Another wonderful winter day had visited upon the capital city of Norlov. This is large part because of the lack of snow falling from the sky. No instead today was filled with overcast skies of gray with a chilled mist that seemed to hang over the city like a cold blanket. Everywhere you went between the large buildings you felt the all encompassing embrace of the icy air. Even the proud castle of the royal family that usually stood so defiantly above the populace was hidden from view beyond the silver veil.
It was to this city in mist that Miya had been taken, her urge to see the marvelous sights for herself finally overpowering her. She had been almost a week in her home village, which had been a wonderful time no doubt, but the high priestess simply had to go out and see the rest of the kingdom at some point. Yes she had seen it all and more thanks to her previous place inside Jenna's head, but being there in your own flesh and blood was something unlike any other.
The goddess Jenna had of course insisted that she escort the young woman personally, as the trip from Doovlin to Norlov would take at least a week or two from the human standpoint. During winter such a trip was fraught with just as much danger as in the summer, this time of year the weather posing the threat over roaming bandits. Thus did Jenna elect to portal Miya over like she had so many other people to so many other places.
Miya stepped out of the glowing portal into the alleyway right behind the little girl who was her all powerful goddess. It was bitter cold out which was only made worse by the frozen mist hanging in the air and made the outdoors an altogether miserable experience. Thankfully she was well prepared for such weather with thick fur clothing and a large cloak of gray that draped over her shoulders and hung down almost to the ground. She still found herself lifting her hands to her mouth to blow on them despite her gloves.
Jenna turned around and smiled up at the young woman, the goddess's human size continuing to dress in its own winter garb.
“Well here we are!” She said happily while raising her hands in the air. “You be a good young woman and stay safe here ok?” She dropped her arms. “I'll be back to pick you up tomorrow morning first thing.”
Miya smiled warmly and reached out to give Jenna a pat on the head. This caused the little goddess to pout but otherwise accept it as the friendly gesture it was.
“Thank you Jenna.” Miya replied. “I promise I'll take care of myself.” She then looked around the city. “With all these powers you've given me I'm not sure what could even hurt me.”
Jenna had her arms crossed over her chest during her pouting and dropped them to her sides as Miya finished speaking.
“Another goddess.” She said quickly. “Or the lich. Either way you'll be plenty safe compared to any other human.” Her left hand rose with her index finger lifted. “If anything happens though you can just call on me! I'll be here in a flash to save you!”
Miya looked down and smiled again.
“Very well o goddess! Thanks for taking me here. I'll head off to the temple now.” She turned down the street that led to the temple and looked over her shoulder at Jenna. “Besides you have many duties as a goddess to fulfill. I'd hate to keep you from them.”
Jenna sighed and shook her head.
“Yeah yeah. I'll be watching you. Have fun now ok?”
With that the little girl goddess opened another glowing portal and stepped through it, the swirling door vanishing in an instant and leaving Miya alone in the sprawling capital. Well not completely alone of course as there were plenty of people all around. They were however going about their own business and hadn't the time to look down the alley that the young woman had been dropped off in. This had been intentional on Jenna's part of course as to avoid unwanted attention.
The Grand Temple of the Sisterhood was only a couple blocks away and Miya began her short trip to it. She quickly slid out of the alley and into the main road, the traffic here quite light as one would expect from mid morning on a winter day. No one was going to bother her and this was both a blessing and a curse. Miya did enjoy the company of others, coming from a small village community was very important to her. However here in the big city there were simply so many people that it was very overwhelming. Thus the lack of interest in her was somewhat enjoyable as she could interact at her own pace.
Miya's walk to the temple was soon over however and she found herself standing before the magnificent structure. Of course she had seen it through Jenna's eyes many a time, but standing here in person was just as awe inspiring as she had hoped it would be. The building was simply massive and so intricately decorated with all sorts of carvings and texturing in the stone. She had to stop and pause just to look at it for several moments.
