Saia reached the temple before the bells of the clocktower could strike the fifth hour. She vaguely remembered Koidan talking about the maintenance work he had to do once every month to make sure the clock was always on time.

She leaned against one of the closed doors of the temple.

“You ready?” she murmured.

“Almost,” Koidan said in her ears. “I'm rehearsing the list.”

“Why? We wrote it down, just read it when it's time.”

“An important part of public speaking is the tone of voice you use. The emotions. The diction. I can focus on them better if I don't have to read at the same time.”

“Whatever, just add ‘find someone who knows how to repair clocks’ at the bottom.”

“I knew I was forgetting something.”

Saia was distracted by the approach of the first two inhabitants.

“Hi, snake lady,” Dan shouted, waving an arm.

Morìc, his older brother, followed him with both hands in his pockets. He nodded in her direction, chewing on something.

Saia smiled.

“You're back! How did it go?”

“I pretended to be looking for a cousin that owed me some money,” Dan said. “I asked around for directions and knocked on doors. I've told the story to a bunch of people and their god asked me for details.”

Saia held her breath.

“You talked directly to Dore?”

“Yeah, him. He was nice. I mean, ours is nicer,” he added, glancing at the temple, “but Dore’s also, you know, fun. He actually liked the prank. He gave me some advice, maybe it could be useful.”

Saia raised an eyebrow.

“Like?”

“That telling people isn't enough, we should also paint some weird symbols around the village. And that we need to distract Koidan, because he would never let us do it.”

“Do you think I'm not funny?” Koidan asked in Saia’s ears.

“Dan,” she said, “you know it's not a joke, right? There really is an evil god here.”

He tilted his head.

“Then why did you want us to tell Izgos and Tilau’s people we wanted to make a prank?”

She shrugged and pointed at the temple.

“I don't know. Orders from above.”

“Why did he ask you and not us?”

Saia smirked.

“Who knows. Maybe it's because you don't find him funny.”

She looked at Morìc. He stared back at her from above, still chewing on something of increasingly indefinite nature. His hair was black where his brother’s was blond, but it was constantly ruffled all the same.

“And you?” Saia asked. “Everything went well?”

“Yep. I pretended to be drunk and shouted what we wanted to do until Mivion kicked me back here. It was just wind but it felt like a punch in the face.”

He resumed staring at Saia.

“Right”, she said, and fished inside the bag for the money.

While Morìc was counting the coins, Saia watched the end of the path that led to the temple, hoping nobody would appear at that moment.

“You gave me one vissin more,” Morìc said.

“Oh, really? Well, keep it.”

“No,” he said, and extended the hand that was holding the coin until it was too close to Saia’s face to be ignored.

Saia took it with a sigh.

“You're annoying, you know?”

Morìc shrugged and walked up to the temple. Saia was about to put the money back in her bag, when she saw Dan's gaze lingering on her hand. She gave him two vissins as soon as Morìc turned to spit something.

The two brothers stood with their backs propped against the temple’s wall while Saia waited nervously near the entrance. Someone was getting closer to the end of the path. Saia recognized the woman that had hugged her after the fire was extinguished. It took her a second to remember her name: Aili.

She smiled at Saia.

“Thank you again. You've been incredibly brave.”

“It's nothing,” Saia mumbled, hoping she wouldn't have kept thanking her every time they met.

Aili looked at the two boys.

“Sorry, am I late?” she asked.

Dan and Morìc exchanged a glance out of the corner of their eyes.

“No, on the contrary,” Saia said. “But the doors are closed, so we might have to wait a little while.”

Aili nodded and sat on the grass near the wall.

“I really don't want to miss this.”

She looked at them as if expecting an answer, then lowered her eyes.

“In your opinion, why Koidan doesn't help us anymore?”

Morìc shrugged. Saia was still thinking about what to answer, when Aili spoke again.

“I have three theories. Who knows which one is right, though. If any of them is, I mean.”

Saia saw Dan open his mouth as if to speak. She touched his shoulder with a finger and slightly shook her head. He glanced at her, but didn't speak.

“Which theories?” she asked.

“The first one's a bit silly,” Aili began with an apologetic smile. “He just doesn't want to help us anymore, for some reason. Maybe he just got tired and decided we aren't worth the trouble. Or maybe he wanted to see how we'd behave without him. Or he was just bored.”

Saia raised an eyebrow.

“Bored?”

“I said it's silly. But if it's true, there isn't much we can do. Beg the other gods to deal with serious emergencies, maybe. But it's never happened before, as far as I know.”

