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in your path and in your heart
Peaceful gods make peaceful places
Permalink Mark Unread

The stream burbles along in gentle zigs and zags shadowed by the leaves of the tall trees that grow along its length. Farther ahead, it joins the much larger river whose mouth is many many miles away, in the mountains somewhere. Many a town or small fishing village relies on it for its subsistence, and several of them have temples to the god Aarethil, who claims the entire length of the river as its domain.

This is one such settlement, and a particularly large and important one—it even has its own acolyte. Its temple is big and very pretty, standing elevated in the heart of the city; large clear glass windows and panes and an absence of any taller structures nearby serve to ensure it catches every day's first and last sunbeams, and that whenever the moon is visible at all it is visible from within. Fountains in many shapes and sizes decorate it, the peaceful sound of running water serving as a reminder of the god's domain and focus on purity and cleansing.

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And here is a traveler, much like any other; he looks out of place, here, with his dusty, much-patched outfit and gear selected for utility rather than aesthetics. He's at ease regardless - or rather, no more tense in his speculative examination of the temple than any other time.

He keeps his examination brief, and then goes looking for a bathhouse, or, failing that, an inn.

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And while he's looking a man in impeccably clean white robes and sandals approaches him, openly wearing a necklace from which hangs a vial of clear water around his neck.

"Greetings, traveller."

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He nods, not quite as deferentially as a priest or acolyte might expect to be addressed, bringing his hand to the vial of dust hidden in his shirt as he does so in the near-universal gesture of yes-I-too-am-carrying-a-god. "Hello."

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"Do you need any help?"

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"Not as such; I could use directions to a bathhouse, though. And maybe how to find you afterward."

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"Follow me?" he invites, gesturing.

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"Certainly." Follow follow.

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The streets are straight and neat, paved smoothly and without visible cracks. While no one else wears pure white like this priest, lighter colours are common, and the architecture reflects that of the temple.

The bathhouse is two minutes away, and is a fairly large building, relatively speaking.

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He goes to change, emerging in swim trunks in somewhat better shape than his traveling outfit, with his vial of dust plainly visible.

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"You'll be able to find me at the temple. If you don't remember the way, ask anyone, they'll give you directions."

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"All right. Thank you."

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He bows slightly and returns to the temple.

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He returns to the temple some half an hour later, much cleaner and in an outfit that looks out of place only for its darker colors, vial once again tucked away.

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The other priest is there.

"Hello again, friend. Feeling refreshed?"

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"Yes, thank you. I'm Ruel, priest of Kiraavi of roads and travel, have you heard of him?"

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"I have, yes, if not much."

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He nods. "We are fairly far from his domain, yes. But he's considering expanding out this way, and sent me to scout the area - we advise travelers about the conditions in different domains, among other things."

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"And you would like to see more of Aarethil's?" He does not ask whether Ruel knows them; they are an old enough god with a big enough domain that it would be surprising if he didn't.

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"Mmhmm. I expect to be here for a week or two, perhaps a little longer."

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"You are welcome here as long as you like. Would you like me to show you around?"

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"If I won't be keeping you from anything."

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"Not at all."

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"All right. So what should I see?"

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"Perhaps the temple is a good place to start."

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He nods.

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The temple is pretty on the inside, as well! The waterworks outside are connected to those inside, with indoor fountains and little lakes here and there. The altar is higher up, closer to the glass ceiling, and there are various offerings on it—sand, vials of water, glass pebbles and trinkets, minimalistic but very pretty jewellery. Priests have quarters near the back, and the acolyte has a bigger one.

"I think I failed to introduce myself. I am Takuma."

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Nod. "Nice to meet you."

He looks over the offerings on the altar, and then after a moment's consideration rifles briefly through his knapsack's outer pocket to retrieve what at first appears to be a wad of cloth; another moment reveals the small vial of brilliant blue powder nestled within it. "Ultramarine pigment, of the highest quality," he explains, and then waits for Takuma's approval.

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He gestures towards the altar, clear approval on his face.

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And up he goes.

"Greetings, Aarethil. I offer you this vial of ultramarine pigment, purified from lapis lazuli mined in the deserts of Daplenia, far to the north, and hope that collaboration with Kiraavi of roads brings you many more such treasures."

