At the pole of the Southern Hemisphere, in the coldest part of the realm of Tiernan, the god Hyukjae and goddess Hyoyeon looked over their frigid domain from the frozen wastes of their aging temple.  Little remained in their half of the world but ice and snow, especially in the winter.  Hyoyeon’s brow furrowed under her honey colored bangs and she turned troubled brown eyes upon her husband.

                “They have lost faith in us.”  It was a statement of truth, eternally sad in its utterance.

                “Can you blame them?” Hyukjae asked in response, one hand gesturing towards the remains of what used to be a fair and temperate clime at least part of the year.

                “No, but they did turn from us first,” she sighed with regret, her earnest face crumpling in light of how far they had fallen.

                “Only because they were afraid and we could not give them what they wanted,” he chuckled softly, though the warmth of his amusement was lacking.  His short, ice blond hair seemed only appropriate with how things had ended up.

                “Against those two?” the goddess snorted, one brow rising as she crossed her arms over her chest.  The motion upset her pale gold dress, bunching the fabric in the crooks of her arms.  Annoyed, she shook it out and placed her fists upon her hips instead.  “And now we have no way of even trying to restore the balance.”

                Hyukjae was silent for a long moment, his slender fingers playing with the hem of his light blue vest.  Despite the flimsiness of the fabric and the severity of the temperature, he wasn’t cold.  “We both know there is a way.”

                Beside him, Hyoyeon winced and reached to brush her fingertips against her husband’s arm.  “There is, but it may well be too dangerous.”

                “We have spoken of that before.  Besides, what choice do we have left?” he murmured, unblinking dark eyes staring out over the white terrain.  “Our power is fading, our people are dying, and as far as I know, they would be alright with us forever falling from our pedestals.”  Displeasure marred his face with a scowl, the sharp jawline prominent as he clenched his teeth together.

                Hyoyeon stepped close to loop her arm around his, holding on with both hands.  “You are right.  I do not like it,” she admitted with a small pout, breath gusting up to upset her bangs before they settled back into place.

                “Nor do I,” he reassured her with a chuckle, glancing down to meet her dark eyes in turn.  “Think you I want any other but you?”

                His reassurance made her smile, a faint hint of color tinging her cheeks.  “No, but it is nice to hear,” she laughed, resting her head on his shoulder.  He was the perfect height for that, and if times had been more forgiving, she might have stayed there longer.  As it was, they had all the time in the world and yet hardly enough left with how they had fallen into decline.

                “Come.  We should see our people again,” Hyukjae murmured, chewing his lips nervously as he spoke.  They so rarely had visitors anymore that they had to go abroad to find out how their followers were doing.  The near perpetual winter hardly allowed for easy travel and those who could make it often did not feel warmly about the god and goddess.

                “What if they are watching?” Hyoyeon whispered nervously, glancing into the distance where the brilliant blue afternoon sky faded into dark clouds on the horizon.

                His face scrunched up and he shrugged.  “Then we pray upon the moon that they do not notice us.”  Hyukjae turned to press a kiss atop Hyoyeon’s hair.  “Besides.  You know they tire of seeing us wander.  Once they feel us on the move in one of our usual, labored travels, they will lose interest,” he reassured her with all the confidence he could muster.

                “We must make it convincing then,” she added with a deep breath, clapping his shoulder with her hand as she bounced at his side.  The energy was real, though the bravado forced.

                “Shall we see who can answer the most prayers before sundown?” he grinned with a competitive gleam in his eyes.

                “You will certainly lose if we do,” Hyoyeon smiled back, stepping away with fluid grace and a twirl of gauzy fabric.  Her hair fluttered around her shoulders in lazy curls and she giggled as she crouched down, ready to start running as soon as he moved.

                Filled with energy, Hyukjae bounded after her, springing forward on light feet as he gave chase immediately.  Sprinting around the worn, bare temple, they leapt between lonely pillars, joyous laughter echoing off the walls and playful smiles flashing between the carved stone.  Moving outward, their chase became snow covered and powdery.  Drifts of white softness exploded as they bounded into them with the intensity of children, tossing snowballs to and fro before ducking behind snow-laden trees and large covered, banks.

                They loved the feeling of playing together, pretending that they didn’t have a care in the world.  But that was all it was: pretend.  Beneath the smiles and the laughter was a desperation they dare not show.  More than anything, they knew that would give them away to their unseen watchers; even now, they could feel the other two observing them.  It was an ability they themselves had lost with the decline of their powers, but they could still tell when the others were looking in.

