Arianna's Lotus [http://i.imgur.com/oOhwKDZ.png]

Chapter Fourteen

Temple of Balance

I stared up at the white and black temple, impressed by the sheer scale. Trees from Yiltanys and Sihix’s domains framed either side of the structure, appearing to fuse with it in places. Veins of power spread through the surface of the smooth stone. Crystals glowing with the power of both forests pulsed from their various placements, further illuminating the structure.

“Temple? This is far more akin to a palace,” Nalithor remarked, tilting his head to the side as he studied it. “The Lari’xan truly intend for this to be ours?”

“My guess is as good as yours.” I placed a hand on my hip, studying the structure as well. “There’s no denying it’s a good location for us to have a temple. Plus, if we employ your Vulin or ever find chosen, we’ll need a lot of space. I’m skeptical about this much space too, but…”

“Shall we take a look inside?” Nalithor offered, smiling.

I nodded and accepted his arm once he offered it. Together, we strode up to the temple and pushed open the doors. Inside, we discovered an extravagant entry hall suited to my tastes and Nalithor’s. The interior was black, white, and silver with accents in various shades of blue everywhere. Both Dauthrmiran and Draemiran styles were prevalent in the artwork and other designs within.

They’d essentially built a palace perfect for the both of us. It was an incredibly beautiful place filled with vibrant and blooming plants. There were channels filled with flowing water along the interior walls, feeding to much of the flora planted inside. The entry hall was so large that it had several mrifon and rozntaar trees planted inside it.

“They’ve outdone themselves…” Nalithor murmured before shifting to look down at me. “They truly intend for us to be Balance, don’t they? Such a place is clearly made with us in mind.”

“Does that come as a surprise?” I arched an eyebrow at him before letting out a laugh. “Come on, let’s explore. Or did you want to call in the Vulin first?”

“We can call for them once we’re finished.” Nalithor shook his head. “Eyrian and the others should be on their way as well now that the Lari’xan have stabilized the ‘eye’ and their domains alike.”

“I still wish we’d gotten a good look at the eye before they destroyed it.” I sighed, glancing over my shoulder and out the window at the normal sky beyond them. “Oh well, what should we even be looking for in our new ‘temple?’ You’re right that it’s more like a palace. If we were exploring by those criteria I’d have a better idea of what to look for.”

“There should be an audience chamber akin to a palace,” Nalithor suggested, turning his gaze toward a pair of ornate doors that sat opposite of the entry way. “And my guess is we will find it through there. Aside from that, the rest of the rooms on the main floor should be dedicated to public affairs. Places for people to come seek help or leave offerings, to meet with Chosen, or to seek medical aid.

“The other floors will likely be private, holding a mixture of rooms for us all, kitchens, storage, libraries, laboratories, and any other manner of thing we might need. We should assume that, if it is something you wanted for the Claws and Fangs, you will find similar here. The way you have been running the Claws and Fangs is akin to what deities are meant to do with Chosen.”

“Well, that makes sense.” I fell silent, considering it for a moment as I followed Nalithor toward the ornate doors. “So, the main floor should be dedicated to helping and meeting with the public. The audience chamber for more formal affairs, and the rest of the building for handling our role in the greater scheme of things?”

Nalithor pushed open the doors of the audience chamber and we both exchanged a brief look of surprise. Inside, it was more like a garden than a throne room. There was greenery everywhere, interspersed with empty display cases. At the far back of the room was a raised platform with two platinum thrones set close to each other. The lower portion of the elaborate furniture had openings, likely for our tails.

Above the dais was a massive pair of entwined dark and light crystals carved into a dragon and fox respectively. They chased each other’s tails and hung from a platinum lotus. That made it clear, more than anything else did, that the temple was truly meant for us.

“If I’m not mistaken the eye of your dragon is a crystal from Ceilail’s forest, and the one in my fox is from Xiinsha,” I observed, tilting my head in thought. Nalithor’s mouth curved into an amused smile, his gaze flicking briefly to my ears.

“Shall we?” Nalithor took my hand in his, linking his fingers with mine.

“Sure, we have a lot of temple to explore.” I nodded and shot him a brilliant smile.

My heart raced with excitement as we made our way from room to room. Our temple, built specifically for us by the Lari’xan. The theme of dragons and foxes carried everywhere throughout, occasionally joined by lotuses, mrifon, rozntaar, and moon themes. In a few rooms, we even found illustrations or carvings of a nine-tailed fox with feathered wings. Truly, our “bosses” had outdone themselves.

By the time we’d finished touring the temple and figuring out where our shared chambers were, the sun was high in the sky. We made our way down to the main floor and found Eyrian, Satrr, and Ijelle sitting together. Nearby, Corentine was busy playing with Shir, Gari, Alala, and both fae-dragons.

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“Are the Humans gone from Eormir?” Nalithor spoke up, causing our companions to shift their attention to us.

“Aye, every single one. Not that there were many.” Eyrian nodded and rose to his feet, glancing around briefly. “The Lari’xan really do favor you two.”

“This place is awesome!” Ijelle voiced her approval as she bounded over to us. “It puts your temple in Dauthrmir to shame, Nali! Though, it is pretty far from home. Are you two going to be stuck here a lot?”

“They’ll be able to travel between their temples on a whim,” Corentine offered, striding over to join us. She gave me a fang-filled grin when she caught me hanging onto Nalithor’s arm. “While the two of you are gone, the Guardians of both forests will be keeping an eye on the temple for you. It’s technically within the forests, so uninvited visitors won’t have a good time.”

“Gone?” Eyrian narrowed his eyes at us.

“Indeed, gone.” Sihix stepped out of a nearby shadow and yawned. “Our favorite pets have much work to do before—” The Lari’xan paused, catching my punch in one hand, a broad grin spreading across his face as he looked down at me. “Ari-mrii, I’m still injured, and you would dare strike me? I’m heartbroken.”

