Caroline
21st of April, 649
The cool spring morning air drew steam from Caroline's tea as she ventured towards the window of her bedroom. A faint breeze wafted in - it felt good as it kissed her face. The scent of the sea was always so comforting, she thought, looking out over the Chapel grounds. The weekend had been relaxing - she had spent much time with Turonn going over her lesson plans for the Attendants, and he had been extremely helpful with coming up with ideas for activities for she and the girls to do during the upcoming week.
With High Vestal Vivienne departing for the church at Saiph Haven tomorrow morning, Caroline would be in charge - a weighty mantle, she knew, but one that she would take upon herself one day, Cybele willing. It was just past 0700, and Caroline had planned on starting classes in just under an hour's time. The Attendants were Caroline's charges. Her students, she preferred to call them, as she had been tasked with teaching them a variety of subjects. The mantle of being the Vestal of the Church had been kind to Caroline, and she found great joy in the accomplishment of being able to teach the girls about the arts and sciences.
The High Vestal approved, too. Rates of retention within the Church had gone up as Attendants chose to stay in the ranks after turning 12. Those who stayed were sent off to other locations to train to become Vestals at their own chapels or places of worship - Caroline had been responsible for no less than ten in her five years in the position. She felt humbled by it more than proud, but even the usually taciturn Vivienne had encouraged her to find pride in it.
Pride, Caroline thought, chewing her lip. A sin in the eyes of Cybele. So why would that be okay?
The holy texts had spoken much of the evils in the world, pride and lust being two of them. The Grand Conclave had put them to the page just over 600 years prior at the start of the Cybelian Era, and she knew that their word, although strict at times, was open to interpretation. At least, that's what Vivienne said. Caroline didn't know if such things were truly frowned upon, but she appreciated the gentle oversight.
She finished her tea and prepared for the day - a quick shower, combed hair, fresh robes - the girls would be gathering outside her door soon, she thought as she tied her long hair into a braid that hung over her shoulder. A smattering of knocks confirmed her suspicions, and she smiled as she opened it to find two of her Attendants, Serena and Emilia, standing with their backs straight and hands clasped behind their backs.
"Good morning, Vestal," they said in unison, to which Caroline stifled a chuckle as she smiled.
"Come on! It's so nice outside," Serena urged, big brown eyes wide with excitement. Emilia smiled and nodded excitedly and reached for Caroline's hand, and Caroline fumbled with the keys to her apartment to lock up as the girls pulled her into the hallway.
----------------------------------------
It was a good deal hotter than Caroline had expected for a day this early in the spring, and she felt her robes matted with sweat against her back as the breeze sent a shiver down her spine. It was just after lunch now, and the Attendants were out in the fields digging and planting seeds - Caroline observed from a folding chair that Turonn had dragged out of storage for her. Improper to make you stand, he'd said, as if she were made of glass.
It was a strange habit of his, even having had known her all these years. He was fiercely protective of her, but she honestly did not mind it too much. The way the cloth stuck to her back was something she did mind, though, and she jostled uncomfortably in the seat trying to find relief. As she managed to get it to move just right, she saw Emilia and Serena excitedly digging away. Some of the other girls had grown bored and were playing games instead, but those two were determinedly digging away and marveling at what they found.
Caroline appreciated their wonder. She'd been much the same, digging in the black sandy beaches on the shoreline of Larnell, hurriedly carrying sea glass and shells to her parents. Since coming to the Church, however, she found that she hadn't had much time to do those things - she found vicarious enjoyment in the girls' laughter and happiness.
"Vestal Caroline!" Serena called, running in her direction. "We found something cool! Come over here!"
Caroline smoothed her robe and stood up as Serena's muddy hand took her hand - she practically dragged Caroline across the field to a hole in the ground where Emilia knelt, big dark eyes like saucers. Both girls' robes were covered in dirt, and Caroline momentarily noticed the big splotch on her own before her eyes were transfixed upon a strange rock that Emilia held, cupped in her hands. It was about the size of a coin and seemed to catch a rainbow of colors.
"That's beautiful," Caroline said, and Emilia looked up at her, alarmed. "May I see it?" Emilia shook her head, and Caroline shrugged.
