Lisaykos, the Environs of Is'syal

I spotted Aylem and the watermaster waiting with Asgotl in the forecourt of the House of Mounts. "Don't forget to eat something, Emily; and if you want to spend the night with my son and Oyyuth, don't let Aylem talk you out of it."

"Emily," the queen walked over, all smiles, "Are you ready?" Emily shrugged.

"Great One," I handed Aylem the bag with Emily's tablets and sausage rolls, "these go with Emily." She slung the bag strap onto her shoulder.

"Emily, why don't I just put you up on Asgotl?" She nodded her agreement. I thought she was looking a little worn already. That farce of a meeting probably took a lot out of her.

"Make sure she eats something," I told Aylem.

"I packed a mid repast for three since I assumed we would be out for a while," Aylem paused and looked at me frowning. "You are worried about her."

"If you look at everything that has happened this rotation, she's had a pretty rough time. Be easy on her, please."

Aylem studied me for a moment. "I can do that. And Lisaykos, you should go raid my clothes press for some fresh clothes."

I nodded and waved as I walked away. Kamagishi fell in beside me.

"You can borrow something from me if you want a change of clothes for working at the shrine," she offered. "Might be a little roomy but my work clothes ought to fit you. It will save some time. I know there's one patient the staff wanted you to take a look at if you have the opportunity."

"I do; however, I was going to swing past my son's house and fetch my granddaughter who wanted to help out today. I promised I would come back and get her."

"Oh?" Kamagishi perked up. "Can I come with you? I'd love to meet your granddaughter."

"And my daughter-in-law, and my other grandchildren, and get your eye tracks all over their house, and every other high priestess will know all about it by the seventh bell, you insufferable busybody," I accused her in exasperation.

"Your point?" She beamed. "You know, this is the news of the year."

"My son is a very private person and by the way, so am I. I wish you would not make a big noise about this," I sighed. It was my bad luck to have Kamagishi shadowing me.

"Oh? Like not telling anyone your son was missing for over a year?"

"I hoped to find him before the incident did damage to his reputation, Kamagishi. He was supposed to have become the next Lord Gunndit. I didn't want that sort of cloud over his head."

"You know," she spoke slowly as if choosing every word, "have you ever considered relying on your friends and sisters of the convocation of shrines to help you during those times when life has borne down on you too hard?"

That startled me so much that I almost tripped. She steadied me and gave me a very thoughtful look. "You are such a support and pillar to everyone, like now when you could be heading to your home. But who is it that supports Lisaykos? Hmm?" She started walking again. I caught up.

"Just give it some thought, you stubborn old cow," she kicked a stray stone down the cobbles.

"Kamagishi."

"Yes?"

"I haven't told my granddaughter that I'm the High Priestess of Mugash yet," I confessed.

"Oho? And why is that?"

"I wanted her to meet her grandmother without that damn title in the way, nothing else. I thought I'd be able to exit town without her knowing. She will find out soon enough, but when she begged for me to take her with me this morning, I gave in to her request because saying no would have been too selfish of me."

"You are full of surprises today, Lisaykos, almost like a normal grandmotherly person instead of the paragon of perfect polite priestess practice and protocol."

"Please, Kamagishi, if you want evidence that there's a normal, breathing, emoting person inside of me, I will tell you the last several days have been very hard on me and I am more weary at heart than I have been in many years." I stopped and blotted my eyes on my sleeve.

"You," she stopped, walked in front of me, and surprised me with a firm hug. "My apologies, sister, I didn't know my teasing was stabbing you where you were wounded. That's is my fault for being thoughtless. You know, stubborn fool, it's alright to ask for help when you need it."

I got my breath back, "I know."

"Let's go meet your granddaughter," she pulled me by the sleeve. "But you need to tell her, and probably before you walk into the shrine with everyone using proper address with you."

"I know," I was trying to work out how to tell her.

"You are worrying too much," she smiled. "Kids that age are very resilient. It's hard to break them at that age."

"Tell that to my son," I said without thinking, "when it was him that I broke."

"You never give yourself a break, do you? It will be fine, assuming you can permit yourself to be a little less than perfect and a bit more like a doting grandmother."

"You sound like your mother," I observed. "So, what's this patient that your staff wants me to see," I changed the subject.

"Coyn, crushed by debris while in the water," Kamagishi knit her brows together, "lost a hand and a foot. The owner left him off along with his ownership tablet.

"I hate it when that happens," I sighed. "How are the public rolls in the city right now?"

"Fairly full, and I expect the situation to get worse before it gets better because of the crop damage we'll have from the flood."

"It will be a bad cold season, I'm afraid."

"We may want to consider this as the Convocation," Kamagishi proposed. "There is ample precedent."

"All you need is for Mueb and Surd to agree to have the Convocation meet over food shortages."

"You left out Mugash."

"You already have agreement from Mugash. Preemption now will spare us many healings and burials over the cold season."

"Thank you."

"You're welcome. That's one of the good things about you, Kamagishi. You meet problems head-on with no dallying about."