Soon enough however it was time to continue inside which the young woman did with excitement in her steps. Through the large wooden doors she walked into the main hall she went with purpose, something the others who were present noticed. Once inside she also loosened up her cloak as it was quite warm in here. This revealed her more practical but still brilliantly white priestess robes that anyone from the temple would recognize as similar to what Timothy wore.
There was another young woman standing behind the reception table who immediately noticed Miya walking in and had been watching her intently. This was Maisy who while not having met the priestess before was known by the fact of the latter's time in Jenna's head.
Miya walked right up to the desk and smiled at the similarly aged young woman.
“Hello Maisy! You don't know me but I've heard so much about you!”
This caught Maisy completely off guard and she lifted her right hand to her chest. Her expression was one of surprise and even some nervousness.
“Um... Hello. Do I know you?”
In response Miya giggled and shook her head.
“No I'm afraid not.” She replied. “I'm the high priestess of Jenna. My name is Miya.” She the smiled again. “I'm sure you've heard of me yes?”
This made the young clerk gasp and she even took a step backwards.
“Heavens!” Maisy exclaimed. “You're Miya?” Quickly she gave a bow. “It's such a pleasure to meet you! How can I be of service?”
Miya lifted her right hand in a friendly gesture before lowering it again. There was a more mortherly smile on her face now as she looked at this other girl who was around her own age.
“Now there's no need for that.” She said. “I'm just here to meet the high priest. You know him correct? Timothy?”
Hearing this made Maisy stand up suddenly and she nodded her head.
“Yes of course Miss Miya!” She responded just as quickly. “Please follow me and I can take you to him myself. It must be very important goddess business. It is isn't it?”
Miya shrugged and tilted her head slightly to the left.
“Oh nothing like that. I've just wanted to meet him myself for quite a while now. If you can believe it I'm from a very small village.”
While they spoke Maisy began walking around the desk and down the nearby hallway, pausing only to invite Miya to follow along with a quick gesture. Then once they were walking she continued the conversation with her peer.
“The goddess mentioned having a high priestess in a village called Doovlin. Its supposed to be extremely far away from here, on the complete other side of the kingdom!” Maisy sounded quite fascinated in her tone. “I suppose you were taken here by those glowing doors the goddess makes?”
Miya followed after her guide with her hands held close to her body within her cloak. As much as she had seen these people before it still made her slightly nervous being so far away from home with what would normally be strangers. She knew these people were safe however and was trying not to reveal too much about what she knew.
“Yes I did.” She replied to the question. “Jenna just dropped me off a short while ago actually. She'll be here to pick me up in the morning to return me to my village. So hopefully its alright if I spend the night here.”
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“Its no problem at all!” Maisy responded quickly. “In fact its an honor to have you visiting.”
As they walked Miya looked around at the various decorations and displays along the hallway. It was truly amazing all the history this building held within it. All these goddesses and clergies of times gone past. It made her wonder if there had been high priestesses for goddess's past and how they acted.
The walk to where Timothy was took several more minutes and as they went the two young woman continued conversing about their lives and the goddess. It was the meeting of a city girl and a country girl after all. The two of them could have surely spent the entire day talking endlessly about how their lives had unfolded up to this point and their hopes for the future. However this was simply not possible with how little time they had together on this short trip as so very soon they found themselves at the place Timothy was.
Maisy came to a stop just inside the doorway of another large room, a place that had likely been a place of worship in the distant past. There were several large tables along the center of the room and many chairs arranged about. This hall was the area in which the more permanent soup kitchen had been set up to serve the needy in the community. Today there were also basic blankets being handed out to those in desperate need to try and ease the biting cold of these winter months.
Miya stopped just in the doorway and scanned the large room until she found Timothy. It wasn't too hard to spot him and she took a few moments to really take in what he looked like. She had seen him plenty of times from behind the goddess's eyes but seeing him in person was something she was happy to finally do. Honestly he was quite handsome and close to her age besides. Yet even as these thoughts entered her mind she shook her head to banish them, a slight blush coming to her face. She was in no position to think such things, especially about another member of the clergy.
Maisy jogged over to where Timothy was standing handing out blankets and gave him a slap on the back.
