The Scribe
"Mortals live upon their daily bread, but pray tell, what do Gods live upon?" A question as Thoth acknowledged the Raven Queen's offer, and more so declined the fine hospitality. Or so it would be for even gods were often bound to the rules of the underworlds, for even Death transcended the gods, and its realm was beyond them. Of course Thoth was a cut above the gods, or perhaps a cut well even. For by being the Balance, his power shall at least always enough to match that of a opposing force set side him, thus the Wordborn one had no qualms of intruding upon the realms of other Gods. Keeping his wits about him, as he delves in the minds and thoughts of those around him, his Avian eyes staring deep into the mind of the Goddess. Nothing was a secret from him, merely think it, and should his gaze turn into interest upon your thoughts, then like a pearl of a oyster, Thoth shall rip through your skull and fetch that precious scrap of information he seeks. Best not to resist.
Perhaps it was ironic then, that his question was addressed to a death god. One who plots the end of things, like the fates and their thread and shears, the queen before him dictated the death of great ones. Prophesized truths, promises kept, and certainly wars won and lost at her whim, but it was not all without planning, delegation and subterfuge. Yes, she was the sly one to manipulate, the one to carefully position around the board> Precious to use, and precious to lose, the Morrigahn was not an ally to be sacrificed in the trivial pursuits of the game, or was she?
"There is much to speak of O' Queen of Phantasms. It is time.""The time has come, to talk of many things: Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax, of cabbages, and king. A loaf of bread is what we chiefly need." If this made any sense, to the Goddess, Thoth would be surprised, for certainly there was an symbolism to everything he just said, drowned out in the madness of the phrases. The loaf of bread for example, a reference to the underworld she dwelt in currently, as the host's offer was of bread which Thoth had denied. A king, of course was a reference to a god, the question is which one? Cabbage? Greenery associated with her Pantheon's worshipers and druids. Sealing wax? Thoth himself, and the wax which scholars seal their writs with. Ships? The underworld boat, that which carried the souls of the dead, both in the Egyptian afterlife and the Greco-Roman afterlife. and Shoes? Well, that was psychopomp, Hermes who brings the dead to the mouth of the river to board the boat. See? There was a method to the madness, it was now a test for her to figure it all out to which the ambiguity would be dispelled shortly after.
"I propose an alliance to benefit our brethren. The Romans have invaded Egypt, and Britannia. Balance must be maintained, and the power must shift back to the original owners. They have had their years of lording over our rightful lands, now it is time to change the tides, something of which you are familiar to no, Great Queen?" Thoth had still remained in his bird-like form, although for gods these were merely trivial representations of their true selves, and for Thoth his true form was beyond the conception of mortal beings, a truly cosmic power as his astral self would project the celestial grandeur that is Thoth.
"A war maiden such yourself, must deal with Athena, I cannot grant victory to either side, but you can. My proposal is simple, we must capture Hermes the escort of the souls of the Roman dead, your druids shall claim the souls Hades would gain for your own underworld. We shall certainly starve the boy out, and his power shall wane with every soul stolen from him, while you shall gain power, enough to overtake his kingdom and oust him from his own realm. And if you can overthrow Hades, then the rest of the Olympians will tremble. For without the God of Wealth, they shall have no reserve dead to bolster the prayers of the living."A rather modest proposal so far, yet it was rather imbalanced, and thus certainly not in his nature to leave it without some form of redistribution of the spoils of war.
"For I have already set into motion, plans to silence the living Romans who have invaded my lands, to oust them as you would oust them from these isles. Their deaths would fuel our uprising against the Olympians. And once you have taken hades for youself, all that I ask for in return, is one visit to the realm, wherein I may do what I wish before I leave. For there is some knowledge I seek from the dead, and Hades will not let me in so willingly.""What say you, one bird to another?"