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There is a cool wind, and Ruel hears a soft, androgynous voice: "My thanks, and be welcome in my domain."

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He inclines his head, briefly, and then down he goes.

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"Is there anything you would like to see in particular or should I just give you a general tour?"

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"We work fairly closely with the traders, so I'll be more interested in your commercial district than you might expect. But a general tour is about right, yes."

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"That's fairly close to here." He starts leading the way out.

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Ruel follows, studying their surroundings as he does.

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The aesthetic is pretty consistent! He'll be hard-pressed to find a lot of dirt, but it looks effortless. The people are cheerful and most of them greet Takuma when he passes, with varying levels of respect and reverence. He seems to be well-liked and sometimes he stops to ask someone about their daughter or to wonder how the shop's been going or to send Gran his love.

The city is large enough that most trades are represented: there are shoemakers and cobblers and bakers and leatherworkers and smiths (of various kinds and colours) and bookbinders and more than a few people involved in various parts of the fishing trade. Everything seems very—specialised, though. There is a place that does a very specific kind of hook, leatherworkers tend to work with only a specific kind of leather, there is definitely no blacksmith that doubles as a whitesmith, and even those tend to specialise a little bit further than just that.

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He follows along, asking questions of the tradespeople as the opportunity arises - how's their supply of this or that material; are they familiar with this or that foreign technique, or would they be willing to teach theirs to apprentices; are they interested in exporting, and if so, in what kind of quantity, and so on.

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As they near the river there are more places dedicated to the fishing trade, and then to maritime transport—boatmaking is divided between transport boats and fishing boats and then further—and finally some tourism, with a few places here and there making pretty local things for the visitors that come by boat.

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He buys a few small things - fishing lures, jewelry, small artwork - asking questions and offering compliments to the shopkeepers as he goes.

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The shopkeepers are mildly surprised by his manner of dress but are very friendly!

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Friendly is nice. He lets himself be a mystery; the line between mentioning a god and proselytizing for one is very thin, after all.

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The people he interacts with don't mention Aarethil, either, even to Takuma, and he seems to be more interested in their personal lives than anything.

"So, this is the commercial district. How do you like it?"

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"Very nice. The setup is a little unusual, but we shouldn't have any trouble finding people who can work with it."

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"Unusual?"

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"Mmhmm. Traders aren't usually experts in the things they're selling; they know enough to get by, but a lot of them wouldn't know offhand which type of fisherman or smith would be interested in what they have." He shrugs. "They'll manage, with a little warning."

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"Oh, yes, people specialise a lot, here. It's a matter of cultural pride, in a sense, knowing as much as you can know about what you do and being exactly what you are."

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He nods. "It's not for everyone, I imagine, but I do see the appeal."

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"I find most people just need to find whatever they're good at. Everyone's good at something."

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"Of course."

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"Kiraavi, I seem to recall, does not really go in for settlements?"

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Headshake. "Nothing bigger than a waystation, himself."

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"It must be exhausting."

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"You get used to it. My family's settled; I stop in for a visit when I feel like staying in one place for a while."

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"Fair enough."

And here's the place where tourists who want to stay a while, well, stay. Their inns don't double as pubs—either you do lodgings, or you do food, you don't do both. There's an interesting dynamic going on in the arrangement of establishments because of that, with lodgings wanting to have a pretty enough view but also be near enough available food providers while the latter optimise to be near as many inns as possible.

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That's actually pretty convenient. "I like how you have this set up."

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He smiles. "People have complimented it. I in particular quite love it here."

They reach the harbour, or one of them as there is another one visible a ways away. This one seems to be mostly for people instead of cargo, and it's pretty enough. Not many boats arriving or leaving at this time, though.

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He follows docilely, curious to see what Takuma is leading him to.

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The harbour is: pretty! It is very welcoming and has statues (many of them glass, in a way that refracts the sunlight very prettily) and plants and gardens and that's probably what he wanted to show off.

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He's seen nicer, but it's still impressive. He recognizes some of the rarer and harder-to-cultivate plants and trickier gardening techniques and comments on them.

