Emily, Healing Shrine and Aybhas Garrison, 7th rot., 8th day to 8th rot., 1st day
The arrival of Losnana, Mieth, and Arma wasn't the only alteration at the shrine in Aybhas. Lisaykos had made one huge change while I was gone. I wasn't sure I liked it. It greeted me as I was carried into my bedroom the day I came home by Lisaykos, who insisted despite my protest that I wanted to walk.
What greeted me on my bed was the imminent threat to all life on Erdos. It was an adolescent Cosm-sized ginger tabby who believed that my bed was his bed. That was just the start.
Cats on Erdos came in all sizes as dogs had on Earth. There were no dogs on Erdos, only wolves, which had not been domesticated. The adolescent tabby studied me from his perch on my pillows. He was a long-haired beast. He looked like he might outweigh me already and he wasn't yet full-grown based on the spacing between his eyes and the size of his head versus the rest of him.
"His name is Eskurt," Lisaykos looked at the devil in a cat suit with some fondness. "He likes your bed in the afternoon when the sun warms up the covers. I thought I better introduce you before you discovered him by accident."
I was right to worry about this development. Eskurt decided he liked me, though he only stalked me once into the bathing chamber. I turned on the shower when he tried to leap on my feet. I was safe after that when in the bathing room and necessary. Otherwise, I was his cat toy. He was fond of waiting until I fell asleep in the afternoon on my lounge in the study. Then he hunted my toes. He had the good manners not to use any claws but it was still annoying.
He stalked me as I walked through the living quarters I shared with Lisaylos, batting at me with his paws as I walked past. He also woke me up every morning by sitting on top of me and washing my face and neck while purring at a volume that would not be ignored.
Thuorfosi, who was going on leave just after Coldtide, only two rotations away, was hugely amused. She brought Twessera and Kibbilpos several mornings in a row to watch that damn cat torture me. I also caught Lisaykos lurking just outside my bedroom door and she certainly had some good laughs at my expense. Even Asgotl got into the spectator sport of watching Eskurt adopt me as his favorite cat toy. It also gave him some respite from having his tail stalked when he hung out in Lisaykos' study.
It was Lyappis who was to blame for the invasion of the cat demon. She concluded that Lisaykos was a little too lonely, given her lifelong affliction of being a standoffish royal who didn't make friends easily. It was true she had a hard time getting to know people, given that she was a powerful silverhair, reserved, chronically dignified, rabidly ethical, and painfully honest. Lyappis' solution: she gave Lisaykos a kitten. That was several rotations ago.
On the fourth day after my return, I finished with my morning routine by allowing Kibbilpos to take care of my hair with Thuorfosi giving her pointers. I know I was shocking Thuorfosi because it was the fourth day in a row that I wanted to get fully dressed. I didn't bother to explain why. That was fun, torturing her by withholding my motivations. It was payback for all that bacon she never let me grab.
Even with the pause in the war with Impotu, many more people were cycling through Lisakos' study than before. Our new semi-permanent occupant was Senlyosart, who was now able to slowly cross the main corridor on a walker. Forget iron – the walker is the single largest contribution I've made to life in Erdos. I had no doubts that the walker would spread across the continent in less than a few decades, or faster if Foskos conquered Jutu, Impotu, and Mattamesscontess.
The rest of the continent was made up of city-states and nomadic tribes. Then there were the off-shore island kingdoms, the largest of which was Mattamukmuk. Foskos would dominate the entire world in a hegemony if it conquered the other three large nations.
With the increase in traffic, I didn't want to embarrass Lisaykos by being underdressed. I wasn't an invalid anymore so I had no excuse. If I wanted to dress down, I would have to build myself a new refuge somewhere in the forests on the other side of the volcanic rift where I could be my badly-behaved self again, in the privacy of my own home.
