"He's not going to buy that."

"Sure he's not. But it's true and it won't hurt to say it."

"I concur with Xiomara on this point. With regards to the next point, communes: I agree we fucked that up pretty badly," nevermind that nobody in the room now was present for that decision and half of them weren't even born, "But there's no time like today to fix it. Marit's got Aarind now, so that's sorted - Can we spare anyone for Mendev?"

"Commune-authorized? No. Fifth-circle clerics are not an abundant resource, we couldn't really spare Aarind if that situation hadn't been critical."

"Authorize some more, then! Mendev has the clerics, the issue is that they don't have anyone who knows how to Commune correctly. Send a gaggle of first-circles through certification and it doesn't matter that they can't cast the spell itself, they can advise and partner with the locals - pick smart Splendid ones and they can help with all the illegal orders training that's going to need to happen."

"We cannot easily spare a 'gaggle' of first circle clerics either - but they don't actually have to be empowered clerics. It will take a bit longer but we can send some unempowered soldiers through the training by the middle of next month. And I suppose get a dozen first-circle clerics through certification to get started, if we'll be able to recall them in a month."

"Between this and the illegal orders training and the recommendation to replace the monarchy I suspect Rolkeith's replacement is not going to be very welcome in Nerosyan. I'm inclined to drop the last as unfeasible in the current political climate - "

"No. Now's the best time to push for that, really. Present it as Arendae-proofing the throne, after the explanation of just what this incident almost cost us all - I think you can win her around."

"We haven't even picked Rolkeith's replacement yet and I don't think we have anyone in the diplomatic corps who could pull that off."

"She'll take it adequately seriously if you go yourself. Bring Alexeara, he's got the splendour and the paladin bona-fides."

"She's right, Jan. Don't worry, the rest of us can keep the house in order while you're gone."

"Fine. Cansellarion and I will both take time out of our busy busy schedules so that Galfrey will feel like her dignity is being adequately respected while we save her kingdom from her disastrous leadership and our predecessors' mistakes."

"Don't use those words with her, though."

He rolls his eyes.

"Alright. As for the last item of the supplemental - Not only is he right that we should suggest it, he's right about the broader point he's making. The Goddess wanted us to surpass Her and this is one area where we've abjectly failed to do so. We've got one suggestion; There's probably more. I move that when we adjourn we plan to reconvene two hours past midnight to discuss any ideas we've come up with for ways the Goddess can work with us better, then get a priest to pray them up to Heaven and check responses at dawn with the overnight commune. Dissent?"

There is not dissent.

"Alright, then. On to the report proper. I don't love recommendation 14, though 14-c has a point. In light of 10-b, I don't want to discuss it too long here, I move that Veena find some people for a committee to review what options for fatigue mitigation we could consistently supply or train..."

You know what we had that they don’t? he says to Alfirin. We were arrogant. We figured we’d fix all the things wrong with the world which were only wrong because no one as powerful and clever as us had ever had a real go at fixing them.

They all grew up in a broken world. No more prophecies of glory - I don’t think I ever thought it would take less than a thousand years, though. Aroden tried for much longer than that and I wasn’t that arrogant.

I didn’t think we’d be marching on the Evil afterlives by now, but I think I thought we’d be - visibly a thousand years closer. Certainly if I’d imagined a world that looked like this one I’d have imagined Her church as dissatisfied as Aroden’s was in our time.

We were, on most fronts, seven or eight hundred years closer until Aroden died.

He closes his eyes, tries to imagine it. Fails, mostly. I didn’t even like Him that much but I can’t say I don’t see the holes He left everywhere.

He was - well, regardless of what He was, people were counting on Him, on His being there or coming back or having a plan.

Were you?

Not very specifically - I hadn’t made plans for what I’d do if He died, but I also wasn’t making any plans that expected Him to be doing anything in particular - I thought I might go for the starstone, if things on Golarion changed enough, but I wasn’t set on it.