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Next he'd want to show Ruel the proper gardens and parks, but the sun is close to setting so Ruel might perhaps like to retire?

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It is getting to be that time, yes. He'll stop by the temple again after breakfast.

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Then Takuma will bid him good night and go back to the temple, himself.

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And Ruel arranges for a room - something small, with a reasonable view; he doesn't intend to spend much time in it but might spend some - and then goes to have another look at the restaurants.

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There are plenty! Lots of fish, since, well, river, but also lots of other things, they get enough traffic for a steady inflow of various other types of food.

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He'll take fish! (One doesn't really get to be a picky eater, living like he does.) Is there anything that seems to be a local specialty, or is that not so much a thing, here?

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There are specialties local to individual restaurants but not to the city itself, no.

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Sure, that works. He goes with something on the low end of midrange, today - something a trader might order.

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That is a thing that exists! He can eat.

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Pretty tasty.

He probably has to go to a different restaurant if he wants dessert, huh. Any of them also offer an after-dinner cup of coffee?

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Dessert is over there, but he can have coffee, sure.

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Good.

He gets a pastry thing of a type that he hasn't tried before and a cup of coffee, and writes up an overview of the day while he eats.

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He can spot a small child running towards—or away from—something. A glimpse of her face reveals tears.

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She catches his eye; he notes where she goes and watches to see if she's being followed.

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No one seems to be immediately following her.

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He gives it a couple minutes, and then gets another pastry thing in a to-go box and meanders thataway with it.

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Kid has gone through an alley. Could be anywhere. Maybe someone else has seen her?

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Hmh.

"Kiraavi, did you catch that?"

"No, what?"

"A little kid ran through crying, I'm curious why. Can you see her?"

He can look.

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Hiding in a secluded corner, between a couple of trees. Still crying.

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Kiraavi directs him there.

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He leans on one of the trees. "Hey. You all right?"

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She jumps. "I didn't do anything!"

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"Yeah, I didn't say you did."

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She blinks up at him through teary eyes. "Who're you? I haven't met you."

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"Ruel." He sits, and deposits the pastry box on the ground between them, where she can reach it. "I'm here to learn about Aarethil's domain, so I can tell other travelers about it. Everything I've seen seems pretty nice so far, but I don't want to only hear about the nice stuff. And I might be able to help you, depending on what the problem is."

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She looks at the box warily. "Why?"

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"Why which?"

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"All of it."

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"I want to know the bad stuff too so I can tell them the truth - I don't want to say it's good here and then someone comes all the way here and finds out that it isn't; if I do that then next time I tell them someplace is good they won't trust me. Why I'm doing it at all is sort of secret, though."

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"And why would you help? No one does."

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"I might not, it depends on what's wrong. But I might know how to fix it, even if they don't, or something. I don't like it when people are unhappy."

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She rubs her eyes with the back of her hand. "I didn't do anything," she repeats.

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"Sure, that happens. What are you hiding from?"

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"...my dad." Sniffle.

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"Mm. Did something happen?"

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"...I dunno. Kinda. Not really."

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"It's complicated? It sounds like it is. That won't bother me, I'm used to complicated stuff."

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"It's just... my father was talking about stuff again. God stuff."

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"Ah. Well, I can definitely see where Aarethil wouldn't be for everybody. Most gods aren't, really, that's why it's nice that there are so many of them."

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"You have to be one thing, right. You can't be more things. Because you have to be pure." She sounds like she's been practising not spitting the word.

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"Yeah, that'd be it. Plenty of people want more freedom than that. And plenty of gods don't care."

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She shrugs. "Other people do fine. Everyone should do that, it's the right way to be, people who aren't like that just haven't found their calling..." she recites.

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"You know I've known people who preferred not to even follow just one god? It's not common, but it happens. There isn't much that works for absolutely everybody."

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She studies him for a couple of seconds. "Our god isn't a 'he' or a 'she,' did you know?"

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He shrugs. "I'm not really surprised, I guess? That happens with humans, why wouldn't it happen with gods."

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"It's because being a boy or a girl is sort of being impure. It's some extra—thing that you have, about how you want people to treat you, how you feel about yourself. But they're okay with people that are boys. Or girls. Because everyone is, they can't really change that, they just find it weird." Pause. "I'm both. That's bad."

