The Greatest Sin [Progression Fantasy][Kingdom Building]
Chapter 298 – A City Regrown

Kavaa stared at the three Goddesses in holds of Raptor One. Anassa had awoken and was feeling groggy apparently, Neneria had not gone under long enough to be tired. All she did was just sit there the others in silence. And Fer, grinning so widely her smile went from ear-to-ear, tapping her foot and twitching her ears. Her dilated eyes jumped from anything to everything in the cargo holds, seemingly unable to focus on anything individually. And every now and then she would purr in laughter.

The woman was wired, there was no other way to describe it.

Iniri stood in New-Nanbasa, Iniri’s Nanbasa, Green Nanbasa or just Nanbasa, depending on who was asked. The city had been regrown and now was being redecorated by human hands, but it was obvious that the project had been designed by a Divine. The Goddess of Nature looked around her city in pride, it would make sense for Nanbasa to stay as Nanbasa, but she liked that people sometimes referred to the city as Iniri’s Nanbasa. Her green dress swayed in the wind, just as her long earthy hair did. Frankly, she should cut it at this point, there just hadn’t been time recently.

She had gone west to east, from the governmental district, then the residential, the commercial, and finally the industrial zone that had sat in the east and will sit in the east again. First, she had grown what she supposed Arascus would declare the New Imperial Palace. From outside, it was a huge twisting tidal wave of wood, as tall as a skyscraper and arched around. Pockmarked with windows and balconies and branches that served as bridges into the open air. Iniri had made them to be decorational but she tried to give them some purpose too, they were there to serve as landing and launching platforms for Divines that could fly. Frankly, she was sure that even if Anassa and Arascus wouldn’t say anything, they would be pleased with them.

And on the inside of the New Imperial Palace, the corridors were downright huge. Each hallway may as well have been a great-hall by itself, it was tall even for Arascus, a Divine like Elassa would be able to fly through here and still have room for pirouettes. The decorations weren’t brought in yet, the palace would come last during the city’s rebuilding frankly. It was far more important to get the refugees who had been chased out of the city back into the city, and they needed glass windows and metal wires for electricity, all things that Iniri could not grow.

Although it was just those essentials of modernity that were lacking. Iniri had even managed to bring forth hardy ironwoods here, which had been twisted and grown pipes for plumbing. Beds had been fashioned of stacked branches, they would twist and bend and flex to create a sensation of softness competitive with goose feathers. Even pillows had been grown of huge leaves that had thick insides. That was just the personal amenities. Arascus had made sure to give Iniri a few tips and hints on what to do with the city. She had chosen to maintain the original ring design of Nanbasa. That had been iconic, and Iniri thought it fit that her trees now grew to replace and enhance the old style rather than tear it down to refashion it from the ground.

And now, Iniri stood and looked at the port. Or what was supposed to be a port. Certain parts of the city, Arascus had given her hints on. A few of the branches that connected the skyscrapers would stay as walkways, but most were being worked on by heavy machinery and men with saws to equip them with an intercity tramline. The airport’s control tower was a huge conifer tree that wouldn’t shed leaves as to keep the runway clear.

But now, Iniri turned back to the ruined port. She ignored the revolving-door crowd of people who were constantly following her. It was people who had come to see their city being regrown and engineers who were watching and sketching what she built. The remains of the Seawall she had grown were still here, concrete and wood and all. The corpses of the huge cranes and towers that had brought in containers from ships were strewn across the shore, half-submerged in the waters. Two ships that had been docked also lay capsized. Iniri stood there, and Iniri was honestly stumped.

What was supposed to be regrown here exactly? She couldn’t pull mechanical cranes out of the ground, and the concrete docks, although they were lacking warehouses, still jutted from the shore and poked the sea like a series of rectangular teeth.

Cleaning then. Cleaning would be necessary no matter what she decided. A truck carrying rubble out of the city trundled past Iniri. The Goddess of Nature flexed her hands, aimed them forwards and called upon the tiny little seedling that lay strewn about the world. They existed everywhere, there wasn’t a land that didn’t have them, whether dropped from packets or carried by birds or simply drifting across the wind, Iniri’s powers found the seedlings that had been deposited on the beach. Their age didn’t matter, nor whether they were alive or dead, as long as they hadn’t been turned to stone yet, Iniri could work with them. She found an ancient set of oak seeds from Epa laying deep in the beach’s sands.