I had another reason to dress better. I intended to take a trip down to the garrison and visit with the Coyn from the Shrine of Sassoo. The only matter under debate was whether to tell my captors at the Healing Shrine beforehand. I wasn't too worried about getting there since Asgotl was sleeping in the hallway. When Aylem took Twee to Ud's place in the Fenlands right after the trial, she left Asgotl behind for my benefit. He and I already had plans to sneak out to the garrison.
I wasn't worried about my security at all. I knew that everywhere I went, there would be a wraith following me. I was never truly alone. Ditching a wraith would take some thought, though I knew I would need to do just that sometime soon.
After Kibbilpos was satisfied with the braid she put into my hair, I strolled to the dining room and contemplated my chair. I was mapping out the best way to climb up when Thuorfosi cleared her throat from heights far above me.
"Be wary, Kibbilpos, when Emily has that particular look on her face with her left hand on her chin," Thuorfosi instructed, catching Lisaykos' eye at the same time. Lisaykos, already seated at the head of her long ovoid table, raised an eyebrow in interest while giving me a speculative look.
Thuorfosi noted the high priestess' reaction and then continued her instructions: "After much exposure to this small fiend–don't give me that look, Kibbilpos, she really is a fiend in the flesh–I can tell that she is contemplating climbing the chair instead of politely asking for a lift up. Emily will always prefer to do things for herself if she can, even if it is quicker and easier to ask for help. She has a very stubborn streak about this.
"For example, if the doors in from the balcony were locked, I honestly believe she would climb the masonry blocks in the outside wall to reach the roof and descend back inside through the crawl space above the bathing tub," Thuorfosi stated with conviction.
"Surely you exaggerate?" Kibbilpos studied me.
"No, Thuorfosi is not exaggerating," Lisaykos nodded at Kibbilpos. "That is the nature of your charge. Don't say we didn't warn you."
"I'm standing right here, folks," I grumbled. "I do have ears."
"Would you like a hand up?" Thuorfosi leaned over despite her increasing girth from pregnancy and smiled ever so sweetly.
"I will take a hand up, thank you," I gave in though I did not spare her an appropriately-withering glare. It didn't deter Thuorfosi at all. Pregnancy does things to women. For example, it turned Thuorfosi into a steamroller who had lost all fear of the Blessed Emily contradicting her. Besides, there was that last bit on the chair where I would need to push myself up onto the seat if I climbed, and my right shoulder wasn't up to it yet.
We waited for Senlyosart, Twipdray, and Wolkayrs before starting. It was a quiet uneventful morn repast, except for the yowling feline making his way around the table begging for scraps. Lisaykos eventually told him no and backed it up by floating him into her bedroom and closing the door on him.
When I was done eating, I wandered into the hallway where Asgotl was sleeping just outside the door to my bedroom, the one that's between my room and the hallway, and not the one into Lisaykos' bedroom. After all, my bedroom used to be a storage room for her bedroom.
"Hey, blubber brains, wake up," I leaned with my foot on his beak. The beak didn't even budge but one eye did open.
"You have woken the great and mighty griffin Asgotl," his voice rumbled, half asleep. "What great boon do you have to ask of me?"
"Give me that ride over to the garrison we talked about the other day?"
I woke him with that request. He opened both eyes and lifted his head.
"Well, get the divine, get on and let's go before someone thinks to stop us."
I stepped into my room, grabbed the divine, and got on him in the hallway. The visible wraith door guard on the balcony tried to stand in our way but Asgotl just leaned over, picked him up by the collar, and moved him to the side. Then we were airborne for the brief flight to the west side of the city.
Asgotl started to climb but I thumped a hurried no on his neck. I had to repeat it two times before he stopped and glided a smooth circle around the city to bleed off the altitude at a manageable speed. He made two passes over a fenced open area around a barracks building within the garrison complex. The Coyn in the field, mostly children, ran for the porch of the barracks. On the third pass, he landed with a low slow glide and a stall so he would make no wind that might knock down light-weight Coyn children. He then laid down on all fours with his head up.
"Why no stall-turn, Emily?" he sounded a little offended.
