"We're never going to finish this at this rate..."
Anathasia muttered under her breath before dropping back into her chair. A moment later, she turned toward me.
"Kyle. Any suggestions?"
I met her gaze briefly before looking upward, resting my chin against one finger as I thought.
Around the table, everyone else seemed to do the same. The pavilion gradually fell quiet, save for the occasional rustling of leaves from the groves beyond the grasslands.
For nearly a minute, nobody spoke. Then I finally opened my eyes.
"How about The Imperatives?"
Anathasia immediately shook her head.
"That sounds way too institutional."
Across from us, Roselia raised a hand. Anathasia glanced at her. Roselia lowered it again and cleared her throat.
"In all honesty, I think Sir Kyle's suggestion is actually fairly well thought out—"
"You're only saying that because you spent most of your life inside Kazar's higher institutions."
Anathasia pointed at her.
"Two-faced politician."
Roselia blinked.
Her lips parted slightly as though she intended to defend herself. Instead, she slowly lowered her hand.
"...Imperatives does sound better, though."
Anathasia ignored the muttering completely and shifted her attention elsewhere.
"How about you, Rania?"
She opened her palm invitingly.
"Any suggestions?"
Rania nodded once.
Without another word, she rose from her chair.
A board suddenly materialized behind her. Then a piece of chalk appeared in her hand.
I watched in silence as she turned around and began writing with the seriousness of someone preparing an academic presentation.
A few moments later, she stepped aside. Written neatly across the board were two words.
The Cardinals.
Rania gestured toward it.
"The Cardinals, Miss Anathasia."
She cleared her throat before continuing.
"It refers to the fundamental directions and principles by which existence itself is oriented."
She folded her hands behind her back.
"Implicitly, it points toward our role as defining constants within reality."
Her gaze swept briefly across the pavilion.
"And perhaps most importantly, it no longer makes us sound like a band of strangely named individuals."
Liscia raised an eyebrow.
Rania ignored her.
After a brief pause, she returned to her seat and folded her hands together atop the table.
"I believe it communicates what we are adequately with a single term."
Silence followed.
Then Anathasia slowly exhaled. For the first time since the meeting began, genuine relief appeared on her face.
"A proper suggestion at last."
She pointed toward Rania.
"We're finally getting somewhere."
"Objection."
Roselia immediately raised a hand.
Anathasia's expression soured.
Rania's eyebrow twitched.
"What is it now?"
Anathasia dragged a hand down her face.
Roselia remained completely unfazed.
"The Cardinals makes us sound like high-ranking clergy."
She glanced around the table.
"Not maintainers or definers of existence."
"If anything, it sounds as though we're deliberately turning ourselves into a religion."
Her gaze shifted toward Anathasia.
"Which I imagine Miss Veridielle would strongly dislike."
Anathasia paused.
Unfortunately, Roselia had a point. The blonde woman then turned toward Kagariel and Chi Rong Guang.
"If we're deciding the title of the Four Outer Gods, shouldn't we also hear from the First and Second Outer Gods?"
She folded her hands neatly.
"Rather than deciding based solely on personal preference."
Anathasia leaned back in her chair.
Her fingers tapped thoughtfully against her cheek. She looked toward Liscia. Liscia gave a small nod. Then she looked toward me.
I shrugged.
"I think Roselia has a point."
Leaning back slightly, I glanced toward Fran and Lena, who had somehow started playing a block puzzle game on Fran's phone in the middle of all this.
"It's their title."
"It only seems fair that all four of them get a say."
"At least pretend you're interested when you say that."
Anathasia deadpanned.
I gave her a brief smile.
That got me a sigh.
Eventually, she looked back toward the group across from us.
Meanwhile, Rhea stayed on the edge of the gathering, entirely detached from the discussion. She looked occupied with whatever personal adventure she was having between herself and her juice box.
"Miss Chi Rong Guang."
Roselia's voice drew everyone's attention. The salmon-haired woman visibly flinched.
"Perhaps you have a suggestion?"
Half the pavilion turned toward her. Chi Rong Guang immediately shrank into herself.
"U-Um..."
She glanced toward Kagariel, while the man just continued drinking tea. Completely unhelpful.
"I suppose..."
She hesitated.
"Maybe *The Pillars*?"
Everyone waited.
She swallowed.
"Back in Fanji Zhoushan, the strongest cultivators and core disciples were sometimes referred to as pillars of their sect."
A small shrug followed.
"So that's the first thing that came to mind."
Roselia nodded thoughtfully.