Epan Oak was hardy and stronger and Iniri’s energies reached out from the Goddess. They trailed like an invisible silken scarf, wrapping around and hugging the seedlings as they fed fresh life into them. One seedling cracked into a series of roots, they metastasized like a cancerous tumour. A patch of ocean turned darker. And then that patch of ocean exploded upwards as a marvellous oak burst from it. Iniri heard the crowd of people make a collective sigh of awe as Iniri’s fingers danced in the air. Another half-dozen oak trees burst from the ocean, they tilted downwards, their branches became talons, those talons hooked steel and pulled.

Iniri felt a bead of sweat burst out of her forehead as the two massive container ships, still filled with flooded cargo, were hoisted out of the ocean. Why had she even decided to do both at once? Well whatever. Both ships moved, and both ships crashed down onto the port. The crowd cheered once again as the trees started to slither through the water like hunting crocodiles. They started to dig out the ruined cranes that had once been the port’s greatest tools.

It took no longer than thirty minutes to get all the hunks of ruined steel out of the ocean. Iniri turned around and smiled to the crowd. She got an utterly glamourizing cheer as a reward. She gave them a wider smile and a bow in return. And the cheer got louder. And then Iniri turned back around and looked to the ocean.

Once again, she was utterly stumped. What exactly was she supposed to do here? Iniri took a deep breath. Warehouses maybe? But the warehouses should go up after the cranes. And the cranes should go up after the dock’s central structure. And the docks would have to be built around ships.

And frankly, what did Iniri know about cargo ships?

She giggled at the silly thought. Kassandora would no doubt know about cargo ships, if only because she smuggled weaponry out of Kirinyaa to Epa and vice-versa. Helenna and Malam definitely knew everything and anything to do with them. Fer most likely did too, the Goddess of Beasthood always surprised Iniri with how much she actually knew. But Anassa? Neneria? Even Elassa? What did they know of cargo ships? Iniri sighed, but she kept on smiling. She wasn’t the glorious Goddess of War, but being equal to Of Sorcery, Of Death and Of Magic was already a high bar.

And Iniri stood there as she watched. Frankly, she had no clue what to do now. One of the architects or engineers or surveyors or whatever they were eventually closed the gap. The rest of the crowd was still watching Iniri, although people were starting to split off. It was annoying at first, and then Iniri realised she was being annoyed by the fact people were leaving.

And then she thought of how the other Divines dealt with it, or how they seemed to deal with it. Fer? Well Fer was the most popular of Arascus’ Daughter-Goddesses. Fer could walk anywhere and generate a crowd just from the fact the woman was a walking bundle of joy. Neneria? Neneria was inept. That made sense though, she was the Goddess of Death. Anassa then? Well Anassa was Anassa. Anassa was a maniac that managed to disgust even Kavaa’s steel stomach. What did Anassa care about crowds and adoration? That woman adored herself and that was enough for her. What about Kassandora? Iniri shook her head. She didn’t know a single Divine, even in the White Pantheon, who would ever bemoan Kassandora’s skill. The woman was feared and respected even though she was physically weaker than most of them. Kavaa then? Well Kavaa was in the same boat, Kavaa had Orders that listened to her just as Kassandora had a military that…

And what about Arascus? Iniri blushed at the sheer audacity of the thought. To compare herself to the man who started the Great War was a leap in itself. It wasn’t that Mother Nature had never led wars in the past, but there wasn’t a single Divine who could lay claim to the fact that they forced an alliance of three worlds to come together to defeat them.

“Excuse me.” Iniri blinked, she had gotten lost in thought about Arascus and one of the builders had snuck up on her. She turned to look at the man, he had come with a whole team of six men. All dark Kirinyaans, all tall and all in clean, expensive yet casual clothes. Light, unbuttoned linen shirts and shorts for the sun.

“I was just thinking.” Iniri blurted out quickly and cooled her blush. She stood half again the height of these men, there was no reason to be blushing at the fact they had caught her unawares. The man nodded as Iniri looked down at his paper. It was a series of notes in the native Kirinyaan tongue. Admittedly, although Kass and Helenna and Malam and Arascus had learned it, Iniri had never bothered to. She had simply picked up on a few phrases here and there, but this much was far out of her realm.

