[ Description provided by  jsk244 ]

The world was awash in noise, full of the sounds of a party that spread from day to night. The clinking of coins, the tumbling of dice, the laughter of winners, the grumbles of losers. People awash in colors and lights and splendor, merrily moving from building to building, table to table! It was a festival of life and it's most fickle of elements, the aspects of Luck in all of its splendor.

I moved to and fro, pulled by the sea of people to one spot to test my luck, then another and another. It was so much, so dizzying, how could anyone think or breathe in such lands like this? The call of nature was so far away, how I yearned for a quiet broke of a gentle breeze. Yet I was never overwhelmed even as I drowned in the sea of people around me. But then I stumbled out of it, a wall of suits and dresses behind me, and landed before a dazzling temple of all that this city embodied.

It was quieter here, like a wall between me and the outside. The walkway flush with wildly growing plants and tiny little colored guiding lights. It told me to come forth, beckoned me to a haven where I could maybe escape for a time from the outside and the people. I followed it, walking along cobblestones of gold, then up stairs rich with red carpeting and diamond handrails. I found the entrance open to the outside, no doors to bar my passage, but when I walked in the noise dwindled even further until it was a quiet tinkle and murmur, like below me several floors in a giant buildings lobby.

And then I saw her, or she saw me. Her tremendous paws rising to fall gently around me and pinning me to the lavish floor. I felt no pressure and pain, only surprise, before she gently squeezed me close to her toes and lifted me up. The Goddess of the city, luck incarnate and blessed. Her grin one of mischief and coy amusement, as she lounged upon a lavish lounge-chair of coins and cards. She greeted me, calling it lucky that I could find her, her grin widening as she chuckled knowingly.

She offered me nothing but time with her, wanting someone to pass the moment with. I blushed, feeling safe among her warm toes, and she replied with a press of her toe to gently boop my muzzle. A pawtoy to a Goddess, the Goddess Hyva. Yet I felt safe and welcome even as she rolled me like a dice between the dexterous toes. She talked to me, asking how I found her city. She listened with her great fluffy ears swaying to listen to my voice, grin never dying yet softening as I spoke of the volume, the rush. She told me of how the draw of luck could do that to people, how it revitalized, how it drained, how the rush back and forth led many to wanting to gamble it all away. But then she spoke of the downtrodden, who needed a chance to rise up, how sometimes people needed the sound and noise to drown out their problems. Luck came in all shapes and sizes, she explained, and gently spread her toes so I was unable to see anything. When she parted her paws again, I was now before her form as she sat up and leaned over me. What did I need, she asked, head tilting with a grin. Just a moment of rest, I replied, and suddenly I understood.

I was very blessed, so lucky, to have found what I needed, from the very Goddess of chance and opportunities. She chuckled and waved a hand over me, and suddenly I had a pouch laden with coins. It jangled and clinked against my hip, but I felt lighter than ever. She offered me a chance to return, when my coins were low or my spirit drained. Whichever came first, and as she grinned I knew. Whatever happened to me in her city, would be a flip of the coin that I could decide for myself how it fell. And for the first flip, I asked if we could play for just a little longer. And the Goddess Hyva provided.

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Hyva and Alef ©  Alef-GP


Artwork ©  Alef-GP