Ma'at groaned weakly under the weight of her lover's conciliatory gesture. He tried to reach for her hand, but she only pulled it away; ashamed for his weakness, or worse—her inability to make up for it with her own strength.
His bill parted as if to say something to her, but he respected her autonomy enough to give her space when she needed it. Instead, he turned back to look at the young denizen of Typhon below him.
"What do you want?" he muttered down the prodigious bridge of his extensive nostrils. Even from a seating position, his torso alone was enough to more than double her height.
"Information," Xantheaa simply answered. "We are on the hunt for a particular artifact, and you are one of the very few people in this entire plane with access to undeniable proof of its existence."
Thrall finally jogged up to join their small assembly. He had indeed followed as closely behind Thoth as he could manage, but the disproportionate gait of the god was too much for him to match. Huffing and blowing inexorably, his eyelids shot up once he registered the scene before him.
"Xantheaa... What is—? Are you alright?" Thrall asked. He'd seen how the goddess had punched her bodily out of the sky, and felt the fiery impact from where he stood hundreds of feet away, but he couldn't make out what had happened on the ground, from where he stood. Of course, he'd feared the worst! How could anyone have survived that?! Nevertheless, there she was, almost entirely unblemished. Standing, even!
He couldn't believe what he was seeing. There were two gods in various positions of surrender before the shape of a figure less than a quarter their size! The goddess's condition aside, the very deity who had ordered his most potent attack into maladaptation with a casual flair was kneeling in deference to his companion; torso matted with the gilded stain of the wife he surely had to shield from a mortal strike with his own body.
Could Xantheaa really push them so far?—and with only two words under her lexicon!—Thrall shuddered to think of what she could do with full mastery over each word in her aspect. For now, though, the use of Thoth was a massive boon in their favor. He had everything they needed to achieve their short-term goals within this very library!
"I am... well enough," She replied, ducking her head to hide the red marks on her throat where she had nearly been strangled to death, or even decapitated. Tears welled unbidden in her eyes once she saw his face again, but she willed them to submission for the time being. "I was just negotiating the terms for their surrender as you arrived."
"Pshaw." Replied her opponent before Thrall could respond. "What surrender?! This so-called defeat she claims; it was wholly premature. I never ceded her any victory."
Ma'at turned over where she lay, weak and bleeding. Rivulets of golden fluid pooled into the pockmarked earth beneath her body, and she could not bear to see Thoth debase himself this way.
It wasn't right that this harpy be rewarded for her behavior. This precedent would engender a whole myriad of issues in the future. She could see now, how the scales of order were fated to crumble into ruination.
"Aye, premature indeed!" Xantheaa cried. "And did you want to tell them yourself how I held your arteries within my talons?!"
The goddess chuckled. "Yes, and who was the one who first held that position?" Thrall was horrified at the mental image that conjured.
"She had you by the throat?!" He wailed.
The harpy smiled nervously at his concern, but didn't have anything to say in her defense. So, Ma'at continued to bemoan her circumstance to her chagrin. "Yes, and I was only moments away from popping her pretty little head off. My husband spared your temptress's life. Not mine."
Finally having enough of it, Theaa ruffled her feathers and shouted, "That is a clear exaggeration, and you know it! If I didn't know better, I'd think another round was due to quiet this slanderous tongue of yours!"
"I'm ready whenever you are," Ma'at spat.
"That is enough." Thoth demanded. "There will be no more blood spilled in my library tonight, and my decision is final. Now, you may not like it, my dear; but this is still my sanctuary, and my word is law here. If you wanted to judge them under your own authority, you could have taken your little battle to any of your own temples, and torn them all to shreds at your own volition. I have the final say, and I have had my fill of your immature behavior. How unfitting for the great Judge of Egypt."
Still, Ma'at refused to concede. Her instincts were screaming at her that a terrible mistake was about to be made here, if she didn't step in, and it was no one else's duty but hers to return the balance of karma within the room to its normal state.
She slowly sat up and reached for his hands, pleadingly. "Think about what you are about to do here for a second. Consider what is at stake. I know that you do not understand the flows of order as I do, but we both understand balance." She stared deep into his eyes, so he could read the small integers of her face that aided to bridge the gap between their different incompatible understandings of the same word.
They always had that level of overlap between the different expressions of order to return to. That inherent communion always helped him to trust her judgement, and she rely on his wisdom when those roles apply.
He whispered. "I see your meaning, but you are ignoring mine. Something may be wrong within this space, but is it worth losing your life in the process, to rectify that balance? How much more anguish would befall the world if I were left to the task of binding the world together by my lonesome? You are the one who is blinded by vengeance! The harpy is within her rights!"
"What rights?! This woman should not even be in this realm to begin with! The laws only apply to protect our own citizens; not to excuse the incredulities of these interlopers!" She squeezed his hand. "Listen to me. Please! Listen to me! I don't understand how, and I don't understand why, but I have this unshakeable feeling that our decision tonight leads to a future where my powers are stolen from me. If you don't act now, I would become such a pitiable existence that I would much more welcome death! Let me wipe the ledgers clean with their blood, to be sure!"
Thoth shook his head. "I'm sorry, my love. I cannot let you do that. I wish that I could see what you see, but I just... don't. And it simply isn't worth the risk."
"You leave me no choice, and my anger is too great to be abandoned." She groaned, loudly, stretching her body with a creaking noise as the surface of her skin glowed brightly; heating the bronze surface to a temperature that cauterized her wounds instantly.
"Wha- what are you doing?!" Thoth shouted. "I ordered this be finished! Don't make me-"
"If you have to stop me, then stop me, darling." She slowly climbed to her feet, and stared down at Xantheaa, who struck a battle-ready pose. She was already considering how to adjust her approach now that her opponent's skin was possibly hot enough to melt her talons on contact. "I would rather die, than let chaos overtake this realm; even if my opponent is you."
Thoth began to falter, but he knew what she spoke was true. In this state, no one would be able to challenge her without using a hex of some sort. "Very well. It pains my heart to stand against you, but tempers run—"
"Wait!" Thrall screamed. "Hold your senryu, Neter. Your wife is right!"
Thoth was shocked into silence, and even Ma'at had her tenacity dulled for a moment due to the curious development. Xantheaa trembled. "Th-thrall? Why would you—"
He held up a finger. "Let me explain! Just-- everybody calm down! I've been under the same impression since I met Anansi. Something has to be wrong. It's like a small imbalance in the motion of the words that build this place. I believe that the spider is playing you all for fools!"
Ma'at narrowed her eyes at the implication. She didn't like the idea that a tiny spider could manipulate her, but released the power from her skin all the same. "Where is your evidence?"
"I sent my hound to check up on 'Aswad as soon as I found your charge. Have you noticed how quiet he's been? The beast hasn't returned; which means he's missing. Where is Anansi, now?"
Thoth sheepishly replied, "The Dendera Lights."