                For years, they had played the god and goddess reluctantly going into their decline of prominence and power.  For years, they had made many a jaunt such as this one, pretending to accept their fall without overtly fighting their other halves.  It only would have decreased their power faster and hampered their ability to help what few followers they had left.  But like all their people, they did not wish to die either, fading away into nothingness.

                Pushed so far, Hyoyeon and Hyukjae had accepted they were not unlike the animals they’d seen struggling to survive in their inhospitable domain.  And if the other god and goddess had not become so comfortable in their perfect paradise, they might have realized or remembered just how dangerous a cornered beast could be…

                “Got you!” Hyoyeon laughed as she successfully hit Hyukjae with a loose snowball.

                With flakes of snow in his hair, he laughed and brushed it off, sending a hasty wave of the powdery stuff after the fleeing goddess.  She shrieked when it toppled over her, completely covering her until she burst free in an explosion of giggles and melting fluff.  “And I got you,” he winked, coming close to grab her hand when they had covered the small expanse of the circular island and were approaching the frozen sea surrounding it.

                “Let’s go!” she gasped, her breath visibly streaming from .

                Together, they jumped and went on and on, gliding over the ice filled waters.  In the summers, it used to melt and allow easy passage to their main temple.  Now… it was always icy and only the most dedicated attempted the trek to visit them in person.  Snow started to fall before they even made it to the next set of continents, clouding their vision, though they could still see well enough.  Temperatures dropped even lower and through the miasma of cold, they noticed the thin streams of smoke from pitiful fires oozing from small houses in the distance.

                One after the other, their sandaled feet touched down upon the lifeless shore of the nearest fishing village: Aerin’s Mooring.  As usual, their brief joy fell away in the face of such despair.  No more did children play in the open; no more did men fish upon the plentiful waters; no more did women tend to the nets upon the shores.  Survival took all they had and more.

                Hyoyeon squeezed Hyukjae’s hand hard and then turned to look at him with a troubled expression.  She did not want him to go.  It hurt to know she could not help their situation without being caught immediately, though she did not doubt he would feel the same as her.  And if they were discovered, she didn’t know what the other god and goddess would do to them… but this was all they had left.  For better or worse, there was nothing else they could try.

                “I’ll see you back at the temple,” she whispered with a hastily conjured smile.

                “I’ll be back as soon as I can,” he promised, touching her chin with his free hand before he stepped in to kiss her lips gently.

                “You better,” Hyoyeon laughed once, standing on her tiptoes to kiss him back when he tried to pull away.  Then she pulled free with forced cheer, taunting, “I’ll prove to you that I’m the favorite between the two of us!”

                The god’s answering smile was genuine.  “They would be daft to think otherwise!”

                “You being charming isn’t going to help you win!” she shot back, already disappearing into the snowy village.

                “No,” Hyukjae shook his head in agreement, knowing she couldn’t see him anymore.  “But if it makes you feel even a little bit better, then it is worth it.”

                With a sigh and a furrowed brow, he turned his attention to the east.  It was true that he would have more chances to find someone on the larger continent, but if Hyoyeon was there, she would be better able to draw attention away from him, and insult the other gods by straying too close to their hemisphere.  Her task was nearly as important as his and he wished he could be the one to do it so she wouldn’t have to.

                “Take care, Hyoyeon,” he murmured before jumping from the shore and gliding over the cold waters once again.  The continent of Hyundaril beckoned and he had much to do before nightfall.

                Swiftly moving between the spread out huts, Hyoyeon listened in to those where a prayer might be heard; she had long since learned to avoid the houses of those who cursed them, for it only weakened their strength and made them feel all the worse.  Just as bad were those who prayed to Sooyoun and Yunho as well.  She had no power to make any of their wishes come true; only the other god and goddess could do that, but they would not.  It was far easier to ignore the suffering of their… siblings turned opponents.

                But every now and then, a voice called to her.  It pulled at her core and drew her like a starving man to food.  Stepping through the wall of the snow covered home, she peered into a tiny hovel of a place.  Held together by mud and thatch and whatever else they could use to keep it from falling in, the space was far from welcoming.  But the family of four huddled close and did what little they could to turn a profit and survive.

                So many layers of clothes made them nearly unrecognizable, but the man worked with his hands closest to the fire, lest they go numb in his carving.  Driftwood still made its way to the shores from time to time, and when dried, it offered a perfect medium with which to craft any number of needed or wanted items.  His wife shared the other side of the fire, gloved hands with the fingers cut off carefully moving a needle between cured leather to make something for the home.  Or perhaps to sell.  The children, a little boy and a girl – not more than ten winters, steadfastly worked to open clams and mussels they had probably pried from the rocks near the shore or dug up when the tide went out.