"Look, we're at Brewers' Row already, and if I'm not mistaken, there seems to be a youngster down there, just outside the sixth door down who looks like she's waiting for someone."

"Fed!" I called. Her head whipped around and she saw me and came at a gangly-legged run.

"GRANDMOM!" She was all smiles.

I caught her, swung her around in a circle, and put her down. "Are you eating enough, girl? You don't weigh anything."

"Dad says I eat more than a cow."

"They eat a lot at her age," Kamagishi said to me sagely.

"Yes, I had noticed that." I looked at Fedso'as, "does your mother know you're leaving now?"

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"Not yet," she smiled up at me. "Geez, Grandmom, you're really tall."

"Yes, I know. You'll catch up with me in a few years. Now go tell your mother I'm taking you to the shrine to work for the day, and tell her I'll be staying again tonight, and...wait, there she is now. Wait here."

Oyyuth had her hair tied up in a headscarf and wore a long apron over her working gown with its sleeves rolled up. I could tell she was breathing hard and had a bit of sweat worked up. It didn't take me long to reach her, which is one of the only advantages of being too tall.

"You look a bit out of breath, Oyyuth."

"We're loading our empty tuns to take down to the second ring to hold water. It takes everyone to load them. So you're taking the endless motion machine with you for the day? Good luck. Give her lots to do and she might go to bed for once without casting the light charm to read under the covers."

I couldn't help it: Oyyuth sounded just frustrated enough that I had to laugh.

"It's not that funny," she gave me an exasperated lopsided smile.

"Oh yes, it is," I chuckled some more. "Like you and I never did that sort of thing when we were her age."

"Well, there is that," she laughed. "Are you staying tonight?"

"Yes, I believe I will be. Irhessa and I already discussed it up at the palace."

"And Emily?"

"I'm not sure there. The queen made off with her and the city watermaster to fix the aqueduct."

"Seriously?"

"Emily knows what's wrong with the design of the aqueduct and how to fix it; the watermaster knows where it is under the ground, because it's buried, and the queen has the magic to do the repairs. So I do not know if we will see her this evening or not. I think it would be good for her because I know she is comfortable here, and that means a lot. She lived alone in the northern wilderness for so long that she's not good being around a lot of people."

"Hessakos mentioned that. I had the room made up already just in case. We usually eat quarter past the seventh bell, so I hope you can get back by then."

"Yes, I will see you this evening." I rejoined Fedso'as and Kamagishi.

"So that was your mother, Fed?" Kamagishi asked.

"Yep, she runs the whole brewery," she said proudly, "she'll be the Presiding Craftmaster for the whole city next year." Then she stopped and looked at me. "I'm sorry. I am forgetting my manners so please don't tell my dad, okay?"

"Alright, Fed, but..." She ignored me and turned to Kamagishi with a bowing obeisance appropriate for meeting on the street in a non-ceremonial setting.

"May the blessings of the eleven gods be upon you, Holy One," she intoned solemnly.

Kamagishi put her hand on Fed's head, "and also upon you, Healer-in-training-elect Fedso'as. Now, we should move on since it is getting late and your grandmother has a patient we want her to see."

"Yes, Holy One," Fed bounced up and then bounced alongside us as we walked. "I didn't know you knew the high priestess, Grandmom."

"Your grandmother and I have known each other for many years," Kamagishi remarked, enjoying herself greatly.

"Oh wow, grandmom, you must be in the shrines a lot."

"I live at a shrine, youngster, and in a season and a half, so will you."

"So you live at the shrine in Aybhas?"

"Yes. Yes, I do."

"But you didn't always live there. Where did you live when Dad was growing up?"

"We lived south of Aybhas, outside of Gunndit on your grandfather's farm. Your grandfather died many years ago so now it's your aunt's farm."

"Yep, Dad told me he had a sister, but not much other than that. When do I get to meet my aunt?"

"Soon, I hope, but that's up to your father and mother. Your aunt may come to the enrolling ceremony if she knows that you and your father will be there, and then you might have a chance to meet your cousins," I said.

Her eyes lit up, "I have cousins?"

"Four, but only the youngest is close to you in age. The others are all older."

"Oh," she pouted a little.

Kamagishi just smiled.

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Fedso'as, the Environs of Is'syal

My poor grandmother. She stopped me just before the entrance to the shrine and said she needed to tell me something before we entered. Then she fessed up that she was the high priestess of Mugash, which I already had guessed, and mom confirmed it when I asked her. I mean really, how many people are named Lisaykos? High priestess Lisaykos of Mugash is famous throughout the kingdom. That I could have a silverhair healer grandmother who was freakishly tall but who wasn't the high priestess was just not possible, and mom confirmed it after everyone left for the palace.

I loved the look on Grandmom's face when I said, "yeah, I know. It was kinda obvious." Old farts can be so thick sometimes, even grandmothers as wow as mine.