"Don't be like that, Emi," Serena said. "I found it too, and I want to show Vestal Caroline. You can show the Vestal. If you don't, you're being rude."
The two looked at each other with hostility, which made Caroline uneasy. After a moment, Emilia handed the stone to Serena, who handed it to Caroline. She turned it over gently in her hand. It was smooth, as if polished. Perhaps, she thought, this was a piece of jewelry someone lost?
"What do you plan on doing with this?" Caroline asked, and Emilia looked at Serena before both girls shrugged.
"I don't know." Serena said. "What do you think, Emi?"
Emilia sat in the dirt looking unhappy. "I don't want to share it," she said after a moment, and Serena frowned.
"Well, you have to. We found it together. Isn't that right, Vestal Caroline?"
"That's right," Caroline nodded, leaning forward to return the stone to Emilia. "You both found it, you'll need to share it. If you can't, I'm sure the High Vestal would love to add it to her collection."
Emilia grunted, and Serena rolled her eyes. "Goddess, Emi, act your age! Quit being such a baby!"
"I'm not a baby!" Emilia said, fire in her eyes. Caroline's stern frown brought the tensions to a crashing halt, though, and both girls looked to her apologetically.
"Sorry, Vestal Caroline," Serena said. "We'll stop."
"Speak for yourself," Emilia said, but Caroline paid her no mind.
"We should start heading back to the Chapel," Caroline said. She thought it would be a good time to head inside - with the way the wind had been picking up, it almost seemed like rain was on its way in. "Emilia, could you please go get the other girls?"
Emilia grunted again, standing up begrudgingly.
"Don't worry about the dirt. We'll get cleaned up when we get back," Caroline smiled, but noticed something strange in the way Emilia clutched the stone - her knuckles were white, as if she was squeezing it with all her strength.
----------------------------------------
"How was it out there today?" Turonn asked as he sat down across from Caroline in the common area. The common area was adjacent to the classroom in the Chapel's main building - "faculty only", Caroline liked to joke. The furniture of the common area centered around a large glass coffee table, which shone pristinely. The High Vestal was dutiful about keeping it clean, almost too much so. A comfortable recliner, which Turonn now sat in, was flanked by an armchair on one side, and an end table on another. The couch on which Caroline sat was velvety and extremely plush - so much so that she liked to joke it was eating her when she sat down on it.
Paintings of Terrahean landmarks adorned the walls, and a vase full of fresh flowers sat upon a mantle near the fireplace. It was an incredibly inviting, comfortable space. The High Vestal had her share of guests visit the Chapel over the years, and many get-togethers had occurred within these walls.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
That, and many late nights of board games. Caroline and Vivienne were always excited to see what Turonn would bring back on his monthly supply run to Elegir's capital, Rigelios. While the majority of what he brought back was food or other basic supplies, he would sometimes sneak a trip to a games shop in Saiph Haven to peruse their selection. Caroline had become voracious for them - it was far more interesting than reading the news on her SGNL device - none of it had ever been good news, anyway. She was partial to the ones set in fantasy worlds and had been particularly excited when Turonn had brought back Legends of Illyria for them.
"It was good," Caroline nodded. She'd made a late-evening cup of tea, as was her custom. "The girls have been enjoying their time in the fields quite a bit. Emilia and Serena actually found an interesting stone while they were digging today."
"An interesting stone?" Turonn said, sitting forward. "What did it look like?"
"I didn't get to get too close of a look, but it was sort of glass-like in how it caught light. Very pretty, very smooth."
"Hm. I know we have some deposits of Rigelite around here. Perhaps they found some of that?"
Caroline shrugged. "Maybe? What does that look like?"
"Sort of glassy, as you described, but it has black flecks inside it. They mine it out east."
"I'll have to take a closer look. Maybe the next time you see Emilia, you can ask her?"
"That sounds like an idea," he nodded.
"You might have to twist her arm a bit to get her to show you, though. She'd been pretty protective of it."
"That's strange, but kids do strange things. I remember you being particularly weird about organizing the boxes of tea your mother would send."