Taken from Royal Road, this narrative should be reported if found on Amazon.

She tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. Her black eyes were focused on a point in the distance.

“The second one's more interesting: he wants to help us, but there's an external force that's preventing him from doing so. Maybe it has something to do with the earthquake or the mountain. Or there's another god who's working against him.”

“Yes,” Dan said before Saia could stop him. “I think that too.”

Aili smiled.

“Really?”

Dan noticed Saia’s glare. He kicked a pebble with his foot.

“But it doesn't make sense. It's not like there are evil gods around, right?”

“Saia,” Koidan said, “maybe it's time to intervene.”

She crossed her arms.

“I think the truth is much more complicated than this. It's not something that can be guessed just by making theories.”

Aili's shoulders hunched a bit.

“I agree, but I like to think about possible explanations before getting the official one.”

“Let her speak, I'm curious.”

Saia turned to look at Morìc. He had a half-grin on his face.

“Thank you. I'll be quick,” Aili said. “I made a bit of research on the past of the village: there were three windows of time in which accidents happened more frequently. They're also evenly spaced, about two hundred years between one another.”

Saia realized she was tightening her crossed arms against her chest. She eased the pressure a bit.

“So what?”

“So our god's willingness to help us follows a cycle. I don't know about you, but I find it strange. Unless his power has to be recharged after a while.”

She hesitantly glanced at the temple before continuing.

“Which means that our god might not be a god at all. Or at least, that his powers come from an external source.”

She gave another brief look at the building and stopped talking. Which was a good thing, because Saia could only hear the blood pounding in her ears.

She cleared her throat.

“Well, maybe there's something that happens every two hundred years and he needs all of his attention to fight it.”

Aili nodded.

“That's a good point. I've already thought about that, and I think there are two options: either he isn't omnipotent, so he's not really a god, or gods are different from what we've been taught. Or, as you say, my second theory is right and there's an external force that opposes him every two hundred years. I find it a bit unlikely, but who knows at this point.”

“Wow,” Koidan murmured, “that's impressive.”

Saia frowned. She mumbled something about coming back soon, then circled around the temple.

“What the fuck?” she shouted under her breath. “And what was that, anyway? She almost figured everything out, and you praise her?”

“I'm as worried as you are, but not entirely surprised. I've seen her grow up, she's always been the smartest kid in the classroom.”

Saia sat with her back against the wall.

“Remind me again what job we gave her?”

“Administrator of resources. She'll have to decide how to face the problems and which team will take care of them.”

“Didn't we give that task to the letter carrier?”

“She is the letter carrier.”

Saia raised her eyebrows. Now that she thought about it, the teacher's house was right next to the post office. The person who worked there was always ready to carry anything at any time of the day, even in other villages, provided she was paid adequately.

“Well, we need to find another administrator.”

“What? Why?”

“Because she'll find out who you are in no time if we give her any more information.”

“Unless she sees my sphere, there's no way she can guess what I am. You can't deduct something like this.”

“She doesn't need to. She just has to realize that something's off and that there are monks to fix it. Are you willing to risk that?”

The silence told her that no, he wasn't.

“Who should take the job, then?” he asked.

Saia thought about it for a while, staring at the trees that surrounded the grass around the temple.

“I have no idea. You're the one who knows everybody here.”

“I do, and the ones who could handle the task have either less free time or less patience than her.”

Saia raised her hands.

“Okay, I'll trust you on this. If we can't give her anything else to do, then we need to watch her constantly. And you're going to be asleep most of the time.”

She tapped her chin with a finger.

“Maybe I could ask Morìc and Dan to keep an eye on her. I can pay them for a while.”

“You'd have to explain what to pay attention to. And, no offence, but I don't trust them enough.”

“They're good guys.”

“I can see that, but they're just not reliable. Sorry.”

Saia rested her head against the wall.

“I don't agree, but fine. Your secret, your decision. But the problem remains.”

Silence again. She could imagine the light rotate inside the sphere.

“Aili won't be able to take care of everything by herself,” Koidan said. “Especially if she’ll have to deliver mail in the meantime. Maybe we could use one less firefighter and one more administrator's assistant.”

Saia frowned, then her eyes widened.

“Me? I thought we agreed that I don’t have enough patience to deal with people.”

“Aili would do most of the work. You could take on a minor role, like managing the payments.”

“Minor?”

“Well, it’s nothing different than what you already do to manage your own money, just with bigger amounts.”

The clock's bell tolled five times.

“You have to decide now,” Koidan said.

