I'll tell you this... Neither Helen nor I have ever considered that there was that kind of linkage between Hexe and Doug. In fact, the first time Helen saw the passage with the Three where the Child says "Your soul is already pledged to Another", and I explained that was the effect of Doug's loyalty to Hexe, she was rather disconcerted by the idea that Hexe was receiving even that much ... well, "worship" isn't the right word. "Devotion" maybe.
Helen has never fully explained Hexe's motives for incarnating, but from what she has said, I suspect that Hexe is an iconoclast among the gods, actively seeking intimate understanding of the human condition and rejecting things like worship, sacrifices, etc. Some of it she can't fully escape -- there is the "ancient covenant between mortal and god" mentioned in chapter 12, for example, and that binds her to a degree -- but she doesn't actively accept any devotion and actively discourages anything that resembles worship. This is why she couldn't "home in" on Doug despite being summoned (accidentally) through the covenant -- she refuses to set up the "channels" that normally connect a worshipper to a god and which would allow her to know where he was at all times if she cared to. Trust me, she doesn't care to.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.
Helen has never fully explained Hexe's motives for incarnating, but from what she has said, I suspect that Hexe is an iconoclast among the gods, actively seeking intimate understanding of the human condition and rejecting things like worship, sacrifices, etc. Some of it she can't fully escape -- there is the "ancient covenant between mortal and god" mentioned in chapter 12, for example, and that binds her to a degree -- but she doesn't actively accept any devotion and actively discourages anything that resembles worship. This is why she couldn't "home in" on Doug despite being summoned (accidentally) through the covenant -- she refuses to set up the "channels" that normally connect a worshipper to a god and which would allow her to know where he was at all times if she cared to. Trust me, she doesn't care to.
-- Bob
---------
Then the horns kicked in...
...and my shoes began to squeak.