts a grin here and there, mostly at the couples standing by one another for warmth.
"Love is a gift, friends. Some'a us been burned in the past by it, and some'a you gonna look at me funny because you ain't really understood it yet, but..."
"Menphina sure picked a strange one, didn't she? Oschon? The Wanderer's got his own mess'a things, and- Well... That's a story for another time, ain't it?"
He grins and casts his gaze to the sky for a moment, briefly hugging his coat back around him. "Don't it strike anyone as odd that our Divine Love Story, handed to us from generations past is one featurin' a girl with a pan and someone who can't set down roots? Most love stories feature gallant knights and princesses, or fierce lovers overcoming obstacles. You know what I mean, right? But nah, our story, the one written in the heavens and given to us, is just Menphina and her lover Oschon, and he wanders and she seems like she's the house cook. I'm ramblin' a bit, mostly on account'a not wantin' to get all sentimental."
Annunu disagrees with Chuta.
![[Image: aDeL881.png]](http://i.imgur.com/aDeL881.png)
He looks into the crowd and grins again. "I was blessed twice by Menphina. Cursed her pretty good after the first'un, but... Love isn't some limited resource we run out of. "
"We might -think- we do, but believe me... True love is Divine, and the Divine don't care 'bout what we think may or may not be. Menphina stands out among her fellows because of that, I think. You ain't gotta throw lightning or see the future to be recognized as gifted. Sometimes all it takes is makin' an unlikely relationship blossom."
"Generations from now we're still probably gonna be tellin' the same love story. Do ya think they knew that back then? The -real- Menphina and her lover? That one day there'd be stories and tales and all'a this -divine- wrapped up between them?"
He pauses for a moment to let that sit.
"We don't know who they were. We only know that we remember them. Maybe you're Menphina in a thousand years. Maybe some travelin' writer sees you and your beau, and styles a song after you. We don't know. We can't know. So... I guess what I'm sayin' after all'a this words and nonsense..."
He grins and casts his gaze to the sky for a moment, briefly hugging his coat back around him. "Don't it strike anyone as odd that our Divine Love Story, handed to us from."
Chuta then nods to himself a little, his eyes drifting to the side and away for a moment. "Yeah. Maybe all we gotta do is love."
"That'll do, Miss Jancis?" "Yes, yes that will do just fine!"
"Thanks folks."
![[Image: hpThOka.png]](http://i.imgur.com/hpThOka.png)
