I have to wonder about the order of the arrival of the gods' avatars in Exandria, in particular Ayden. Because he's so young. He feels older than his years, but he also feels young in the sense that he is still experiencing the world—he intervenes as often as he is able and is not shy about ending with the small community that they are soon leaving, he is most affected by suffering and injustice. There is a pity borne of his divine point of view, yes, but even comparing him to Trist, who has obviously embraced the mortal world and ingrained herself within it, or S.I.L.A.H.A., who has gone out of his way to experience the wonders of the city that has driven them to such drastic lengths but who seems distantly resigned to its destruction, Ayden feels impressed upon by the circumstances of the world in a way that is much more youthful.
It seems that there was some amount of plan around who arrived when, but it wasn't all that specific beyond Ioun scouting ahead in Aeor, and was otherwise based on their own decision or whim. Why did Pelor wait so long to go? Had he hoped that perhaps the issue would be resolved before it became necessary—before the light of Exandria was sequestered away in a mortal form? Was he wary of growing too used to being mortal, to becoming attached to his life even beyond Trist, who leaves her family ruefully but resolutely all the same?
Ayden walks as though he cannot help but let the world touch him, but he doesn't seem to have companions of his own, instead traveling with Trist's family. They have left their home recently enough that Trist is still wearing her husband's overcoat rather than her own, and he goes without, suggesting that they have fled recently and with haste. In contrast, Ayden makes no mention of parents or a family, though he is young enough that he should still be with them. In this time of war, it is simple to wonder if they've been killed in its path, perhaps before Ayden was aware of the hand he'd had in its making. He carries little, and the shield he has seems to be—at least looks—worn and broken. It's quite likely that it too was created in response to this war, as much as Ayden himself. He looks to his sister and her mercy like a north star.
He feels both new to and impressed upon by the world, and I have to wonder how forcefully he is holding himself apart from its suffering, even as he intervenes often enough that he risks giving himself and his family away—not because he is afraid to experience it, but because he already has. He understands that he is fighting for this world even as he and his family is the cause of its strife. Aeor may offer the gods the mechanism by which to separate themselves from the world they've shaped, but I wonder if having the perspective of Ayden will give Pelor the resolve and the reason to choose it.
