“Most of the night. It didn’t take me long to talk
to the other gods.”

“So what did they say?”

“Well, I went to Aphrodite first. She wasn’t much
help. She said she does what she does, and if it works out, then
fine. If it doesn’t, well, too bad.”

“I suppose that’s one way of looking at things. So
who else did you go to?”

“Next I went to see the Fates.”

“And . . . ?”

“They said that whatever I do has already been
predestined, no matter how many I save, or how many I let die. A
lot of help THEY were!”

“It sounds like they were letting you off the
hook.”

“But I don’t want to be off the hook! I want to do
what’s right!”

“Talk to anyone else?”

“Yeah. Next I went to see Hades.”

“I bet THAT was a lot of fun.”

“It wasn’t that bad, not at first. He seemed to be
really open and honest with me. Of course, his suggestion was that
I let them ALL die. I guess so his position as God of the
Underworld would be justified. But then Ares showed up.”

“Still mad?”

“Sort of. But this time it was more at Hades than me. They
ended up arguing about how many I should let die and how many I
should Heal. As I said, Hades wanted all of them dead. But Ares
wanted them all to live to fight again. He said that the more
soldiers there were, then the more deaths there would be, more than
enough to satisfy Hades. Then Hades came back saying that if I
didn’t let any of them die, then there would be none  to
deliver to Tartarus, and no heroes for the Elysian Fields. And they
went back and forth for like that I don’t know how 
long. After a while I just slipped away. I don’t think they
even missed me.”

“Well, I think I may have a solution, if you want to hear
it.”

“Of course I do! What is it?”

“Why not just concentrate on the villages and towns and
just stay completely away from the battlefields? That way, when you
heal the sick or injured, you’ll know they’re the ones
who need it.”

“But what about . . . ?”

“Gabrielle, just last night you were complaining that you
were doing Celesta’s job. Let her do it!”