“Hey Timothy!” She said happily. “There's someone visiting to see you!”
Timothy looked up from his work and nodded with a smile to the last person he had handed a blanket too before turning to face Maisy.
“Oh?” He asked curious. “Who is it?”
Maisy turned back to where Miya still stood in the doorway and beckoned her over.
“Come on!”
Miya crossed her arms over her stomach and walked over to where the two were standing, her nerves starting to build for reasons she couldn't entirely explain. She had met these people before inside Jenna's head, she knew more about them than they did themselves. This is also how she knew they had feelings for each other and she didn't want to get in the way of that. So taking a deep breath she steeled herself and tried to keep a confident air about her.
“Hello Timtim.” Miya said with a smile as she reached them. Then she stopped right in front of them and did a small bow. “You've heard of me I know. High priestess of Jenna at your service, Miya Deuiden.”
Timothy couldn't help but blush quite red upon seeing Miya, something that his female friend noticed. He was clearly overtaken by the beauty of the high priestess in both her looks and the robes which she wore under her cloak. As he reeled himself back under control he returned the bow and put on as professional a appearance as he could.
“Y-Yes!” He replied stammering slightly. “It's a pleasure to meet you Miss Miya! What brings you here today? Did something happen with the goddess?”
Miya let out a little chuckle and shook her head while shrugging.
“Oh nothing like that Timothy. I'm just here because I wanted to visit the temple and meet you in person! I've heard much about you from the goddess you see.”
Timothy gulped and tried to keep his eyes from wandering down from the young woman's face.
“I see... Hopefully good things.”
Before Miya could answer another female voice appeared, seeming to dance upon the air in an almost playful manner. Suddenly the fairy Salferia appeared from behind Timothy somewhere and flew up near his head.
“There's nothing good to say about this pathetic little man!” She said loudly and proudly. “He's really lucky I care about him as much as I do.” She then shrugged. “Honestly I don't know what that goddess sees in him.”
Whether the fairy was teasing or being serious none present could really tell, thought it was clear she remained in a playful mood for the moment. Her normal explorers outfit was still being worn even in the middle of winter complete with her tiny hat. This was of course due to her access to magic which allowed her to resist the effects of the cold.
Miya looked at the little lady and smiled pleasantly.
“Oh I'm sure the goddess sees the same thing others around him do.” She replied in a clearly passive aggressive manner. “That he's friendly, dependable, and good looking.” She shrugged. “I mean even you follow after him like a lost puppy looking at him with dreams of courtship in your eyes.”
While this comment made both Timothy and Maisy blush slightly it only served to infuriate the fairy. Salferia stomped her foot in the air and flew up closer to Miya's face, her angry expression telling all.
“Why you piece of!” The fairy angrily shouted. “I'll turn you into a fly and-”
Miya looked the fuming fairy straight in the face and smirked in a somewhat teasing manner.
“You'll do no such thing little lady.” She said with confidence. “Not only has the goddess given me protections but I'm well aware of what she'll do to you if you dared lay a finger upon her favorite humans. Why don't you settle down before I have to discipline you?”
Having a human react to her in such a way was completely outside of Salferia's comprehension. The absolute nerve of this young woman was baffling beyond belief. In fact it caught her so off guard that she could do little more than flutter there sputtering in shock. Her mouth was hanging open and she stared at Miya with bugged out eyes.
Timothy and Maisy were also absolutely stunned at what they had just witnessed. They had pushed back against the fairy's antics before sure, but never to the level of threatening punishment. There was always the slight chance that the fairy would use her magic on them despite the goddess's demands which nagged in the back of their minds. The sheer confidence on display in Miya stood as a testament of her faith in Jenna and Timothy especially was highly impressed with his female counterpart.
Timothy also had a slight pang of pity in his heart for the clearly devastated fairy and so he called out to her in a gentle voice.
“Salferia...”
Hearing her favorite human's voice snapped Salferia out of her stunned shock and she quickly shook herself back to reality. She gave one final glare of hatred Miya's way before spinning around and flying back to Timothy. Her face was a combination of anger and pouting that appeared quite adorable on someone so small.