“I was just going to ask if you’re finished?” Iniri narrowed her eyes at the man and shook her head.

“I’ll do the port too, I’m just thinking on what to do with it.”

“I understand.” The man said. “We’ll keep on making reports then, we have…” He stepped from side to side under the glare of the Goddess. “We’re just taking notes on what to do.” He gave the Goddess an awkward thumbs up. “Everyone really liked the skyrail.”

Iniri beamed a smile back at him. She felt her heart skip a beat and she just about managed to keep her cheeks from flushing. The realisation that she was embarrassed then did flush her cheeks, and made a half turn away from the man. “Thank you.” The man inclined his head, made an awkward bob, and retreated back to the crowd. Iniri turned back around and looked out over the open ocean.

She was still stumped.

Iniri was so stumped in fact, that she stood there for maybe half an hour. Maybe an hour. Long enough for the crowd to disperse and long enough for heavy machinery to start conglomerating around the wreckages of the hulls. Long enough for the sun to make traverse its own width again across the sky. Long enough for planes to start landing at Iniri’s regrown airport.

Long enough for Arascus to come and inspect what she was doing. The God of Pride hovered through the air in his usual black uniform. Long coat, long boots, no hat over his long hair. He settled down next to Iniri with a heavy thud. Iniri knew she was short, she had been short in the Pantheon. Now that Kassandora, Neneria and Anassa were around, that just made it even harder to forget about her height. But when she stood next to Arascus or Fer, on both of them, her head barely reached past their stomachs, she felt like a damn child. “How are you doing?” Arascus asked.

“I…” Iniri spoke before thinking, her cheeks went red that now she had nothing to say, and then they went red at the sheer embarrassment of being a Goddess who actually got embarrassed.

“You’ve done a good job so far.” Arascus said. His voice was a low rumble of a bumblebee. And she felt his hand rest on her back.

Frankly, Iniri didn’t want him to touch her. Not because of some discomfort, but because he dealt with types like Kassandora and Neneria and Anassa and Fer. Those Divines were simply in another league, even Helenna and Kavaa, weak as they were physically, were grossly competent in some field. Kavaa could lead, Kavaa could fight and Kavaa could heal, whereas Helenna could manipulate and propagandize like no other. And what could Iniri do? She could grow trees. She guessed she made fine wines too.

How could Arascus be rubbing her back when his sphere was composed of Divines like that? “I’m stuck.” Iniri admitted earnestly. There was no reason to play coy, no doubt the man knew already.

“Turn around.” Arascus said. Iniri did.

Iniri did and Iniri saw Nanbasa regrown.

Like a marvellous rolling silken scarf carried in the wind, the city was continuous wave of buildings and bridges, of leaves and lights, of cars rolling along trees and through roots. Each building a giant tree, each tree connected to the next, it was a skyscraper sized wall of flora, and yet… Iniri felt her lips start to crawl upwards into a smile. People crowded and clamoured the streets, each one with a smile absolutely beaming and hopeful eyes full of nothing but utterly awed gratitude. Iniri blinked a spot of wetness away from her eyes. “Iniri.” Arascus said.

“Mmh?” Iniri voiced, it was all she could do to not burst out in tears right now.

“Do you know why I got you to regrow Nanbasa?”

Iniri shook her head, she blinked her tears away, she wiped her cheeks, she stamped her foot, she pulled some faux-anger from within her stomach to the forefront. Anger at herself for being such a little girl, but it barely lasted long enough for her to get a word out. “Mmh-No.” She managed to utter out.

“Because I wanted you to prove to yourself that you can still exist here.” Arascus said. Iniri straightened as she felt a lightning bolt crawl down her spine.

“What?”

“Look and weep at what you’ve made.” Arascus said. “Because it’s the most beautiful and unique city in all Arika. In all Arda maybe, although admittedly I’ve not travelled in this past millennium.” Iniri stared at the city again and shook her head.

“I just grew what…” And she didn’t get a chance to correct herself. Arascus spoke before she could continue.

