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Saul Boggle hummed softly to himself as he cleaned up Cobigail’s altar. He used a spray bottle borrowed from Bayker to spray some all-purpose cleaner on the altar, using a washcloth to wipe things down. Most of the jam and other offerings had been collected and enjoyed by the God of Harvest in Her Domain, leaving him to clean up the remains and little stains. He wanted to make sure his God had a clean altar for the next time offerings were brought to Her. He was going to make sure it looked like it was brand new!
He perked up at the sound of someone clearing their throat behind him. “Oh! I’m almost done! Just a moment and I’ll leave you to…”
“Akshually…I wanted ta talk ta yew…” a familiar voice said.
He blinked and turned around. His eyes widened at the sight of the tall Drainian standing behind him, wringing his tail in his clawed paws. Saul adjusted his glasses, wincing when he nearly smacked them off of his own face fiddling around. “Hector…” he said.
It had been a little over a month since the wild events of this Rift Closing. A lot of things had nearly gone wrong. The Rift had almost opened far too wide for even the Gods to close it. King had been unfairly maligned and spoken ill of by the whole Grove. Not to mention that Saul had almost spilled the blood of Milldread’s oldest resident on Cobigail’s altar, staining it forever as something tainted and wrong.
And all of it had almost happened thanks to the former God of Leadership and His false letters of advice supposedly from King.
Hector lifted up a paw, waving shyly at Saul as he murmured, “heya, Sauly…”
“…hello, Hector,” Saul greeted, bowing his head slightly to the other.
“I uh…if yer busy I kin always leave an’…”
“No! I mean…” Saul cleared his throat and straightened his back. He gestured to a nearby bench with a sleeve covered hand. “Sit?” he asked.
Hector smiled and let out a sigh of relief as he took the offer. He sat down and hissed at the sound of bones softly popping. “Ooh! I’m still gittin’ usedta dat!” he confessed as Saul slowly sat down beside him.
“It must be strange going from mortal to God and then back again,” Saul agreed with a nod.
“Yeah, it’s weird,” Hector agreed. He looked at Saul and blushed, clearing his throat as he shifted in his seat. “I ain’t heah ta talk ‘bout dat though. Not really anyway.”
The blonde tilted his head to the side, brushing his hair out of his face. “What did you come here for?”
“I came ta ‘pologize fo’ what I did.”
Saul smiled, spreading his arms out wide as he said, “Lady Cobigail has already told everyone that there are no hard feelings between the two of you! No one in Milldread intends on exacting revenge against you! You should know this as the one who helped us during the Great Fire. Lady Cob…”
“I came ta ‘pologize fo’ what I did ta yew, Saul.”
Saul lowered his arms, staring at Hector in surprise. “Oh…” he finally said.
Hector rubbed the back of his neck, looking down at the ground. “Yeah…”
When Saul was a small child, there had been a massive fire that ran through Milldread. It was later called the Great Fire. He had been terrified, hiding in the back of the library to try and escape from the flames. Hector had found him somehow, rescuing him from the raging fire that later engulfed the library as soon as they were safe from harm thanks to Hector and his BizzyBoys.
Hector was later voted to become the next God during the election that came after the fire. His heroics in Milldread that day, combined with other acts performed throughout the Grove, had cemented his place among the Grovians as a beloved member of the community deserving of Divinity. He became Inspekta, God of Leadership.
Saul never forgot how Hector had saved his life. He visited the new God whenever the God Complex came to Milldread, excitedly telling Him all about what he was doing. It had been Inspekta that he first told about the changing of his name and pronouns and the God had sat with him and encouraged him to go and tell Cobigail about his new name.
He told Inspekta about how some of the elders had told him he would be named priest one day and he asked Inspekta a lot of questions about what it meant to be a good leader to his people. Saul wanted to be the best leader possible for Milldread and he went to Inspekta for help, bringing offerings and prayers to the newest God.
Sometimes Saul would catch Inspekta’s right hand man Capochin giving him annoyed glances whenever his visit took several hours but he never knew what that was about.
Inspekta always seemed eager to listen and help, giving Saul all kinds of advice when asked for it. He liked the way this mortal worshipped him with almost as much fervor as His BizzyBoys did. Capochin was always annoyed when Inspekta said this but He waved it away as simple jealousy.
Hector took a deep breath and let it out slowly as he wiped his glasses on his sweater before putting them back on. “It was wrong what I did. When I wrote dat lettah ta yew? It was wrong. Yew always came ta me an’ tol’ me ‘bout yer fears an’ wishes of bein’ a great leader fo’ Milldread an’ what did I do? I used it against yew. I poiposely used yer anxieties an’ worries against yew an’ almos’ tricked ya inta killin’ Ol Bloom! Ta be honest…I didn’t think yew would go dat far…but I..!”
His words died as Saul moved closer. His eyes widened in stunned surprise as the Milldreadite hugged onto him. “Oh,” he whispered, hugging Saul close as he rested his head against him.
It was the same way he had held onto Hector during their escape from the fire in the library.
“You’ll always be my hero,” Saul whispered. “You were the one who encouraged me to see Lady Cobigail when I came to the conclusion I was a boy. You made me feel so safe and warm when that happened. I was so nervous…I’m not sure why. I mean Thespius and our Lady are both…”
“You was nervois. Lotsa people git nervois when comin’ out ‘bout things like dat,” he explained.
“You were the one who pushed me to accept the nomination to be Milldread’s priest. You were always there for me. I’ll always be there for you too, Hector.”
Hector sniffed, laughing helplessly as he brushed away tears with the heel of his paw. “Do yew rememba what I told ya when you was first made priest?”
Saul blushed, nodding his head.
“I said yew was gonna be an amazin’ leada for yer people, Saul. An’ yew know what? Looks like I was right!”
Saul smiled, nuzzling against Hector’s sweater. The material was still comforting against his skin after all these years. “My hero,” he whispered.
Hector laughed, hugging Saul tight as unshed tears burned in his eyes. “T’anks, Saul. Really…t’ank yew.”