The fairy quickly dove back into Timothy's cloak and burrowed down somewhere behind his neck before making herself comfortable right below his hair. She would likely stay there for a while, ever close to the object of her interests while also reminding these other women who really owned this man. Or at least that sort of jealously was what she hoped to inspire in the other females present.
Maisy smiled weakly and lifted her right hand for a moment in a gesture of dismissal.
“Don't mind our fairy friend.” She said timidly. “She's always like that.”
Timothy also smiled and a nervous chuckle escaped him. He then bowed again to Miya before standing up straight.
“Yes please forgive her on my behalf Miss Miya.” He added. “She really is nice when you get to know her. That aside what can I do for you? Surely you didn't come to visit just to get accosted by a fairy.”
Miya giggled and looked around the room around before gazing back at the two young people.
“It's fine really.” She said clearly a bit distracted. “I just came to visit the big city really and meet you in person. Also I wanted to see the temple for myself. While I'm here I'll even help you with this charity work you're doing. You don't mind do you?”
Timothy looked surprised for a moment but then nodded eagerly.
“Oh really we've love the help!” He then looked down in a bit of shame. “I mean if you really want to. You don't have to visit just to work.”
“Its what I'm used to.” Miya said smiling reassuringly. “Believe me I do much and the same back in my home village and surrounding land.”
Timothy nodded and seemed to be much more relaxed after hearing that. He turned to Maisy and gave her a rather embarrassed smile.
“Very well. We'll handle things here if you could return to the front Maisy.” He blushed a bit and failed at hiding it. “Thanks again for bringing her here. It's nice to see you of course and I hope to again after the tasks today.”
Maisy returned the smile and was clearly better at hiding her feelings. Instead she just nodded.
“Of course Timothy! I'll see you later!” She then turned to Miya and did a small courtesy. “It was wonderful meeting you as well! Please enjoy your visit.”
Miya did a courtesy as well and gave a pleasant smile in return.
“It was wonderful meeting you as well Maisy.” She replied. “Thank you for your hard work here.”
After these pleasantries had been exchanged Maisy took her leave and walked across the room and into the hallway. Soon the young woman had vanished from view and left both priest and priestess to themselves among the various other volunteers and vagrants. Timothy was still a bit taken off guard but had relaxed considerably now that his clear love interest was gone.
Timothy smiled and turned back to the work he was supposed to be doing, clearly feeling bad for leaving more work for the other volunteers. None of them had said anything though as they were respecting his position as high priest. There were plenty of eyes still on them of course as the appearance of a high priestess was news indeed. Rumors and gossip about the two of them would surely be circulating for weeks to come.
“Why don't you show me what you're up to then?” Miya asked to help ease him back into his mindset.
Timothy nodded and smiled a bit shyly before turning back to the table of blankets and picking one up. “Yeah well I'm just helping pass out these blankets right now.” He said, the focus on the task helping ease his mind. “Here why you give out this one?” He said offering it to Miya.
Miya took the blanket and smiled back at him. “Sure thing. I'm looking forward to working with you.”
Thus the first meeting of high priest and priestess came to be and together they would spend the rest of the day involving themselves in outreach to the downtrodden of the capital city. It would be later in the evening that Miya got a proper tour of the temple and met the other staff there, even involving herself in the other work they kept themselves busy with.
That being the art of book making, something that the goddess had only taught in relatively limited capacity for the moment only allowing simple block stamps. Miya was well aware of the implications of further development and knew why Jenna didn't' share more complex methods yet. She even shared such reasoning with them when asked.
This time spent asking questions and answering them lasted until night had fallen upon the temple and most of the people had since gone home. It was however Miya's place to stay at the temple and find her sleep there. While she didn't need approval to stay overnight she did seek it out from the steward, a man named Arlon, who she got along quite well with. So did her adventures in the temple come to an end, dreams of her home visiting her in the night as she longed to be in her village once the morning came.