#tw!transphobia

Have we considered that maybe Apo wasn't originally Cherri's champion?

What if she originally was champion of another god... One that loved the glory and fame of having a good champion, and his was one of the best in the land.

One day Apo loses a fight- their very first one they've ever lost and the god gets furious, that's his reputation his glory and his hubris they're ruining,

But, his champion is somebody else now. And he needs a man to be the face that represents him, not some woman... so he lets her go, she's no longer a champion

Apo is sobbing, everything she's known has been taken away in an instant, just for her saying one sentence that she wishes had never left her lips. ("I'm no man, I'm a woman.") Cherri has seen the potential, and takes Apo under her wing because nobody else will, everybody else wants the champion man, not the young woman full of potential

When Cherri takes Apo in, they just think Cherri pities them, and doesn't actually want them as her champion, just as a way to show the other gods she's kind and is a good goddess (cause gods are often selfish and only do things for their own reputation) So she thinks she needs to prove herself more, to be better, so that Cherri has a reason to keep her around longer. She works herself to the point of exhaustion, to a level that's unsafe for any mortal and Cherri doesn't realize cause they're a god, this amount of training is nothing to them.

The overtraining seriously injures Apo, and it makes them dependent on Cherri and they hate it, hates the feeling that they could be left and forgotten about, to be let go as a champion once again (Cherri would never, they care too much but Apo doesn't know that for now)