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"Ah."

 

"There aren't a lot of places where that's normal, but there are ones where it'd go over better than here."

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She squints at him.

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"I'm getting a little ahead of myself. Priest of Kiraavi, god of roads and travel." He pats his chest where his vial is hidden in his shirt.

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"At your service, little one."

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"Okay... Does my father know you're here? He'll be mad you're talking to me."

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"Nobody was following you, and I didn't make it very obvious that I was; probably not."

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"He'll still know. His god will tell him. I think. If they notice."

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"Mmhmm. But I think I can make a pretty good case that they should let you come with me. If that's what you want, I mean."

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"Yes," she says immediately. "...my father will never let you."

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"I don't have to give him the chance to stop me."

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She studies him for a few more seconds then very deliberately gets up and hugs him.

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Yeah, this seems like a kid who needs a hug. (He's pretty good at them. Having younger siblings will do that.)

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"If you're lying to me I will end you," she says into his shirt.

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"And if you don't Kiraavi will." Squeeze. "Is there anything I need to know before I talk to Aarethil?"

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"...my father's his acolyte."

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"Ah. Yeah, that's important." He thinks about it. "I think it works in our favor, though."

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"...why?"

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"He's not supposed to be more than one thing, right? So how's Aarethil going to take it when he wants something that's not best for them?"

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"What's not best?"

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"Making you stay. Kiraavi only works with gods who let people leave their domains. That's good for most gods, though, because he'll also send people to them who'd like them; they might not end up with as many people but they almost always end up being worshiped more. And for Aarethil in particular, we can send agender people here; there aren't too many places that're a good fit for them. Everybody wins, except your dad."

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"...okay."

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"Do you have any questions, before I talk to them about that?"

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She thinks about it for a couple of seconds then shakes her head.

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"All right. And I don't expect your father will think to look for us at the temple, if Kiraavi will help us get there without running into him, and being polite will help - do you want to come with me, or should I leave you in my room or something?"

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"...your room."

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"Sure." He gathers up his bag and the boxed pastry. "I'm at the Plump Pillow, it's up this way."

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She nods and follows.

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He takes the side entrance in - it's pure habit, by this point, choosing inns with that option, for this reason among others - and shows her to his room, a modest one on the second floor. "You can have the bed, I know how to get comfortable on the floor. Have you had dinner?"

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Headshake.

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Nod. "I'll pick something up on my way back, if you're okay waiting that long. What do you want?"

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Shrug. "Doesn't matter."

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"All right. Go ahead and have your dessert while I'm gone, if you want, I'll pick up some more pastries for the road, too."

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Nodnod. She reaches for the dessert.

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And off he goes.

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The city seems oblivious to whatever's happening; as the evening slowly turns into night, people close up shop and retire to their homes. Some restaurants are still open, but not many.

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He stops at a few on the way, explaining that he's running an errand but will be done in about half an hour and need to pick up dinner afterward; with any luck he should be able to arrange for three or four small entrees' worth of food to be waiting for him on his walk back.

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Yeah sure restaurants are amenable, they'll be waiting.

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Good.

 

And then the temple.

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There are a couple of people praying, but Takuma is nowhere to be seen.

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He looks around for a private niche; failing that he'll just take an out-of-the-way corner. "Aarethil?"

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"Welcome again, traveller."

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"I met Takuma's kid this evening."

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"I see."

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"They want to come with me. And Kiraavi will be interested in sending people who're a better fit here, but only if people are allowed to leave."

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"...Takuma is a very good, loyal follower. They understand in a way most do not."

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Nod. "And there's really no way he comes out ahead, here. But I've met people like his kid before - there's really no way he's going to get what he wants, either."

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"Everyone can just become their true selves. This child is young and has not found theirs, yet. It will become clear in time."

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"That might be true," he nods. "It's not that kids like them never grow up into adults with a straightforward gender. But they'll remember being hurt over it, too, even if they do; they already resent him, and that's not going to get better if they stay."

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"And you expect taking them away will make them not resent us?"

