This is a summary of Greyashe Episode 40.

OP: the dropouts.

ED: Take a long walk.

Chapters Covered: Second half of 91-92.

Ancasta descends the stairs in the goddesses manor in Annwyn, otherwise known as the 'holy land'.  Looking out at the landscape, she is greeted by green pastures and vegetation in bloom.  The winter goddess; despite her name, takes great care in managing the grounds. Aimend supplies the rain of course, but she is the one who arduously labors over the flora, as she was always taught to take care of the land, so that it would in turn take care of you. She pauses curiously at this thought, and realizes that just a little bit of her past life has somehow found it's way through her subconscious. Being alive as long as she has, it's hard to remember her upbringing. Although sometimes the winter goddess counts her blessings, since if she could remember her family, her childhood, and her hometown, the homesickness and nostalgia would rip her in two.

Annwyn is guarded by high levels of magic, agape that both exudes from the goddesses themselves, and the land they live upon. Unless one is invited, they would be rejected from the grounds. Being 'Rejected' has several different connotations, be it getting extremely sick, or having one's internal organs simultaneously shut down, mortals could count on not being let in unless they were allowed. The goddesses however, could come and go as they please, as Ancasta and Aimend have both done recently. One other similarity the two share is their contact with a certain 'Van Rayleigh'. This contact had inspired Ancasta to have a meeting with her 'sisters', which she heads to now.

Mortals come to the conclusion that because the ladies are the 'goddesses of the four seasons', that they work well together, and would seemingly stay in the same home. This is only somewhat true. While the four do have their home in Annwyn to stay in, and there are times where they happen to be there at the same time, they're often scattered, reporting in every so often, and leaving just as quickly as they come. This can be attributed to their 'ages' (although the four are all older than they look, their ages do actually range between them), and their ideology. Ancasta is often the peacemaker, as she is the oldest of the four, (though one would be amiss to think that she is an old lady) and the most level headed, but peace often means leaving the room than it does finding compromise. With that, the winter goddess tries to at least have the other ladies in the same house once a month, but she doesn't push. She can, but that will only raise tensions. After meeting Van, and taking Claire with her, winter goddess quickly called her counterparts for an emergency meeting. This is a major turn in events after all, for now she has the 'Goddess killer' in custody, and even though she had given her word to the boy that she wouldn't hurt her, several other decisions would have to be made. Decisions that would require all of the goddesses to be on the same page.

In fact, she had just come from checking on Claire, who is fast asleep. To stop her memory loss, Ancasta had been slipping little bits of agape into her dreams. Eventually, the erosion of her memory loss would stop, and the process of recovery could begin. Sadly 'recovery' in this case would not mean recovery of her memories, but the rehabilitation that would allow the ex-goddess killer to become self sufficient. The question, or to be frank a question out of many, would be what to do with Claire once she is awake and able. Ancasta hopes that talking to the others will help her reach a conclusion. Claire's power is still very dangerous, and because of that they would have to be sure that she would use it wisely, and hopefully not against them.

Ancasta can feel the presence of the others as she crosses the hall over to the meeting room. Both apprehension and ease fill her frame, as she's never completely sure how to address the others without seeming overbearing, but is still glad to see that they have all come as she asked. Adjusting her glasses made of pure ice, she strides into the meeting room, and stands at the end of a long table.

Aimend glances up from a glam magazine and grins upon Ancasta's arrival. Her piercings, save for her ears, are all gone, and aqua blue is her only hair color.  As a form of rebellion, however her black skull umbrella rests in her lap, and her finger nails are done in blood red. Ancasta makes a face at the younger spring goddess, but says nothing. On the same side of the table, A fetching beauty with shoulder length maroon hair and long bangs stares absently out a nearby window, one finger idly twisting her hair. Her eyebrows are knit, evidencing worry, and her lips part every so often. She wears a dark green tunic, and beside her chair is a bow and a quiver of arrows.  Ancasta regards her for a moment, and upon noticing the winter goddesses eyes on her, the other goddess bows and offers a small smile.  Nodding back and returning with a half smile of her own, Ancasta turns to the final goddess, who leans back in her chair on the opposite side of the table, chewing on a toothpick. Her hazel eyes are hardened, and she makes it a habit to keep from looking directly at the winter goddess. She flicks her black hair over her shoulder, a trench coat slung over the back of the chair, her short-shorts ripped at their edges, and what amounts to a black bikini-top covering her upper half. The winter goddess sighs and pulls back her chair to take a seat. There is a moment of baited silence, and finally she speaks to them.

