In the Name of Order
What a cute girl.
That had been Sunya's first impression of Inanna. He had also thought she looked rather exhausting, of course — but that was a judgment he applied to young girls in general, not Inanna alone. It was closer to a fixed stereotype than anything personal.
Still, having Sunya's private thoughts about her transmitted so plainly was, from Inanna's perspective, thoroughly mortifying. She had known well enough that her younger self had been adorable, charming, and lovable — but hearing it directly from the other party was an entirely different matter.
"You think that little brat is cute?"
Enki's face contorted as far as it would go, as though he had just heard something he would rather not have. Inanna ignored him and continued watching Sunya's past unfold.
The next day, just as Inanna remembered, Sunya began telling her stories. He himself seemed to have grown fond of the young Inanna who came looking for him every single day. Each time the little girl listened to his tales with those bright, sparkling eyes, he felt a quiet pleasure. It was nowhere near love yet — something closer to simple affection, a kind of fond camaraderie. Even so, the way he occasionally found her remarkably cute and endearing suggested that the potential had been there from the start.
Every time Sunya entertained some thought too embarrassing to speak aloud, Inanna's face flushed red and something like steam rose from her. Enki, for an entirely different reason, could no longer bear to keep watching.
How to put it? Borrowing an expression from the future — it felt as though the very fabric of space-time was about to cringe itself out of existence.
"I can't watch this anymore. It's too grotesque."
Enki tried to skip ahead, but Inanna threw a fit and stopped him. The truth was, there was something she needed to confirm.
Why did Sunya choose me?
Sunya had been strikingly handsome even by the standards of the gods, and his charm went well beyond that. Tastes differed, of course, but the fact remained that he had always been popular. No matter the place or the era, women who approached him were never few — yet in the end, Sunya had never held anyone in his heart, nor had he ever entered into a physical relationship.
As a boy, his father had forbidden it. As he grew older, he had refused to spare a glance at the opposite sex, convinced he could die at any moment and determined to pour everything into combat. After becoming a god, he had been too grief-stricken and tormented to even entertain the thought. Some people turned to sex when they were psychologically strained, but Sunya had gone so long without that the idea simply never occurred to him. Later still, he kept carnal desire at a distance for the simple reason that he did not want to become entangled with anyone.
And so the one who had claimed Sunya's virginity and bound herself to him was, of all people, Inanna herself — someone who had nothing to do with any of that history. And she wanted to know why.
It could not have been mere appearance. Among the women who had approached Sunya, there had been no shortage of beauties who rivaled Inanna herself. And to be perfectly honest, her own temperament had never been particularly admirable. She had wondered if he simply preferred assertive women — but Sunya had never seemed to care about that either. In fact, years into his past, when a faintly charged atmosphere began to form between them, he had even pushed her away.
So then why…
The question resolved itself before long. The moment Sunya truly opened his heart to Inanna came not long after.
It was around the time the village at the foot of the mountain was attacked by a band of raiders. That horrific scene had dragged Sunya back into the nightmares of his past. In that moment, he felt a crushing loneliness. Invisible blades carved through his insides; a sticky fire burned him from within. The anguish he felt transmitted so clearly that even Enki and Inanna could feel it.
"…"
Sunya felt as though a vast hole had been torn open in his chest, filled with a dense emptiness. Once again he had clung blindly to what he had lost, and in doing so had absurdly forfeited even the bonds he already possessed. Extreme exhaustion washed over him, and he wanted to do nothing at all. A bleak thought even crossed his mind — that even if he rewrote the past, nothing would truly change.
Had he been left alone, he would have attempted time travel again, and that time his very existence might have been erased entirely. But Inanna appeared at precisely the right moment. She sat with the lonely Sunya, and for the first time in decades, he felt genuine human warmth. It was not a matter of body heat. It was something of an entirely different order from the heat that rose from fierce combat.
From that moment on, Sunya began to love Inanna. He wanted to love her, and he wanted to remain at her side.
Anyone who knew Sunya might have laughed at the sight of him then. Because in that moment, he wanted to lean on Inanna. The same Sunya who had refused to be bound by anything, who had told others never to depend on anyone — that Sunya had, of his own free will, wanted to be bound to someone.
"So in the end, I was just lucky."
Inanna let out a small laugh. Looked at one way, there had been no direct cause rooted in her at all — it had simply been a matter of chance, of circumstances falling into place. And yet, strangely, she did not feel bad about it. For the first time, she found herself genuinely grateful for the things that had been given to her.
"Huh?"
But that mood did not last long.
"Tsk tsk. You can really tell he's a virgin. Everything he does is so clumsy."
"What are you doing?! Stop that right now!"
"You're something else yourself, little brat. How did a virgin even think of taking that monstrous thing as it was?"
"You insane old man!!"
The moment the couple's intimate acts began to play out, Inanna leapt to her feet. Enki would have loved to keep teasing her, but he had the distinct feeling that if he pushed any further he might actually die later, so he let it go.
After that, Sunya's life was not much different from what Enki already knew. Having fallen in love with Inanna, Sunya changed his mind and resolved to settle in Kienkingir, and he worked toward that end. He built relationships, mingling freely with gods and humans alike. Spreading his philosophy to others came simply from the wish that they not commit the same grave mistakes he had. Beyond that, he seemed to genuinely enjoy the act of teaching itself.
"That crazy bitch Ereshkigal…!!"
When she discovered midway through that her identical older sister had been subtly trying to seduce Sunya, fire lit in Inanna's eyes — but it was not a particularly important matter in the grand scheme of things.
At last they finished surveying the whole of Sunya's turbulent past, and the magic that had allowed them to view it came to an end.
When Inanna came to, she found herself somehow cradled in Sunya's arms.
"Are you all right?"
Sunya was smiling as he looked down at her. Inanna slowly reached out and touched his face. The soft texture of his skin registered at her fingertips.
"I can feel you."
"Well, you are actually touching me."
"I'm back in reality."
"From my perspective, it was barely more than an instant."
"Mm…"
Inanna pulled him into a tight embrace. The skin that felt soft and yet resilient, the firmness of his muscles, his distinctive warm body heat, his unique scent and the feel of him — everything she could sense from Sunya, she had missed. At the same time, she was grateful simply for the fact that she could hold him and touch him like this.
"I missed you, Sunya."
"I missed you too."
Even to those somewhat puzzling words, Sunya responded as though it were the most natural thing in the world. The two of them remained locked in each other's arms for a while longer. Their children, standing nearby, frowned as though the sight gave them goosebumps. For the children it was a familiar scene, but no matter how much time passed, their parents' displays of affection never quite became easy to watch. Surely, among gods and humans alike, there was no couple quite so inseparable.
"…Could you two hold off on the affection for a moment?"
Enki, who had regained consciousness at almost the same time as Inanna, approached the couple.
"Mind your own business. This is my palace, after all. I'd prefer the guest leave now."
"Well, I'd like to do that myself, but things seem to have gotten a bit complicated."
At those ominous words, Inanna's brow furrowed.
"What is that supposed to mean? Don't tell me it's what I think it is."
"I don't know exactly what you're imagining, little brat, but it's not a pleasant story."
"You saw it too, Grandpa Enki. Sunya coming to Kienkingir was a coincidence. My husband was just trying to live here in peace from the start."
Inanna spoke without ever letting go of Sunya. Looking at the two of them, Enki let out a sigh.
"It's not as simple a problem as you think it is, little brat."
"What's not simple about it?!"
"I don't understand it to begin with."
Enki locked eyes with Sunya, his gaze utterly serious.
"Why on earth does anyone think that man isn't dangerous?"