“We are not your pets!” I huffed as the Lari’xan released my hand. Nalithor chuckled and lured me back over to him.

“Ari-mrii and Nalithor will be leaving to pursue matters regarding Balance, for a time, while the rest of Vorpmasia continues their preparations for war.” Sihix made a vague motion with one hand as he turned to face Eyrian. “As it is their duty as deities, you may not join them. They will be going alone. Until their return, you can convene with the Vulin and Balance’s Guardians instead.”

“At least some manner of protection—” Eyrian began to protest.

“They are deities, boy.” Sihix laughed, slinging an arm around the Draekin’s shoulders. “Unless you want to become one of their Chosen, stay out of it. After all, someone will need to lead the Claws and Fangs while Ari-mrii is away. Who better than her second-in-command?”

“I’ll help too!” Satrr quickly volunteered, her eyes lighting up. Corentine cocked her head, then shot me a questioning look.

‘Scaly’s oblivious?’ Corentine prompted when I suppressed a snort of laughter.

‘Utterly,’ I replied, watching as the High Priestess broke into a broad grin. ‘He’s been so fixated on Nalithor’s popularity that he doesn’t seem to notice he’s sought-after himself! It’s kind of cute.’

“When are you leaving?” Ijelle looked between Nalithor and me with a worried expression on her face. “There’s still so much to do in Eormir, and I’m sure here in your temple too!”

“We’re leaving once I’ve called the Vulin here,” Nalithor stated, earning a distressed noise from his sister. “Djialkan already contacted Lucifer and informed him of the situation. He expects Eyrian to run Eormir for the next several days, perhaps a week, until my replacement arrives. Several ships of supplies and workers should be arriving later today, and then they will return to the border to fetch more.”

“Nalithor and I will be setting out on foot,” I added pointedly, earning a heavy sigh from our Draekin friend.

“Such a shame too!” Corentine exclaimed, putting her arms around my shoulders. “It’s been months since I’ve seen you, now you’re off again! I wanted to spend more time with you, but even I didn’t think you’d find so many Balance-y things needing fixing. You’ve always had a nose for trouble, haven’t you, Ari?”

“She has,” Nalithor stated dryly, shooting me a fond look as he squeezed me.

“Now then, as for you.” Corentine rounded on Sihix, “You’re meant to be resting and regaining your strength! It’s no wonder Ari’s your favorite. Neither of you know when to stop. I bet you didn’t even say anything to Yiltanys before sneaking off, did you? I can’t be babysitting you all the time, you know!”

“It’s fine, it’s fine,” Sihix waved a dismissive hand. “Someone has to show the Vulin around Nali and Ari-mrii’s new home. I will not be joining them in their hunt, for now.”

“…for now.” Corentine narrowed her eyes at him.

‘I am beginning to see how you became so fearless.’ Nalithor shot me an amused look. ‘Shall I summon the Vulin so that we might quit this place?’

‘I suppose we can try out our new bed some other time.’ I sighed in reluctance.

Within moments, a small portal of darkness opened in front of us and two familiar Vulin stepped out.

“Ah, Rely’ric, Reiz’tar!” Yumeko greeted us cheerfully before pivoting to look at our surroundings. “My, is this what I think it is?”

“Sihix, off.” I narrowed my eyes at him when his focus shifted to the Vulin. He looked ready to scoop them both up and squeeze them like pets.

“Ahhh but, Ari-mrii!” Sihix exclaimed. “Their fur looks so… Oh, perhaps you would rather I hug you instead? You needn’t be jealous. I have plenty—”

“Enough out of you.” Corentine thwacked the much taller Lari’xan on the head with a pipe before proceeding to fill and light it. “I’ll keep an eye on this lot for you, Ari. The two of you should get going while you’ve still got daylight.”

Corentine shot me a familiar, piercing look. She meant what she said, for some reason or another. I tilted my head and stared back at her. After a moment, she gave me a subtle nod and then turned to distract our companions. Nalithor frowned at me when I took him by the hand soon after and led him toward the nearest door.

‘What is it?’ Nalithor gave me a concerned frown.

‘I know that look on her face. She Saw something and doesn’t want us to miss our chance to deal with it.’ I glanced at him briefly before summoning traveling clothes from my shrizar. ‘We should pace ourselves and travel as far from here as we can with the remaining daylight.’

Nalithor and I both stopped when Lalira walked into our path with her arms crossed and a pout set on her face. We exchanged a look and, after a moment, Nalithor knelt so that he was on her level and quickly conversed with her. She did *not* look happy about us going elsewhere. Nearby, Maric shot me a tired smile and shrugged, shaking his head. I could imagine that the girl had managed to be insistent despite the language barrier. She certainly managed it when she wanted to train.

After a moment, Lalira gave Nalithor a brief hug and then bounded over to me, squeezing me around the waist. I froze for a moment and just blinked down at her, not sure what to do about the sudden display of affection from the girl. A low chuckle escaped Nalithor as he rose to his feet. No other ideas came to me, so I gave the girl a brief hug. That seemed to satisfy her, and she released me. Lalira shot me a beaming smile before darting back over to Maric.

‘…what was that about?’ I shot Nalithor a thoroughly baffled look as we walked away from the temple.

‘She said she would miss you, and your lessons, while gone,’ Nalithor answered, reaching up to ruffle my curls. ‘It seems that she has grown quite fond of you.’

‘Right…I have no idea why.’ I chewed on the inside of my cheek. This time, Nalithor laughed outright and I pouted at him. ‘What?’

‘She’s grown on you.’ Nalithor smirked.

‘Oh hush.’ I snorted, swatting at him with my tails.

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