                It was the woman whose lips moved in a silent prayer to the god and goddess of the moon – Hyoyeon and Hyukjae.  Twas their power that had once brought great prosperity to the sea based village whose livelihood revolved around the lunar tides.  It was there power that could bring it back again too.  Some day…

                “We’re still here,” Hyoyeon whispered, her unseen form kneeling behind the working children.  Taking a deep breath, she exhaled warmly upon them, covering the pair in a blanket of heat that made them look up in confused but grateful surprise.  “May your hands always be steady,” she smiled, lightly touching the man’s shoulder, “and your needle always be sure.”  Her hand settled on the woman’s back and a smile pulled at the still silently whispering lips.  It was almost as if she knew the goddess was with them.  “We will watch over you as long as we can,” she promised, standing up to wave her hands around the abode, letting her power shore up the weakening points in the structure.

                When the air was filled with warmth and the lingering remnants of her presence, Hyoyeon stepped back out into the cold.  She had many more places to visit and only a limited amount of power to bestow.  Onward she went, from Aerin’s Moor to Klynt’s Rest where the rivers had long since frozen over, to Hoskiven amidst the rocky crags where the pass was nearly impossible to traverse anymore, and all the way to Shayne’s Landing where the weather was beginning to change as she neared the northern hemisphere.

                Night was falling and she could see Mother Moon beginning to show her partially hidden face in the evening sky.  It should have brought her joy, but this was always when the other two were more wary.  They seemed to delight in lording over them when Hyukjae and Hyoyeon should have been the stronger at this part of the day.  Standing on the shore of Cranth, she stared across the channel where the continent of Andreylle sat, beautiful and pristine, even in the winter.  She knew the temperature was cold, but snow did not touch those shores and the freezing bitterness of true winter could do nothing to disrupt their paradise.

                That was the land of Yunho and Sooyoun, the god and goddess of the Sun.  Their world thrived upon the plants that grew and the fields to be harvested at all times of the year.  Now anyway.  And because they were so prosperous, because the great shadow had not frightened their followers, their power was infinitely greater.  They lacked for nothing; wanted for nothing; and shared nothing when they did not have to.

                The thought made Hyoyeon ball her hands into fists as she felt weak beyond belief.  Her power nearly spent, she had just enough left to get her home without being stranded for the moment, but there was one thing she had left to do.  At last, she felt their attention settle upon her and a weak smiled tugged at the corner of .  She was defiant just by being there and it was enough to draw the pair out.

                Picking her head up, Hyoyeon steeled herself for the approach of the god and goddess.  They arrived with a rush of power that nearly knocked her off her feet.  Unable to stand her ground, Hyoyeon took a step back, her hair distorting her vision, and when she looked up, she saw they had arrived.  “Nice entrance,” she forced a laugh, picking her shoulders up to meet the bemused glances of the taller, more regal pair.

                “What are you doing here, Hyoyeon?” Sooyoun laughed, her flawless face pale and beautiful and bright under the moonlight.

                “Exactly what it looks like,” Hyoyeon responded, wishing her sister didn’t look so… perfect.  It was irritating.  Especially because she really did look perfect: the long silver dress was stunning on her; her brunette hair framed her face in magnificent, wavy curls; and she was the elegant foil to Yunho’s regal handsomeness.

                “But you are barely able to stand at this point,” said god commented, drawing Hyoyeon’s attention to the tallest of them.  Charming and attractive, his small face seemed to fit him just fine while broad shoulders topped a lean physique partially revealed through the open red vest paired with comfortable looking black pants.

                “Because I’m almost done for the day,” she defended herself tersely, trying to stand upright so she wouldn’t be as short in their company.  It didn’t bother her with Hyukjae, but standing in front of these two, it was too much.

                “The day is already over though,” Sooyoun winked, leaning forward as if she was talking to a child.

                “Sooyoun,” Yunho chided with a smile, making the goddess cover as she tried to hide her embarrassed flush.  “And what about Hyukjae?” he inquired glancing over Hyoyeon’s shoulder like he could spot the other god.

                Hyoyeon’s heart jumped at the question and she forced a bland smile on her face to hide her nervousness.  “He took Hyundaril this time.”

                “But I thought he went there last time.  Don’t you usually take turns?” Sooyoun suggested thoughtfully, her gaze speculative.

