The destruction was getting to be a bit much.

  Cities were surviving, but anything with a population less than a thousand was suffering severe destruction. In the forests, trees were cracked and fell. In the mountains, rockslides were taking out everything living, plants and animals and people alike. In the air, the shockwaves were disrupting bird flight and weather systems.

  And this wasn’t even as bad as it was going to get.

  Calvin and Emmy were still working. Their house no longer existed, so they weren’t particularly eager to go home. As long as Bonnie assured them Luke was alive after every earthquake, they were happy.

  Jasmine, however, had asked to go back to Broccoli after learning that her parents had died when the building they were in collapsed. She had a little brother, and was now his only relative.

  Bonnie debated telling Jasmine that her parents would be turned into goblins and placed into one of the towns she had designed. The fairy had been rightfully proud of her work, and it might make her happy to know her parents would be benefiting from it.

  Yes, there were rules against that, but, well, Calvin would have told her.

  Which was why Calvin wasn’t in charge.

  Maybe she’d mention it later.

  For the moment, Bonnie was perplexed. People kept constantly asking why the earthquakes were happening. Bonnie had explained about the continent breaking, about how it was just a geological thing. No one seemed to understand that. They demanded another reason. A “better” reason.

  Goddess Bonnie grumbled, sending off another letter to another priest, explaining that all this was an unavoidable planet tectonics issue. There was nothing anyone could do about it. She was ameliorating it as much as she could, but in the end, it was just a thing that was going to happen. Be patient, and it will all be over soon. Patience was a very important virtue in these trying times.

  If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.

  Emmy stretched in her chair, looking over. “Something wrong?”

  “No, people just keep asking the same question over and over again,” Bonnie said with a sigh. “I’ve answered it fifty thousand times by now.”

  “What question?” Emmy asked.

  “Why the earthquakes are happening. Why buildings are falling down. Why people get hurt when the buildings fall down in earthquakes.”

  There was a pause as Emmy and Calvin shared a glance.

  “Ok,” Calvin said, pushing his chair back so he faced Bonnie. “When you have kids, you learn that the question asked isn’t always the real question. If a seven-year-old asks the same question ten times, you have to stop and figure out what the real question is.”

  “These aren’t kids,” Bonnie told him. “They’re priests. Adults.”

  “May I?” Emmy asked, motioning to Bonnie’s station.

  Bonnie got up, motioning the woman into her chair. Emmy sat down, typed for fifteen seconds, then got back up.

  “Send that to everyone.”

  Bonnie looked at the screen.

  [None of this is your fault. I know you’re doing the best you can.]

  “But… How will that help?” Bonnie asked. “That’s not even close to an answer for what they’re asking.”

  Emmy smiled patiently. “Yes, it is.”

  “Trust her,” Calvin ordered.

  “You haven’t even seen what she wrote!”

  “No, but I trust her completely. She figured out all Luke’s questions, and you know any son of mine had a lot of questions.”

  Conceding the point, Bonnie sent the message.

  Almost immediately, prayers of gratitude started rolling in. Bonnie stared, almost annoyed, as new questions started appearing. The questions that had been repeating endlessly were gone.

  “See?” Emmy asked. “You’re just thinking too literally. You’re a goddess, not an engineer.” She stepped away, but Bonnie grabbed her arm and pushed her back into the chair.

  “Ok, you get to answer questions for a while, with your magic mothering powers that can decipher questions,” the goddess said.

  Emmy smirked. “You trust me?”

  “More than I trust Calvin, and no one seems to like my answers,” Bonnie shrugged.

  “Ask for a raise,” Calvin stage-whispered to his wife.

  Emmy laughed as Bonnie threw a coffee cup at his head.