"Weird?" Caroline blushed. "What do you mean?"
"Like I said," he smiled. "Kids do weird things. You remember the time I caught you in the main hall in the middle of the night, stashing them in a hole in the wall?"
"I thought you'd forgotten," Caroline laughed. "Yes, I remember that. I had that roommate who would steal my things. Do you remember her?"
"I remember helping her parents pack her car after we dismissed her, yes."
"I heard laughing," High Vestal Vivienne's voice called from the hall as she glided into the room. "Am I missing something funny?"
"Just talking about the time I found the Vestal stashing her teabags in the wall," Turonn said. He drank from a small glass on the end table - Caroline wasn't sure what was in there, but the one time she had snuck a sniff it smelled like paint thinner. Vivienne smiled widely.
"Oh, yes, of course," she said, smoothing her skirt and sitting down on the opposite end of the couch from Caroline. It was late now, and all the Attendants had gone to bed. Some of the other Chapel staff had also gone home for the evening, but the three of them lived permanently on the grounds.
Vivienne kicked off her shoes and put them up on the table with a smirk. The Velusian woman had always seemed an unorthodox choice for High Vestal, but Caroline was grateful for that. She'd come into the Church in her thirties and were it not for the greying hairs at her temples, Caroline supposed that some people would have even mistaken them for sisters.
Caroline explained what had happened in the afternoon, and Vivienne nodded, listening intently.
"I see! Well, it's good that they're not afraid to get their hands dirty. I rather like digging in the weeds myself," Vivienne smiled. "How have other things been going with the Attendants? I know we are coming up on the end of the learning year, and that some of them are due to graduate out. Do you feel that they're ready?"
Emilia, Serena, and another girl, Dylan, were all twelve this year - Caroline had been paying them extra attention in the hopes that they would choose to stay and train to become Vestals elsewhere.
"It's too soon to tell, High Vestal," Caroline said, sipping at her tea.
"It's Viv," Vivienne sighed. "When it's just the three of us, you know you can dispense with the formalities. I've only said this..."
"... a million times, I know."
"You're as bad as Turonn about it," she jibed, and Turonn nodded.
"Can't help it," he laughed. "Not used to not being formal with Church folks. Do you remember when High Vestal Calista came in from the Minervas and you called her Cal, Vestal Caroline? She darn near burst into flames."
Caroline smiled. She'd been in training then and had been chewed out for a solid half hour about 'formalities' - when mean old Calista had walked away at last in a huff, Vivienne pulled her aside and the two shared a hearty laugh about it. There was a time and a place for formalities, Caroline believed, but such strict adherence didn't really seem too necessary in the modern world. There may have been a time before the Church had really taken root for that sort of structure to be so rigid, but that time was not now.
"What a hothead that woman was," Vivienne said, shaking her head. "We don't usually get excited when people pass on to Elysium, but that old crone wasn't exactly the sweetest person around."
She was probably enjoying time bitching at Corybas in the Great Blazes, Caroline mused.
Caroline was fond of her Chapel 'family'. She enjoyed the way that Turonn's eyes would light up when he'd tell stories of his days before the Church, and particularly loved stories about his family. Vivienne had a quick wit and a capacity to laugh at both herself and the world around her. So many nights had been spent in their company that, while they were not her blood family, she considered them as close as such.
Turonn plucked a board game from the cupboard - not Legends of Illyria tonight - and the three set to playing. As the game drew to its close, Caroline yawned louder than she expected to, drawing a laugh from Vivienne.
"What's the matter? Didn't get enough sleep last night? It's only 2130."
"Been having those dreams again?" Turonn asked, and Caroline nodded reluctantly.
"Not last night, but two or three days ago I did. It's weird. They seem to come and go, and I can never do anything but just walk around in them."
"Hm," Vivienne said, laying a card down on the game board. She grinned impishly as she took several tokens from Caroline's pile. "I would wager that if it keeps happening that we will need to consult with Sha'ul about it."
"And get the Grand Luminatrix involved?" Turonn asked, seeming skeptical. "There hasn't been anything too out of sorts in the dreams, has there?"
