Wheeling Gull Isle wordlessly watching, he waits by the window

He wisely changed the subject. Maegi would not elaborate further. She hadn't told a soul about how Lainie had shuddered, how Parvati had twitched and trembled. How the foam gathered at the corners of their mouths, the gagging sounds they'd made, gasping vainly for breath. She had watched each of them grow still—the first time in horror, the second in pleasure.

No, she kept those memories close to her heart. No one would know.

Jaes is everything, everywhere, Maegi explained. Formless, sexless, limitless. The protector of all souls, but especially of those who are defenseless. The very young, the very old. The sick. The crippled, she said, with a wan smile toward her foreleg. Jaes is my protector. My job is to praise, teach and protect as Jaes has done for me.

It had given her a purpose in what could have been a very purposeless life.

She looked at him, searching. And Jaes could be yours, too, if you choose, she tested. She knew he had gods already; many of them, much like the daedra of her youth. If you listen, you may hear the voice. Jaes's voice. Jaes speaks to me. Jaes may speak to you.