“What you’ve done, you’ve done alone.” Arascus said. He pointed up, towards the huge hollow trees that were residential blocks. The interconnecting web of branches in-between them was being worked on by a swarm of men installing tramlines, it reminded Iniri of ants that organized into long, winding snakes as they travelled. “The skyrail of Nanbasa for example.” Arascus continued, his voice booming with pride. “To you, it was branches, to them, it is the foundation for a new style of city, one that will only be possible by building on foundations you set out.”

“I…” Iniri wanted to bawl her eyes out. She…

She didn’t know what it was, she had never considered that… She was the Goddess of Nature, a Goddess long abandoned by the march of technology. And now? She had been crucial for this advancement? How? And she looked up at Arascus, the man didn’t look down at her, he merely looked with a proud smile at the city.

“Another thing.” He continued. “We both know of this Kirinyaan sun, you were here in the old Nanbasa and felt how hot it was during the day. Now? Have you walked in between the shaded trees?” Arascus rubbed her back again. “That’s something that technology can’t replace Iniri. We’re not going to be building metal domes to give us shade, are we?”

And this time, Iniri didn’t say anything, she couldn’t say anything. The foundation for the skyrail was one thing. It was a concept, made by her because she could simply grow it. But this? The man was right. He was so right that Iniri felt tears slither down her cheeks again. Why had… And she got angry. Some seed in her grew, some wilted rose sprung back to life, its thorns grew sharp.

Why had the White Pantheon just sequestered her off to a thousand years of farming and nothing else?

Arascus turned around and Iniri turned with him. They looked out over the port. The man began to speak, but he didn’t sound disappointed. He wasn’t scolding Allasaria or pretentious Maisara or blunt Fortia, he was Arascus instead, a patriarch so noble that he didn’t bemoan or berate. He… Iniri realised how the man sounded, although she had never felt the such a pull, she had only heard mortals talk of it.

Mortals and Fer and Neneria and Kassandora and Anassa and Olephia and Malam.

Arascus explained to Iniri like a father. “There are times when we don’t do everything.” Arascus said. “I don’t micromanage the entire state. Kassandora has generals. Anassa has sorcerers even though she can exist in different places simultaneously. Fer doesn’t delegate, but Fer isn’t given authority either, is she?” Iniri shook her head as Arascus pointed to the seaside. “Honestly, I expected you to fail long before you got here. At the airport or the warehouse districts you surprised me and rebuilt them. Here though?”

“What should I do?” Iniri asked.

“That, I can’t tell you.” Arascus said. “I’m not a port-master, nor the God of Ports, I’m just the humble God of Pride.” He chuckled at his own joke and Iniri felt herself smiling along with it. “But you should ask, the surveyors behind you or the builders, because there is no shame in asking Iniri. You can try leaping and leaping until you eventually scale the wall, or you can just ask a friend for a ladder. Frankly, it is better that you ask and get it right on the first time, instead of needing to make a mess so you know how to keep it clean next time.”

Iniri had no clue as to why…

She simply did not know why she had been so stupid. Once again, her eyes were starting to get wet. Now that the man had said those words, how could she deny the utter righteousness of them? What else was she supposed to do? Try and build a port and then keep failing over and over again? Or could she just ask instead? “I also wanted to tell you something.” Arascus said.

“What?”

They turned around once again, and Arascus pointed to that huge, curved structure that was like a wooden tidal wave. “Do you know what that is?” He asked.

“I thought you’d call it the Imperial Palace of Kirinyaa or something like that.” Iniri just about managed to keep her voice steady.

“No.” Arascus said. The woman only sighed in agreement, but the man continued. “I wanted to call it Iniri’s Gift to Kirinyaa instead.”

Iniri blinked at what she just heard. She… she must have misheard. That was impossible. He had given her the job. It was his palace. She was only here to work and do a good job. “What?” Why did she even say that? Couldn’t she just accept a good thing when it came to her? What if he backtracked now? What if he thought she was turning the offer down?

“I’ve chosen the name already.” Arascus said. “Iniri’s Gift to Kirinyaa is the official name. It’ll be the Palace for ease of use, but on the maps, it’s you.”

Iniri felt her throat catch. The Palace became a blur through her tears, she felt her knees shake. Quickly, she wrapped her arms around Arascus’ torso and buried her face in his chest. And she felt the man stroke her brown hair even though she was ruining his coat. That…

Had another Divine ever thanked her?

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