“I know. Don't pressure me.”

She put a hand on her forehead. Working with Aili meant weighting each word before it was spoken. At least, she was used to the mental work it entailed.

“I don’t think it’s a good idea,” she said, “but I don't want her to be free to make up theories as she pleases.”

“So?”

She sighed.

“So I'll do it.”

She walked back to the temple’s entrance. A small crowd was waiting in front of the doors. Saia greeted them with nods and the occasional smile before leaning against the wall next to Dan. Morìc was chewing on something, hopefully different from what he had spat. Aili was talking with the tailor about some pants she had commissioned. More people were arriving from the village.

The doors opened with a creak. Everybody became quiet and turned towards the building.

“Welcome,” Koidan said. “I owe all of you an explanation. Please, come inside.”

People entered in silence. Saia waited outside until they were all in, then followed them and closed the doors. Koidan didn't stop her, which meant that nobody else was coming. She noticed that the crowd had stopped before reaching the center of the temple and was now moving to stand near the walls, clearly avoiding the area in front of the statue. They probably remembered how they had complained about Koidan and were realizing he had probably heard everything. Except he hadn't, because he was asleep.

Dan tugged at her arm.

“Why did you say that there's an evil god and then acted all mysterious when Aili was talking about it?”

Koidan must have heard him, because he chose that moment to speak.

“As you have noticed, in the last two weeks I haven’t been taking care of the village like I always did, even if your devotion and faith were as strong as ever. It wasn't a decision I took lightly, but it was necessary for the good of the village.”

The statue’s mouth moved as if he was talking through it. Saia considered it a waste of energy, but maybe it helped delivering the speech with more clarity.

“Now I'm going to tell you the reason for my disappearance. But first, remember to stay calm and don't rush to hasty conclusions.”

People started whispering to each other even before he could finish the sentence.

“A week ago, a new god has appeared in the village. Apparently, all he wants is to destroy us. But don't worry,” he said, raising his voice above the chatter that was exploding around the temple, “I'm fighting him. I'll be able to protect you, but I can't focus on both him and the village's matters at the same time. In short: I'll need everyone's help. Quiet!”

Everybody shut up. Saia almost laughed at how sudden it was.

“You are not in danger. However, I suggest not to talk about the other god unless you're inside the temple. In addition, I'll need each one of you, including the people who are absent, to take on one more job for the sake of the community. I've assigned your roles keeping in mind your free time and your abilities. Please step forward when you hear your name.”

He paused, as if to clear his throat or unfold a list, but the basalt didn't move. Then, he started reading the list of people they had prepared, waiting for each person to step forward from the crowd before calling the next. Most of them were artisans. Morìc patted his brother's shoulder before strolling forward.

“You are the firefighters. Your task will be to drop everything at the first sign of a fire. You'll find the buckets in the post office.”

The group waited on one side of the temple as another one was called: the cleaners, who didn't have much time to spare but could take care of the roads where they lived. The healers, young people that would be trained by the herbalist to treat minor injuries. The sentinels, who lived near the borders and had to check the identity of whoever entered the territory. The listeners, who had to notify any problems to the post office and needed a better name, as Dan commented before joining them.

Saia felt everyone's eyes on her as she stood at the center of the temple, beside Aili and five muscular people who looked like dock workers.

“Then we have the administrator of resources, Ailima, and her assistant, Saia. They'll coordinate your efforts and make sure all of you play your part. You can avoid to, if you want, provided you pay twenty vissins. Your money will be put in a fund that will be used to pay someone else to do the job in your place. If you want to be one of the substitutes, you'll be put in a waiting list and called as soon as there's an available job.”

The basalt man pointed at the remaining group and listed their names, plus two more who weren’t present at the moment.

“You are the guards. You'll look out for trouble and arrest criminals. I set up two cells at the base of the clocktower you can use for detaining them.”

The word 'criminals' made the guards look at each other, but none of them commented.

“Now you can go. The administrator will figure out how to organize your turns and let you know how to proceed as soon as possible.”

Aili nodded. She was holding the hem of her shirt with both hands and seemed to tremble a bit, but she gave the statue a wide smile. Saia couldn't understand whether she was nervous or excited.

Everyone left the temple, casting glances at the two women. Saia stepped aside, out of the stream of people. She knew they didn't dare express it before their god, but they weren't enjoying the idea of more work and would have done everything to avoid it. A problem Aili had to solve, with her help.

“Oh, I almost forgot again,” Koidan said.

Everybody stopped and turned towards the statue.

“Does any of you know how to fix clocks?”