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"It has the best chance, out of anything plausible. I don't know them well enough to say how likely it is, though."

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"It makes little sense. They should thank me for showing them their true self."

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"Humans vary pretty widely; there's a pretty good chance that this is their true self."

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"...I do not understand. But it has been years."

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"Mmhmm. That's what I mean by it being their true self - they aren't going to stop, because they can't, it's part of them."

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"Very well."

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"Thank you."

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"I will want to talk to you about this again in the future."

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"I'm not sure when I'll be out this way again, and if you want it explained -"

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"I already have a specialist on the way; he'll be there in a few months."

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"I shall wait for them."

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"I'll tell him not to dawdle."

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"And we'll be leaving in the morning. I don't get the impression they want to see their father again."

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"They are unlikely to. Go. You both have my thanks."

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He bows and goes, retracing his path through the restaurants to pick up dinner and then returning to the hotel room.

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She is napping.

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He quietly sets the food on the bedside table.

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She wakes up but doesn't move when he approaches her, the only evidence of this being the way her breathing hitches and changes a bit. She doesn't even open her eyes.

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...well.

"Hey, just me, I have dinner."

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She opens her eyes then sits up slowly and peers at the food.

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He made a guess that meals generally consist of approximately one thing, here, and that seems like the opposite of what's needed today. There are small portions of two different fish dishes, one chicken, one pork, a couple kinds of vegetables, and two desserts; enough for two, maybe two and a half dinners. "Go ahead and have whatever you want, I already ate."

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She blinks slowly and approaches the food suspiciously. "That's a lot of different things."

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"Mmhmm."

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"Why?"

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"Mm - they explained to you how to figure out what makes a good offering, right? You think about what kinds of things match them, and then come up with something meaningful or important or fancy? Offerings aren't the only thing that's good for. Or sometimes it's good to do the opposite, think about what doesn't match a problem and do that."

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"...the opposite?"

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"Yeah. You've had enough of 'only one thing', so," he gestures at the food, "let's do something that's not that."

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She starts eating.

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He sits at the desk and gets out his journal, then turns back around. "Oh, I never did get your name. Doesn't have to be what they were calling you before, if there's something you'd like better than that."

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"Kaede," she says, "and I'm fine with it."

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"All right. And pronouns?"

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Shrug. "I'm a girl now."

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Nod. "And it's not going to bother you if I write about you like you're a girl and share it with Kiraavi, later when you aren't?"

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Another shrug. "Yeah it's okay." Pause. "You're the first person who cared about it."

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"Yeah, I got that idea. Doesn't mean it doesn't matter, though."

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She nods. "It's okay anyway."

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"It's not, really. But it's all right, we'll be getting out of here in the morning anyway."

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Nod. Nom.

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"I'm not sure if it makes a difference, but it did seem like Aarethil understood at least a little that how you were treated wasn't right - they were pretty sure you wouldn't want to see your dad again."

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She pauses, and after a few seconds without moving says, "Father. Not dad. And that's nice, I guess."

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"Sorry."

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"It's okay. Why didn't they do anything about it?"

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"I didn't ask, but it seemed like they thought it would work, and that if it worked it'd be the right thing to do. Which it wouldn't, but gods have trouble understanding that sometimes. Kiraavi's better about it - he doesn't think people should be a certain way to start with, and he'll ask for help if a plan of his doesn't seem to be working."

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"...what's he like?"

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"Curious, mostly. His thing is travel, and what that means is - trying new things, new experiences, new combinations. He's always expanding, and the only thing he really doesn't put up with is people being stuck someplace - I wasn't kidding when I said he'd have my head if I left you here."

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"There are other kids who have bad families too though."

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"Yeah. And if he comes out this way he'll set up things to make it easier for them to leave, too - it's hard with kids your age, we don't have the resources to help too many, but we can set things up so if someone leaves at thirteen or fourteen they'll generally be okay."

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"...okay."

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"I know it's not really enough."

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"It's something."

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"Mmhmm. And he takes suggestions, if we come up with an idea for something better."

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"...really?"

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"Yeah, definitely. He's always looking for ways to make it easier for people to get out and see the world, we'd be doing him a favor."