Greeting the four, she addresses Aimend and the goddess on the same side as her, Anu. She then turns to the last goddess and nods her greeting to Aine. Aine scoffs and turns her head in the air, asking 'Winter' why she called them all here. Ancasta is about to remark on this when Aimend interjects excited. She already knows that her 'friend' Claire is among them, and has surmised that this is why her older 'sister' has called them all together. Anu and Aine glance at Ancasta who sighs and smiles sheepishly. She then slowly reveals that 'Claire' refers to the 'ex-goddess killer.'

Aine raises an eyebrow in confusion, and Anu asks why on earth she'd bring their enemy here. Aimend corrects her, claiming that Claire is their friend. The winter goddess nods, and vouches for her. She tells them of her travels with Van, and the promise that she made with the boy to prevent any further memory regression. Aine leans back in her chair, dismissive of this story, while Anu processes this thought. Ancasta then asks her brethren for ideas on what to do once Claire has recovered enough to get around on her own.  Aine shrugs, and goes back to chewing on her toothpick, and Anu has no ideas. Aimend finally perks up and suggests inducting Claire as one of their own, figuring that without her memories, she would be lost and lonely should they send her back. Anu raises an eyebrow, and asks the spring goddess the reason why she's so enamored with the goddess killer, in which Aimend responds that 'girls have to stick up for each other.'

Anu can't help but laugh, while Aine scoffs again.  Ancasta smiles, happy that at least this idea is going over well. She takes Aimend on her suggestion, and agrees that Claire can be inducted as one of them after her awakening.  She then changes the subject, her tone indicating that what she speaks of next is of the utmost importance.

She asks the other ladies if they know about the 'WITCHES' and the strife brewing within their ranks.  After getting confirmation, she goes on. Apparently a division in the ranks on how magic and in extension agape should be used had started small skirmishes which threaten to erupt into a full scale war. The goddess of winter laments the fact that they as deities can do nothing to deter free will, but points out that this may be the turning point for humans and agape. If there should be a war, people may begin to understand the 'truth'.....

Aimend blinks and Anu looks doubtful. Considering all of the years they've lived, why would humanity realize now what the truth is? Ancasta notes that agape too is getting impatient, and with impatience comes error. Eventually it would slip up, and then....

....The world would change.

A voice, a male voice completes Ancasta's thought. The four turn suddenly, and see at the far end of the table that a man sits. He wears aviator glasses and a print biker shirt with a coiled Chinese dragon design. He tips his blue fedora, and his slacks are impeccably ironed, his boots impeccably clean. The four goddesses stare in shock at the intruder, but this lasts only a split second. Aine jumps on the table and dashes at the man, while Anu prepares an arrow, and Aimend readies her umbrella. Ancasta stands suddenly, and with a flick of her wrist, Aine is frozen inches from the man's position. The goddess glares back at her brethren, a glare Ancasta returns in earnest. The man grins from ear to ear, and slides his chair back. He congratulates Ancasta for stopping her 'sister', musing that he didn't come to kill, but he does have a right to protect himself. Had Aine gotten any closer, little Claire would be a replacement not an addition.

