Lillene
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Chapter 559 - Priesthood
🕑 Added 2022-11-20 23:37:08 +0000 UTCEnjoy!
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Serenity finished mixing up the hot cocoa with multicolored marshmallows and handed the hot drink to Ekari. He found it somewhat amusing how many of the people heâd invited to Earth had fallen in love with the mass-produced drink mix. He had several cases in his Rift storage, along with multiple canisters of the no-marshmallow mix for the people who werenât quite as fond of color.
Serenity grinned to himself as he handed Rissa hers, then finished his own. He really couldnât say anything bad about the habit; after all, he and Rissa were the reason the others had run into hot cocoa in the first place.
After Serenity joined the others - minus the acolytes - at the table in the common room, he turned his attention to Ekari. She was staring at her hot cocoa; it didnât look like sheâd even taken a sip. âDrink up before it gets cold.â
Ekari started and looked up at Serenity. âIâm sorry, I was justâŚâ
Serenity smiled gently. âYou should stop apologizing.â This Ekari was nothing like the hard-driving Administrator Ekari Serenity remembered from the Tutorial. There, sheâd been in her element. This clearly took her back to her childhood. âI know itâs tough, but whenever youâre ready.â
Ekari took a sip of her hot cocoa. âWhere do I even begin? You can say the beginning, but thatâs often not the right place. The beginning is boring. You should start with why the other person should care. Set the hook then fill in the details.â Ekari paused and looked up at Serenity. âI guess that means I should start with the Tutorial. I knew it was Margrethe that shot you, but I wasnât allowed to tell you or do anything other than clean it up. I asked for permission and was denied.â
Kerr slammed her fist into the table. âWhy?â
Ekari shook her head. âI was raised on Aeon. Born there, as well. I donât remember the first time I met the Lord of Aeon. What I do remember is that every time, I hurt after I left. It got worse as I got older; he paid more attention to me.â Ekari took another long sip of her cocoa. âI have the training of a Priest, but Iâm not qualified because I never took the Path. I knew better. But that didnât mean I was going to be allowed to vanish. Not with my mother.â
Kerr seemed to be vibrating in her seat. Sillon set a hand on her shoulder and whispered something in her ear that seemed to calm her down; Serenity wondered what it was. It was interesting that she was far more upset on Serenityâs behalf than he was.
Of course, he knew something Kerr apparently didnât know. âYou told ⌠no, you hinted at Echo, gave her a clue that sent her in the right direction. You didnât do nothing; it sounds like you did everything you could.â
âMore than I was supposed to,â Ekari agreed with a nod. âBut thatâs getting ahead of where we are. I saw what happened when people gave in to the temptation of his power and control and I didnât want that. I didnât see a way out. Iâd been an instructor before; I knew that a good enough result could get you new Paths. I even used a few of the ones I got at Tier Three. Unfortunately, going as an Administrator was too interesting. Aeonâs Lord wanted reports and restricted what I could do. I couldnât fight it. I barely even wanted to by then.â
Ekari glanced around the now silent group gathered around the table. âThe time leading up to the beginning of the Tutorial was unpleasant; I spent a great deal of it basking in âŚâ Ekari trailed off. âBlaze says I shouldnât think about that yet. More than once I almost chose the only Tier Four Path I had available, but I still had enough left to know I didnât want to be anyoneâs slave.â
Serenity frowned. It said a lot about her past that slave was even an option. A Path didnât appear just because you tried something new or had your situation change. To have a slave Path appear in a place that technically outlawed slavery meant that she was free only in name, and had probably been stuck for years.
âOnce I was in the Tutorial, I was supposed to report anything or anyone that was sufficiently unusual. You were, but not until I knew a good bit about you. I couldnât report in very many times, the feather wasnât strong enough. It - that was the only time I did during the entire Tutorial. More than that, he prohibited me from acting without permission for anything that wasnât required by my position as an Administrator. Permission to help you was specifically denied when I asked.â Ekari bit her lip and looked down. âI donât entirely understand myself then, it feels like I was a different person. Maybe I was; I got a new Path that day. A Path that showed me a way out.â
Serenity nodded. He knew that feeling. âYouâd finally pushed yourself far enough for the Voice to give you the Path you wanted.â
Ekari shrugged. âMaybe. I thought perhaps it was your fault. You seem to create Paths.â
Serenity started to say he doubted it, but Rissaâs Path came to mind. âMaybe Iâve just been in the center of a lot of things, getting attention?â
Rissa broke the uncomfortable pause that followed Serenityâs question. âIs that whatâs affecting your mother?â
Ekariâs mouth fell open and she stared at Rissa.
Serenity reached over and caught Ekariâs hot cocoa before she dropped it. He didnât say anything; he knew what it was like to need a moment to process something.