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"Um. Okay." Pause. "He sounds really nice."

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"Yeah. I mean, if I didn't like him I wouldn't be his priest, but I've met lots of gods, and I think his kind of curiosity is good for them."

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"Will I meet him?"

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"We're a little far out of the way to run into an avatar anytime soon, but he'll probably be able to spare the attention if you want to talk sometime."

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"Okay." Om nom.

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He gets back to updating his journal, and then settles on the floor with a bundle of clothes for a pillow. "You'll probably have trouble sleeping, but you should if you can, we'll have a long day tomorrow."

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"Okay."

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And, sleep.

He's up at dawn the next day.

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She wakes up when he does.

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He putters around quietly, apparently not having noticed - glass of water, change of socks, make sure the food containers from last night are in the bin...

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She sits up.

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"'morning."

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"Hi."

So it wasn't a dream. Huh.

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Nope, it wasn't. "Shower's up the hall if you want one; I don't mind either way, but we might not see one again for a while."

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She nods and heads that way.

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The facilities are on the plain side, for Aarethil's domain. When she gets back, Ruel has changed clothes and is eating last night's leftovers for breakfast.

"I'm thinking we'll grab a pastry or something for you and maybe stop someplace for a change of clothes, if we see a likely-looking shop on our way out. Is there anything else you want to do before we leave?"

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Headshake. "...what if my father sees us?"

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"Worst case, we ask Aarethil to intervene. But I bet we can avoid that - Kiraavi, are you busy?"

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"Not especially. Good morning, little one."

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She jumps and presses herself against the wall.

"...hi."

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"-remind Aarethil that there's a reason plague gods went out of style," he mutters.

"What can I do for you?"

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"I don't know."

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"We're worried that her father will see us on the way out - he's that acolyte from yesterday. Can you keep an eye out for him for us?"

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"Certainly."

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"What will you do?"

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"My power is seeing around myself like it's my domain, even when it's not; I can already see where he is, and I can tell you how to avoid him if he starts getting close."

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"...okay."

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"And Ruel, I think I should keep an eye on things there - you should be out of their domain by nightfall anyway, I can make a claim while you sleep."

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"Mmhmm."

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"Make a claim?" she asks despite herself.

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"Mmhmm. If you're flinching at me, that's worse than I thought. So I'll claim that nice highway we saw coming in, so I can start keeping an eye on who comes and goes and see if they need any help with that."

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"-people who're leaving bad situations often need more help than people who just want to see the world; having that help available makes it easier and safer for them, so we do that."

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She nods. "Okay."

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"It won't affect us much, I'll just empty my vial out before bed and refill it in the morning, and then that patch will be part of him and he can expand from there."

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Nodnod.

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"You could take a vial of your own, if you'd like."

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"...why?"

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"Some mortals find it comforting; I suppose you might not. It does mean that if you get separated from Ruel you can still talk to me."

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She shrugs.

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"Okay. Well, I'm ready to go, is there anything else you need to do here?"

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"No. Let's go."

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And off they go. They stop for the promised pastries - Ruel has Kaede pick out two for herself - and then take a quick detour through the clothing district, where he directs them to a store he noticed during the previous day's tour and gives her a budget suitable for one reasonably nice outfit. ("We'll get you more later, but it's going to be a few days.") He ducks into another store as they're leaving the district, to look at child-sized packs, but passes them up - too fragile, Kiraavi will have something better in storage. And then in short order they're out of the city and back on the road.

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Well. On the road for the first time, for her.

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Yup.

He sets a gentle pace, something she should be easily able to keep up all day, and waits to see how she's going to handle everything.

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She's mostly curious about the path itself. She'd never left the city before.

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He can talk about the path! He knows lots of things about paths - how to tell how much traffic it gets and what the local climate is like from wagon ruts and other wear, which plants growing along it are edible or poisonous or useful for making rope or boiling into tea, how to spot an animal trail crossing it, and so on.

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This sounds interesting in an abstract, intellectual way. In practice she's not super sold on the idea of nature.

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Fair enough. He backs off, and starts sizing up the wagons that occasionally pass them for likelihood of being willing to give them a ride.

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Ooh that's more interesting.