"I don't think my hurt shoulder will be able to hold on to the neck strap in the dive, blubber brain. It's still not back yet. I only ditched the sling yesterday."
"Oh, sorry, Grandma," he hung his head, "I forgot."
"Don't worry about it," I smacked him with my good hand on the side of his neck. "I'll forgive you next rotation when I have an opening in my calendar."
"Wretch," he laughed. "Oh, I did miss your grumpy sense of humor while you were gone. Aylem's gotten so serious and depressing. We needed you back just to get her mood to brighten. I can't believe how hard she is on herself."
"The hardest person to forgive in life is yourself, boyo," I said as I started undoing the flying straps on the saddle. "Don't tell Aylem I had an attack of good sense and declined a stall turn."
"Ha!" he barked. "She'd never believe you anyway, so why not?" He snortled with that funny snick snick snick noise griffins make when they laugh.
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The children from the porch and the six Coyn adults watching them were coming over, the kids screaming Asgotl's name in glee. He was a popular griffin with little children. It was rather cute, actually. I was ready to slide down his side to the ground when four guards hopped the fence and advanced on us with their swords out. It took a moment to realize the swords were pointed at me. I had to work hard not to look at the swords. The drawn weapons were doing bad things to my stomach.
"It's not a new rule anymore that visitors must have a pass or be brought through the gate by a resident," announced the squad leader with a stern demeanor. "Everyone should know that by now."
"Even if she's with me?" Asgotl asked, head tilted. "I'm almost a resident."
"Sorry, Great One," the squad leader apologized politely to Asgotl, "but the Captain was firm that the rules had to be obeyed after the last incident."
"What incident, Blubber Brain?" I asked Asgotl.
"The Sassoo Shrine Coyn have been on the receiving end of some nasty harassment," he swiveled his head to look at me. "I'll give you the full details when we return home."
"Well, then," I smiled in a cooperative friendly manner, "what do I do to get a pass? I just returned to Aybhas four days ago after a long absence and I truly did not know about the passes or being escorted by a resident."
"Just a word of advice, youngster," the squad leader switched to a chiding instead of a threatening tone, "even if your master forgets, you should try to remember to always wear your mantle when out and away from your home. Now, who were you coming to see and we can take care of this for now? You will need to come back later with your master to see the Captain about getting a pass."
"Come back later, with my...oh dear," it was time for the full-on facepalm. "Might I see the Captain now? She knows me since I am a good friend of her future adoptive daughter, who is my healer. I'm an idiot for forgetting my mantle. Or if that's not possible, I was coming to see Oytwee."
"Oytwee is out shopping for supplies with the over leader, so he's not in right now," the squad leader sheathed her sword, having decided I wasn't a threat. The three other guards followed her example.
"It's irregular to see the Captain without your master present. I don't know if I can let you do that," she tilted back the eye visor on her light-duty helm, revealing lovely hazel eyes and a face that would be pretty without the scowl.
Asgotl and I sighed in unison. "You'll have to fess up, Grandma, if you want to get anywhere besides home," the griffin advised. "No sneaking into the Coyn residence without prior approval."
"Well, I have a bit of a problem coming in with a master, since I don't have one," I smiled what I hoped was an apologetic smile at the squad leader when I saw General Bobbo step over the fence followed by Captain Tyoep.
The squad leader frowned as she tried to puzzle me out, "How is that possible? If you don't have a master, then you must be owned by the Chapel Shrine of Surd, but you're not wearing the tunic colors of a Surd Coyn. You're not brown like the Sea Coyn. Are you with the free farmers from Naver that showed up recently?"
I was impressed that she took me at my word and tried to figure out how I could be masterless. She wasn't an idiot and was using her head. I felt sorry for her because the Captain was now right behind her.
"Please have some mercy on your troops, Captain," I looked slightly down at Tyoep from Asgotl's back. "She's just doing her job and not thoughtlessly."
"My girls haven't insulted you, I hope, or caused you trouble?" Captain Tyoep looked a bit worried but she already knew I wasn't a stickler for protocol.
