Atrius stumbled, he couldn't believe Alina could speak his language. When had she learned that. Though she had learned to read it in an evening of heavy reading. He frowned. Since she had simply repeated what he had said he didn't think she had a firm grasp of it. When they returned and she wrote out her question he sighed, puffing his cheeks out a little as he did so. That was a tough question to answer, mainly because he'd never had to answer it before. Sure, his parents had tried to instil him with a pious mind.<br/><br/>"The gods are the reason I'm stuck with a woman-shaped magpie." He sighed again and picked up the chalk. It took several wipes of the board before he was done. He tried to explain how the various gods or goddesses imbued the earth, air, fire, and water. They influenced nature and the paths of man. He tried to keep his personal biases out of his explanation. However, there was a twinge that he didn't particularly care for the divine rulers o the world. He wondered if he had been clear enough.<br/><br/>It only brought him back to his original question though: what did this woman have to do with the divine. It also raised a new question. How does a woman her age not know about the gods? It was really a lot for a simple woodsman to ponder.