The winter goddess regards him, acknowledging that she can feel power emanating from his being. Although she icily adds that a drawn out battle would not be to his advantage, as his agape is young and immature. The man shrugs and agrees. He then repeats that he didn't come here to kill or fight, so the lovely ladies should lower their weapons. The winter goddess nods, and the other two do as they are told. Sitting on the table by the frozen Aine, he reveals his intention to introduce himself, and maybe join in on their little meeting. Ancasta narrows her eyes, and asks why they would do such a thing. Taking off his aviator glasses, and taking the fedora into one hand,  his blue hair and grey-white eyes bare for all to see. Anu is especially taken in by the man, finding it hard to keep her eyes off him.  He notes this and gives a little wink to her, causing the goddess to turn red. Ancasta either doesn't notice, or does and doesn't comment, as she repeats her question to him. Why would they associate with him?

With a grin, he introduces himself as Kutkh; a name he had 'heard' with his ability to 'gather information'. Although in his case, anything that is expressed by anyone in the world can be accessed by him. He is literally a 'information God', created by the very mortals they are trying to protect. He's taken the few days since he was 'born' to gather information about the world, including one very interesting tidbit pertaining to the Goddesses themselves.

The fact of the matter is, they're not really goddesses at all. Just girls with an extremely high level of Agape.

All four stare at him, petrified. Kutkh laughs heartily, pointing out that if he were lying they just revealed everything. Of course he isn't lying, so that's a moot point. Turning on his heel, the young god slumps back in his chair and twirls the fedora with his finger. It would be unfortunate if this information were to leak, wouldn't it? All those people and their beliefs shattered, and it doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that the godesses would have serious backlash headed their way. Ancasta narrows her eyes and whispers that she doesn't respond lightly to threats. He raises his hands in mock surprise and reminds her that he didn't come to fight. Honestly, their little fib doesn't interest him in the least. Now that he's alive, and has so much power, his only interest is preserving the world for his benefit. If they want to keep lying to the people, that's absolutely fine. Unlike them however, he will find a way to prevent the oncoming apocolyse, even if he can't do anything about people's free will.  The winter goddess commends him for knowing that rule about deties, and with a bow the god gracefully accepts. He then turns to the door and makes his exit, reminding the goddesses that mortals are getting smarter all of the time.  Ancasta unfreezes her fellow goddess, and sighs deeply. It had taken all of her restraint to keep from freezing Kutkh soild, and even now she's not sure if letting him go was the right thing to do. He doesn't gain much from telling their secret, but -to her- he doesn't seem like the kind of man who operates on simple loss and gain. She then glances over at Anu who watches the spot where he once stood as if she hopes and expects for him to come back....

Meanwhile, Van, Guy and Kani have returned to Libby's home, just to find it in ruin after Desmond Larter's attack. Guy immediately wants to rush in and make sure Libby is okay, but his enthusiasm flitters out when Van informs him that she's already gone. He does pick up on Fiyori's precense, and enters the house to check on him.

Fiyori, barring some bruises is fine, and is happy to see Van and company. The farseer looks around, and using his ability is able to asertain what happened here. Oddly though, the culprit's image remains segmented in his mind, as if he prefers to leave an obtuse calling card at his crime scenes rather than erasing his presence entierly. Guy asks what happened, and Fiyori relays the whole situation to them. Upon hearing Larter's name again, Van's eye throbs, and he realizes that he heard the name back in Dayta's house....and got the same reaction. This means that he knows this Larter from somewhere....but where?

Kani reassures Fiyori that Libby will be fine. She knows a little about Larter, and if he wanted to take her life, he would have before leaving. Unfortunately, he's a master at covering his tracks, so finding him will be nearly impossible. Fiyori shakes his head and thanks the group for their concern, but he knows they have a journey to continue. He feels that asking them to stop their adventure for his sake would be selfish, and a waste. He manages to fight back tears by claiming that Libby wouldn't want them to save her anyway. Kani gives him a hug, and Van replies that he and his friends will keep an eye out for her. Guy agrees, although his reasons are less than chivarous. Fiyori asks where Van and his friends will go next, and with an infectious grin Van replies 'North'.