                At least she was ready for that question.  “We do, but he hasn’t had as many prayers sent to him.  He was worried he wouldn’t be able to bless everyone on Cranth.”

                “I don’t know why you keep trying,” Yunho chuckled with a shake of his head.  “You know it’s only a matter of time at this point.”

                “You never know,” Hyoyeon shot back before she could stop herself, irritated by his patronizing tone.  Yunho and Sooyoun looked at each other and she scrambled to find a viable excuse to satisfy their suspicious looks.  Hastily, she threw her hand towards the moon and added, “For all we know, there might be another great shadow that comes to set things right!”

                Curiously, the pair glanced at the moon and then laughed as if she’d told a joke, the cloud around them dissipating quickly.  “Keep telling yourself that, Hyoyeon,” Sooyoun waved with one hand, clearly still amused.  “Though given how much power you’ve used, I would think you’d be more concerned about yourself right now,” she added as an afterthought, the hint of a threat implied.

                Hyoyeon swallowed and took a step back without meaning to.  “You can’t kill me,” she reminded them with one finger in the air.

                “True,” Yunho conceded, taking a step closer until he was nearly looming over her.  “But it is possible to seal you,” he reminded her, reaching one hand towards Hyoyeon.

                Fear hit her like a punch in the gut and it took all her willpower to not move.  Looking Yunho straight in the eyes as her clenched fists trembled, she smiled and scoffed, “But where would the fun in that be?”

                He paused and a sly grin crossed his face as he glanced at Sooyoun.  “Oh you are delightful!” she giggled, grabbing Yunho’s arm and pulling it close to her so that it was nowhere near Hyoyeon anymore.  “And so right too.”

                “Indeed,” Yunho agreed quietly, nodding his head towards the other goddess.  Then he looked at Sooyoun and they exchanged a wordless conversation in a glance.  “And while it’s been lovely talking to you, as always, we should be going now.”

                “You’ll have to send our regards to Hyukjae,” Sooyoun waved demurely, her curves accentuated as she artfully leaned against Yunho.  “It seems as if he may have used a bit too much power tonight since I can’t seem to feel him anymore,” she pouted with a fluid shrug.  “Perhaps next time.”

                “I’ll let him know,” Hyoyeon muttered dryly, partially relieved and partially worried about that statement.  She was glad they couldn’t tell where Hyukjae was, but she never liked it when even she couldn’t tell where he’d disappeared to.

                “Do take care of yourself, sister,” Sooyoun winked.  “You look dreadful when you’re like this.”

                With far more tact and fewer words, Yunho pulled her away as he vaguely waved at Hyoyeon.  She heard Sooyoun complaining about it being true but then pouting at her husband’s reaction to her words.  “Irritating,” Hyoyeon scowled as soon as they’d disappeared from sight, allowing her to breathe again.  It was encounters like these that made her miss the old days, when her twin sister and elder brother weren’t so… foul.

                But without their presence to focus on, she found she was also utterly exhausted.  Her body wanted to simply sit down on the shore but she could not allow that right now.  First, she needed to get back so that Hyukjae would not be alone when he returned.  Summoning what was left of her power, she quickly made her way to a small, local temple that had become overgrown with vines and was clearly not tended well.  But it was a temple to them and not desecrated, so she could still use it.  Touching the statue representation of herself, Hyoyeon closed her eyes and let herself fall through, pulled back to the beginning, where she belonged.

                When she opened her eyes next, she was back on Lunar Island, blinking at the star speckled night sky.  Hyukjae was nowhere to be seen and it was eerily quiet.  Worried but content for the time being, she laid out upon the floor and pillowed her head on her arms, letting sleep claim her quickly.

                It wasn’t until she felt the barest surge of power and heard footsteps nearby that she woke to find a haggard and weak Hyukjae staggering from his statue representation.  “Hyuk!” Hyoyeon gasped, standing upright quickly as she reached to catch him.  “Are you alright?” she murmured, stumbling under his nearly dead weight as he collapsed against her.

                “It is done,” he exhaled in a breathy whisper, falling unconscious on his feet so that they both crumpled to the ground.

                Wordlessly, Hyoyeon pursed her lips and nodded as she pulled herself from under him and then moved to cushion his head in her lap.  She trailed her fingers through his soft, light hair and exhaled slowly.  “And now we wait.”  Her thumb traced his gaunt cheek tenderly and she smiled down at his sleeping face.  “Well done love.  Well done.”

(a/n: I'm a bit behind but let's see if I can make up some lost ground with my NaNo entry!  Wish me luck and I hope you enjoy.  ^_^)