"Nothing unusual," Caroline said. "Just the same field, the same person on the rocks, the same blue light at the end."
"A blue light? You haven't mentioned that before," Vivienne said, perking up. "That seems rather strange, wouldn't you say?"
Caroline felt her cheeks grow flushed. "Well, we've talked about it before, haven't we? You said it might have something to do with the Goddess."
Vivienne and Turonn looked at one another cautiously.
"I suppose it's nothing too out of the ordinary," he said after a moment. Caroline felt her heart in her chest beating hard. Anxiety felt like a balloon in her stomach. "But if it happens again..."
"What does the blue light mean?"
"Of that I am not sure," Vivienne said. "I will raise it to High Vestal Ileen when I am in Rigelios tomorrow, though. She knows more about Dreamseers than I."
Dreamseers. The term that Vivienne had used was a word not uttered lightly by those of the cloth - to be a Dreamseer meant a particularly special connection with Cybele. Many had claimed to hear Cybele, to see her in their dreams, to be the 'Voice of the Goddess Apparent' - and all, save for one, had lost their heads. Dreamseer Rin Arondel, who had lived just about three centuries before, had been the only one to prove their connection. Caroline was unsure of how this had come to be proven, but she did know that she died not long after that. The thought of how she died, though, twisted Caroline's gut into a knot - Dreamseer Arondel had been run through from bottom to top upon a tremendous wooden spike by a splinter faction of Church adherents who deemed her a heretic.
Will they kill me, too?
"Caroline, dear, are you alright?" Vivienne asked. "You've gone pale as a ghost. Do you need water or anything?"
"No, I am just fine, thank you. Just feeling a little tired."
"Cybele does not like a liar," Vivienne said, again with that mischievous smirk. "I understand that you are nervous about me bringing this up to other people, but I feel like we can trust Ileen. She has a been a friend of mine for many years, and she approaches things with a far more level head than say, the Grand Luminatrix."
That didn't make Caroline feel any better, but she trusted Vivienne enough that she wasn't going to push the issue any further.
"Perhaps we should resume this game when you return next week?" Turonn asked.
"That seems like it would be a good idea," Vivienne answered. "Caroline, you really ought to head to bed when you get in."
"I will escort you back," Turonn said, and Caroline nodded. She was feeling rather tired.
----------------------------------------
Caroline bid the High Vestal a safe journey to Saiph Haven, then walked across the Chapel grounds with Turonn. Deneb shone down upon the grounds, giving a faint rosy-peach tinge to everything. When they arrived, Turonn said goodnight and continued walking along - he was fond of nighttime walks and would often listen out for owls or other creatures of the night.
Caroline's bed looked entirely too cozy, but she was still wearing her dirt-splotched robe from earlier. She changed into her nightclothes and collapsed into a heap on the bed, snuggling herself into a comfortable sleep.
----------------------------------------
"So you've come back," the girl on the rock said, looking Caroline squarely in the eye. "I thought you'd never return."
The sky above Caroline was cut into familiar halves, but the girl's face was as clear as day. She is pale like death, Caroline thought, and to her surprise - the girl's face scrunched in anger.
"I am not dead. Why does everyone think I'm dead?" she said, slamming a closed fist upon the rock. It cracked with the punch, and Caroline stepped backwards. "Ah, damnit. I'm sorry. I didn't mean to scare you."
"How did you read my mind? Who are you?"
"I should be asking you questions. Why are you here?" The girl asked, and Caroline felt her heart begin to race. Wait. Why do I feel that here? Am I...
"Is this Elysium? Are you the Goddess?"
The girl looked at Caroline for several horrible moments.
"What? Are you kidding me? Do I look like a Goddess?"
"I don't know, I..."
"Hm."
Thunder cracked in the distance. The sounds of rushing water followed, and Caroline could feel mist on her face.
The young woman sighed and shook her head. "You're out of time."
"Excuse me? Wait, what do you mean I'm out of time? How do you know my name?"
"Perhaps I will see you again soon..." The girl said with a wave as the scenery began to fold like paper around the two. The last thing she saw was the girl smiling before the sounds of rushing water became deafening and a bright blue flash of lightning stole her away from the dream.