Alright, so she had been slacking.

It was very difficult, however, to find the will to travel to the other side of the caves when you aren't certain if the Creator himself will kill you in the coming days, however. Aethril had damn near been inclined to give up. It was not worth the effort if she were going to die halfway during the journey.

A month and a half passed and Aethril was, to her surprise, still breathing. Everything continued as normal. Obieth and Pollen were back-- damaged, but back --and her creation would be due to turn up any day now. So, fine. It was time to get back to work.

Armour on, travel boots strapped (these were also good for the mud in Cetus), and Aethril was off with little more than a spare skin of water attached to her belt. It was a gruelling journey mostly lined with boredom, and by the time she had passed the Skystone Spire in Polaris she was kicking herself for not bringing someone over for company.

But, hours later, she was here, approaching the lip over the Heart and looking into the blackened waters. Cetus was... well, it wasn't looking good. She had experienced swamps before in her life (her previous life, that is) but she hadn't known any to stink so badly. The stench of the dead damn near brought tears to her eyes.

Wait. Why is there a pile of corpses?

... oh. Oh that was funny. She would have laughed if she weren't sweaty and hot and tired from the journey. The thought that Aquarian had somehow banded a cult to feed him regularly was something she'd have to gossip with Isra over when she got home. With some kind of cool drink. Perhaps after a bath...

Aethril turned her head from the carrion and took a breath. "Aquarian!" She bellowed out across the Heart. "I must speak with you!"

Her eyes narrowed as a spray of putrid water went crashing in all directions, and Aethril found herself resisting the urge to dry the droplets off her face. Aquarian hadn't got any less small or quieter over the hibernation, it seemed-- which... might have been a good thing? At least he isn't a deer, she found herself scoffing over.

A breath, and the Valkhand got right to the point. "I want to know why you aren't creating," she said. "And why you now refuse to work with Nemean." She herself did not know Aquarian too well-- she'd seen him more often on the screen in the Palace Theatre than she had in physical real life, but she highly doubted that he would care too deeply about the smaller details.

The key points here were 'get back to work' and 'quickly--' and they were what Aethril intended to stick with. The less time spent here, the better.

"If we found a new partner for you to create with," Aethril offered as she braced herself for Aquarian's screaming reply, "is there anyone you are willing to work with?"

Some might have been... sympathetic.

In fact, Aethril did not doubt in the slightest that Aquarian was genuinely upset. She did not doubt that Nemean's betrayal had left deep wounds that very clearly had not begun to heal in the slightest, but his wailing, the theatrics, the woe-is-me of it all-- something about it rubbed the Valkhand the wrong way. Something about it stirred the Chaos in her belly that rose like bile to her throat.

"I AM HERE NOW!" She roared, and although she couldn't match Aquarian's volume in the slightest, the attempt was there: an attempt that left her throat feeling raw and her lungs aching for breath.

It did not relieve any anger, either-- the taste of Chaos lingered on her lips, and she brought her hands to her head to sweep her hair behind her in a calming movement. Screaming at Aquarian wouldn't resolve anything: she would be lucky if it net anything other than the Master screaming back, twice as loud. She knew this, and she bit back the immediate frustration at her own words.

Aethril's expression had turned forcibly calm, but stiff hand movements accenting her words as she spoke betrayed what lay beneath. "I want to help, Aquarian," she said through gritted teeth. "How many did she trap, and where are they? Do you know how to free them?"

More questions, on top of the ones she had asked prior.