It took Ekari more than a moment. When she finally spoke, it wasnât the words Serenity expected. âBlaze says youâre right, and that heâs seen it in more than one Priest. Heâs not sure about Acolytes, but he thinks the difference might be the Path I refused.â Ekari shook her head; Serenity could see tears forming in her eyes. âHe thinks he can fix it for some people, but only the ones who are still fighting. He thinks Mother is possible but it would probably take weeks.â Ekari frowned. âHe says thereâs a way to speed it up but he doesnât want to? Do any of you know what harad is?â
The word almost sounded familiar, but Serenity couldnât place it. He was pretty sure heâd remember when he was trying to get to sleep at night or in the shower or something. Some time when it was no longer important. Not that it was all that important right now, really.
Rissa shook her head. âIt didnât translate.â
Everyone else seemed lost, as well.
Serenity could at least answer the translation issue. âThatâs because Ekari doesnât know what it means. The spell doesnât translate names, either, usually. Anything where the meaning is in the sound is left alone.â It could be pretty inconvenient sometimes, but it was still a good general spell for most languages.
âBlaze says heâd rather wait until he can talk to you about it himself instead of trying to talk through me, and that will be a few days.â
Serenity handed Ekari her no-longer-very-hot cocoa. She seemed to have calmed down quite a bit but sugar wouldnât hurt. âOne last question. Is he willing to check the Earthlings we recover?â
Ekari answered after a shorter pause than before. âHe says yes but healing them will depend on what he finds.â
Serenity nodded. âCanât ask for more than that. In that case, what do we do next? Iâm pretty sure the plans I made with Rourke are no longer possible. I donât even know how to contact him.â
Ekari flushed. âI forgot to tell you. I already did that while I was out. At least, I left a message that Iâm pretty sure will reach him. I just donât know when. There wasnât anyone at the safe house, so I donât know when theyâll get it. I also found out that the church is recalling people to Abiding One.â
âThatâs also where most of the mercenaries are,â Sillon added. âI think theyâve got a real problem and are just throwing people at it.â
Serenity nodded. âWe canât wait on Rourke, then. We probably should wait on Blaze, but we can prepare between now and then. Sillon, you said something about an agreement with the Mercenariesâ Guild?â
Sillon nodded. âIâm not sure we should take them up on it. They want to use us to destroy infrastructure and make it harder to respond to the dungeon breaks, to spread chaos. Juka asked if there was any way to destroy a City Core.â
Serenity shook his head. Destroying a City Core was possible but not a good idea unless you wanted to kill a lot of civilians. âNot going to happen. The loss of everything the City Core does is bad enough; the wave of destruction it emits ⌠at this Tier, itâll kill anyone nearby.â
Sillon blinked. âI donât want to know how you know that.â
Serenity shrugged. A big enough kinetic strike could destroy anything, and not all asteroids broke apart when they entered the atmosphere. âThe first time I saw it happen was actually just bad luck. There wasnât even a war happening.â
âThe first time?â Sillon shook his head. âNow I know I donât want to know more. Do we help them? I donât really like the idea, but theyâve had more time to make plans than we have.â
Serenity sighed. âThatâs the advantage of working with Rourke, too. I really donât like just going along with a plan someone else made but Iâm no good at politics.â Vengeance had always preferred the âbeat them up until they leave you aloneâ plan. Of course, that was probably part of how Vengeance ended up becoming the Final Reaper.
âSend a message to High Priestess Karin, ask her to come visit.â Rissa offered. âOffer to keep her safe while sheâs here. We can even go get her in Abiding One if thatâs where she is.â
Serenity frowned and turned to Rissa. âHow will that help?â
âIt canât hurt, but more than that, Iâve been thinking. I noticed something off about her, Blaze noticed something off about her. I think she may be even less the loyal servant than she seems. Sheâs the one who arranged everything since we got here, so sheâs responsible for you finding Helen. Sheâs possibly also the reason you were able to meet Rourke.â Rissa grinned at Serenity. âIf nothing else, it gives Blaze a chance to see if she wants to be healed. On the other hand, she might be exactly who we need to talk to.â
âTalkingâs not going to be enough, but I like the idea more than I like our other option.â Serenity nodded over at Sillon. âDestroying cities to cause chaos sounds good when you donât have any better options to deal with an enemy, but I donât like jumping there as the first option.â
Even Sillon looked relieved at Serenityâs decision.
Serenity looked around the table. âAnything else?â
Rissa put her hand on her belly. âWell, the baby just kicked me, but thatâs all I have.â
A wave of chuckles swept around the room; Serenity wasnât sure who started it, but it spread quickly. It was probably mostly from the tension; they were all worried about the current situation and used to being far more active than they could be right now.
Even though he knew why he was amused, he still felt better.
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Author's Note: It seems like a good time to remind everyone of the bits and pieces that were started all the way back in Chapter 33. How can it have been that long?
I tried to keep it short and then move on to the future.
Comments
Nope! I've been gently pointing at it for a while but we had to get to Lyka before I could really pull :-)
Tsula
Ha! The thread was hanging so long I for one was starting to wonder if it had been forgotten.