Then her gaze shifted toward Kagariel.
The Second Outer God continued calmly savoring his tea. Not even pretending to participate. After several seconds, Roselia gave up and looked away.
"Very well."
She straightened slightly.
"So far we have three suggestions."
She began counting on her fingers.
"The Imperatives."
"One vote."
"The Cardinals."
"Another vote."
"And The Pillars."
Rania stared at her blankly. A faint scoff escaped her while Roselia just ignored it.
"I think a majority vote would be the most reasonable approach."
Her gaze swept around the table.
"Does anyone have any objections?"
"Why not settle on *The Principia*?"
The voice came from the edge of the table.
As everyone's attention shifted toward the source, we found Rhea quietly sipping from what was apparently her third juice box of the meeting.
Without missing a beat, she continued speaking. Her voice was slightly muffled through the straw.
"You already have The Source."
She looked toward Anathasia.
"And then there's the invariant that exists outside both the Emanation and the Great Recreation."
"The Constant."
This time her gaze shifted toward me before moving to the others seated around the table.
Chi Rong Guang.
Kagariel.
Rania.
Roselia.
"The Four Outer Gods were the first instance after the Emanation."
She gently rotated the juice box in her hands.
"The first entities that defined existence before Authors began emerging."
A brief pause followed.
"They governed the concepts that arose from The Source's overflow."
"Principles, in a sense."
The faint sound of liquid bubbling through the straw echoed through the pavilion as she took another sip.
Nobody interrupted her.
"The Principia."
Rhea lowered the juice box slightly.
"The governors of existence before the Authors."
"Archetypes."
"Foundational principles."
Her gaze moved across the group once more.
"I think it suits Continuity, Finality, Equilibrium, and Causality rather well."
Silence settled over the pavilion.
The breeze drifted through the open structure. Somewhere beyond the grasslands, leaves rustled softly among the growing groves.
Rhea looked around before shrugging.
"The choice is yours, of course."
She raised the juice box again.
"I was simply recommending the first thing that came to mind."
A sip.
"Please continue."
And just like that, she returned to quietly drinking her juice as though she hadn't casually solved the entire discussion. For several seconds, nobody spoke.
Roselia slowly leaned back in her chair, her eyes narrowing thoughtfully as she muttered something beneath her breath. Rania watched the board behind her dissolve into scattered motes of light before eventually turning back toward the table.
Kagariel remained entirely unbothered.
As expected.
Meanwhile, Chi Rong Guang was openly staring at him with something bordering on admiration. Perhaps she was trying to learn whatever secret technique allowed him to remain detached from absolutely everything.
As for Anathasia...
"...Damn."
That was all she managed.
Liscia let out a low whistle.
"The airhead has a better naming sense than you and your Outer Gods combined."
She nodded to herself.
"Not surprising, I suppose."
Her gaze drifted briefly toward Rhea.
"No wonder she's the Original Creator."
Rhea continued drinking her juice. Completely unaffected. Liscia looked back at Anathasia.
"So?"
She spread her hands.
"What now, Anathasia Veridielle Augthoria?"
"Are we going to keep wasting everyone's time?"
"Or are we finally getting this over with?"
Anathasia remained silent.
For once, there wasn't an immediate comeback.
No sarcastic remark.
No argument.
She simply sat there, staring at the table while tapping one finger against the wood.
Thinking.
The silence stretched on for another minute. Then she finally nodded.
"...The Principia."
A small sigh escaped her.
"Yeah."
Her shoulders relaxed slightly.
"I think that's the one."
Nobody argued.
Not even Rania.
Not even Roselia.
That alone was probably enough confirmation. The meeting concluded shortly afterward.
Chairs scraped against the floor.
Conversations resumed.
One by one, everyone departed the pavilion and returned to their own responsibilities. Roselia and Rania left together, already discussing something political.
Chi Rong Guang followed Kagariel almost immediately. Liscia vanished somewhere before anyone could ask where she was going.
And Rhea...
Rhea somehow disappeared with three unopened juice boxes. Nobody questioned it. Eventually, only the three of us remained.
Anathasia.
Me.
And Rhea, who was technically still present despite looking only vaguely aware of her surroundings.
Fran and Lena had already left earlier, disappearing the moment the meeting officially ended.
The pavilion felt noticeably quieter without everyone else. The distant groves swayed gently beneath the wind. For the first time that day, there was no debate.
No arguments.
No suggestions.
Just silence.
And somewhere beside us—
slrrrp.
Rhea finished another sip of juice.