"None at all, Captain," I smiled.
"Captain," the squad leader snapped a smart salute along with the rest of her squad, the right fist thumping over the left breast and stopping there.
"At ease," Tyoep said.
"Captain, you really know this youngster?" the squad leader asked.
"Yes, I indeed know the Blessed Emily," she sighed. "Day Squad Six, obeisance to the ground!" The four guards and Captain Tyoep formed a line, went to their knees, and putting their praying hands to their forehead, put their faces into the close-clipped grass. Bobbo did a full kneeling obeisance with bowed head as the ranking soldier, "May the blessings of the eleven gods be upon you, Great One."
"And also upon you," I replied, working on sounding respectable for the sake of the guards. "Please rise." So much for quietly sneaking into the Sassoo Coyn residence at the Garrison.
Bobbo looked up before he got up and winked at me. What a horrible tease of a Cosm. He went out of his way to be as formal as possible just because he knew I didn't care for it. He really can be a bit of a pain, though I'd rather put up with his teasing than with his previous demeanor, which was an impenetrable facade of pleasant platitudes and politeness. I much prefer a genuine personality to a fake face.
"Next time, remember to wear your shrine mantle, Great One," a relieved Tyoep advised. "It's the only one like it in the city and I'll let the garrison know that you have free access to the Coyn barracks. I'll also tell them to look at your eyes, since they are unique, just in case you forget your mantle again."
"Thank you, Captain," I slid down Asgotl's shoulder using just my left arm. My landing was a little too fast.
"Did you hurt your arm?" Bobbo asked, leaning down. He looked concerned. "Your posture says you're guarding it."
"Recovering from dislocating it," I admitted. "I brought my divine, but I'm now not sure how much I'll be able to play. Speaking of injury, you're looking a lot better than the last time I saw you."
"I still have a ways to go, Great One, but at least I can walk again. Thank you for asking. And now, I think we should be on our way so you can get on with your visit. Let's go, troops," he took Tyoep's elbow and steered her around. The guards followed. As soon as they were gone, I was flooded with kids asking a million questions about who I was, how I knew Asgotl, and why the Cosm all bowed to me. It was a busy morning.
- - -
The Sassoo Coyn wouldn't hear of anything less than full obeisance to me. It was horrifying. People just like me, fellow Coyn, groveling in the dirt in front of me, smiling and enjoying it. It was maddening. As Oytwee said when he showed back up, it was wonderful to have a Coyn as a revelator, especially since I just upgraded the status of Coyn from livetock to real people at the trial. News of this was spreading everywhere and I was everyone's hero.
Oytwee explained that my existence destroyed the myth that only the Cosm were blessed by the gods. Now, because the gods chose me as their prophet, I had destroyed the legal framework that made the Cosm the only race with full standing under the law.
I couldn't get them to call me Emily either. So tiresome. I think I will be "great-oned" to death.
Other than that, both Asgotl and I ate with the Coyn at the Garrison. We both enjoyed ourselves. I played my guitar, known in Foskos as the divine until my shoulder could no longer hold my right hand up over the strings. I had lost my playing calluses too, so maybe the exhausted right arm muscles were a blessing in disguise.
There were now five divine players in the Coyn residence. They were all playing prell music on the divine, which was impressive. Well, I was impressed. They are professional musicians with the shrine so maybe they didn't think it was that impressive.
I taught them the basic chords, and three-finger and four-finger picking styles. Then I taught them the accompaniment to All my Trials, which the older man called Yoyos had remembered from our jam session in Black Falls. He was the one who had been spreading it about and writing new verses.
I taught the four of them another Peter, Paul, and Mary song, If I Had a Hammer. Then I told them about the slave pens in Salicet, and about the song I taught there. They shocked me because they already knew We're Not Gonna Take It by Twisted Sister. It was only seven rotations since the fire in Salicet, but the song had already crossed the mountains into Foskos. I was impressed but confounded. I was also a little worried because the recipe for the calcium phosphine bombs might have arrived too.