My grandmother disappeared somewhere with High Priestess Kamagishi, who is nice but likes to tease my grandmother. I got sent, not to the general volunteer table, but to the table for shrine students. Kamagishi walked me over and told the priestess in charge of trainees to include me since I was accepted at Mugash.

I got teamed up with an adept trainee of Landa named Twevyar to run errands for healers and adepts. She was nice but she was also really big. I don't mean fat, I mean big. She's 14 but she's already really tall and her hair is already completely white. She's awesomely strong too. She was kinda embarrassed about it so I didn't tease her at all.

She could already mindcast. She took the supply requests and then mindcasted them to me. I would go through the supply rooms putting everything together. By the time I was done, she was ready to grab what I gave her and deliver it. She said I was really easy to target for a private mindcast from a distance, which isn't always the case for someone like me who doesn't have any training yet.

We ran more supplies than anyone else. I found out later that the Landa trainees had an informal competition going but Twevyar was the odd person out until I showed up. She wasn't too sure about me at first, but when I suggested breaking up the chore of getting supplies into the component tasks, just like Mom does for the workers at the brewery, and used Twev's talent at mindcasting to save time for me on my end, we were the top of the heap. Twev's prize was that the other trainees would do her chores for the next rotation. She was really happy about that. The adept that was in charge of the trainees had some very nice things to say about Twev and me: that we figured out what we were both good at and then used that to our advantage. Then she asked me if I'd consider switching to Landa from Mugash. No way, I said.

I was really tired when we were told to stop working for the day. My legs were killing me from running up and down the ladders in the supply rooms. I fell into a chair and I couldn't get up at first, I hurt so bad. Twev came up behind me, put her hands on my shoulders, and made a lot of the pain go away. She was so nice. Quiet, and a bit shy I think, but nice.

The seventh bell rang. My grandmother and my Dad, who was carrying Emily, showed up at the door of the room where the trainees were waiting before going to dinner. I was surprised when Twev walked over and did a full obeisance to my grandmother. Then she got up and hugged my grandmother. Both Dad and I were gobsmacked by this.

When the hug was over, grandmother motioned me to come over. When I got up, grandmother turned Twev to face me and said: "Twevyar, Fedso'as is your cousin."

The entire room went quiet. Grandmother then looked at Dad and said, "Irhessa, Twevyar is your niece."

"I'm your cousin?"

"We're cousins?"

"Ahhhhh! Yaaaaaaaay!" We were bouncing on our feet and grabbing each other's hands, smiling and laughing. It was just unbelievable.

"CHILDREN!" Startled, we stopped and looked at grandmother, who was looking scary. "You are being too loud. This is a shrine, not a street festival for the hard of hearing."

"Yes, grandmother," we said in unison somehow.

"Mother, maybe Twevyar could join us for dinner and to stay overnight," Dad said quietly.

"What will Oyyuth say?"

"She'll be pleased. I think she'll approve of Twevyar."

"I will take care of it," grandmother said and left the room.

"So, Twevyar, I'm your Uncle Irhessa. Would you like to spend the evening with my family, and your grandmother, who is staying at my house?"

"You're really my mother's long-lost brother?" Twevyar asked.

"You look like her," Dad said.

"People say that all the time," she blushed a bit. "How did grandmother find you?"

"By accident. Five nights ago. We were both shocked. Still, I was planning to see her at cold season midday, when your cousin enrolls at the Healing Shrine of Mugash. So we would have met eventually, Twevyar."

"So where did you go when...? Twevyar couldn't bring herself to say it out loud to Dad.

"When I ran away from home? I traveled around for several years. Then I moved here to Is'syal. I work directly for the King." He pulled the fire opal tablet of a royal courier out of his pouch and handed it to her.

"Oh," her eyebrows went up. To have a fire opal tablet really meant something. She handed it back to him.

"The King sends Dad all over the place," I told Twevyar. "He travels a lot. Sometimes we don't see him for months."

Twevyar was trying to decide what was up with Dad carrying Emily.

"Fed," she leaned over and whispered, "what's with the Coyn?"

"Oh," I smiled, "you'll like her. She's really nice and very funny. That's Emily. She's staying with us."

"You mean, Emily, as in the Blessed Emily, Maker of Fire and Revelator of Tiki?" Twevyar's jaw dropped.

"The same," and I winked at Emily, who just rolled her eyes at me.

Then everyone in the room got on their knees and performed full obeisances. "May the blessings of the eleven god be upon you, Great One," they said in a straggling semblance of unison.

"If Emily could speak, she would wish the same blessings for all of you and would ask you all to rise," Dad said.

Twevyar got to her feet, "so it's true that she can not speak?"

"Emily was injured badly in the head several years ago and lost the ability to speak because of it," Dad said. "Right now she is staying at the main shrine of Mugash with your grandmother because she is trying to restore Emily's speech."

"And I'm confident that we will do so," my grandmother said as she came back into the room. "Twevyar, if you would like to have dinner and spend the night at your uncle's house, you may. You need to be back here at the second bell."

"Yes, I would like that very much, please," my cousin said. Then she smiled at me. It was going to be a great evening.

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