Asgotl and I were bantering back and forth and laughing when we landed on the south balcony just before the seventh bell and dinner. We got glowered at by everyone when we walked into the study. They were waiting for us, seven of them. Seven Cosm, all looming and glowering in unison. I found it pretty scary. My stomach was not happy with the tableau. I gave serious thought to backing up and fleeing down the steps, back to the Coyn residence at the barracks. I was sure I could move in if I wanted.
That thought was snipped off before I even finished thinking about it.
"Oh no, you don't," Kayseo glared at me from the other end of my lounge. I found myself floating about a hand off the ground.
"Kayseo," I squawked, "put me down."
"I heard that thought, and no, no more running off, not until you promise to tell people before you do so." She looked vexed with me. Kayseo was a bit frightening when she got like this.
"Asgotl," I looked at my old friend with entreaty, "grab my collar and get me out of here, please?"
"Nope, because then she'll just do the same thing to me," he said with resignation. "There's no winning a battle of magic against a Cosm, especially when we have no magic."
"Blarg," I resigned myself to facing seven looming Cosm, all suffering from protect-the-Emily syndrome – monsters, every one of them, even Wolkayrs. My stomach was getting close to rebellion.
I found myself floating through the air at least ten hands off the ground until I landed in Kayseo's lap, whereupon I was trapped by both her tree-trunk arms. To add insult to injury, Eskurt the cat devil decided to jump up just then and recline across my legs.
Lisaykos in her usual chair at her work table smiled, looking like she had just finished torturing kittens and puppies for fun, "When historians write of these days in the far future, they will debate why the Blessed Emily was once known as the Grumpiest Prophet who drove her friends to their early deaths with worry."
I groaned. Lisaykos was just getting warmed up. How could I disrupt the tongue-lashing I was about to get?
"Lisaykos, I am capable of fending for myself," I tried to usurp control over the conversation before it got away from me. Maybe that wasn't the best thing to say, given that I got seven looks of disbelief from all of them: Lisaykos, Wolkayrs, Thuorfosi, Twessera, Kayseo, Kibbilpos, and Lyappis. I did feel like they were ganging up on me.
"Hmmm," I got the hairy eyeball from Lisaykos, "let's see: kidnapped, got a finger cut off, killed by an accidental charm of a thousand stings, painful year-long recovery, broken back and nearly murdered in Black Falls, and then abducted from this very room by enemy soldiers. I won't mention the concussion from the Impotuans, the burnt and infected feet, the dislocated shoulder, or the wound fever. Yes, you sure can fend for yourself, can't you?"
"I am no longer an invalid. Contrary to appearances, I am not a child. I have my own affairs to take care, which I have been neglecting," I growled, "and there are one or more wraiths following me wherever I go. Can any of you protect me as well as the wraiths?"
"Well, yes," said Lisaykos with all the magic of a high priestess and the confidence that came with it.
"Excluding overpowered avatars of Mugash," I glared at her. "That was not a helpful answer and you know it. I will go where I need to go, Lisaykos, and I will do what I need to do, and you will not stop me." I put some teeth into what I said.
Lisaykos threw up her hands, shook her head, and sighed greatly, "Next time you decide to go galavanting around town, just warn me. The poor balcony sentry had a cow when you slipped out with that disreputable griffin. At least Asgotl didn't pull a stall-turn to buzz the markets again with you and your sore shoulder on his back."
I tried not to smile over Lisaykos using the expression about having a cow.
"Well," Asgotl looked embarrassed, "I started the climb to a stall-turn and Emily didn't let me."
"What?" Lisaykos and everyone else just stared at me and Asgotl in disbelief.
"I didn't think I could hold onto the neck strap with my sore arm," I grumped. "I wouldn't have survived for five years in the wilderness on my own if I didn't know how to take care of myself. Give me a little credit, eh?"
Damn well-meaning overprotective oversized Cosm monsters.