The trio of well-dressed gentlemen that were there to greet us waited patiently for me to step down from the carriage and lend my hand to Kala as she exited as well. As soon as Kala was out of the carriage, I noticed a suppressed shiver run up her body, but her poise did not falter as she simply clasped her hands together in front of her in a simple but regal manner. Immediately warmer clothes for Kala were put on the list of things to acquire during our stay here.
As soon as we had our feet firmly planted on the ground, the three welcoming committee members approached. There was a satyr at the head of the group with a Valus and Ulgor behind them. They were all wearing sharp dress clothes that consisted of a long black shirt and vest with bronze buttons. The Valus was the only non-uniform one out of the lot as they had thick black furs that ran part way down their lower serpentine half. Being a partly reptilian species, they had a similar weakness to cold the same as Kala did, so the attire was most likely a necessary addition for them to function.
Before I could analyze them any further, the satyr started to speak to me. “Lord James, it is an absolute pleasure and honor to host you in our fair city today.” He had a pleasant voice with aged and distinguished looking features. The lower half of his body was covered in deep brown fur which ended in the cloven hooves that all satyr possessed.
I offered a polite grin in response as I quickly formulated an appropriate response. “Thank you for the warm welcome. From what we saw on the way up here, the city is certainly beautiful, though the weather is a fair bit cooler than I had imagined.”
The man let out a quiet chuckle at my words. “Yes, most first-time visitors are rather taken aback by the weather around these parts. Winters here can get quite alarming without proper preparations. However, neither of us are here to discuss the weather all day. I am here to show you the building that you will be staying in and to serve as guide for the duration of your stay here. My assistants and I will gladly fulfill any role that you require of us if it means making your stay more comfortable.”
“Thank you, Mr...”
“For brevities sake my name is Evixus my lord, at your service.”
Well, thankfully satyrs seemed to realize how inconvenient it is to say their full names. “It is nice to meet you Evixus, and thank you in advance for your services.”
“Not at all my lord, it is my absolute pleasure to serve someone as important as you. Now, do you have any questions, or shall I show you to your rooms?”
“Just one, for now.” My hand came up around Kala’s shoulder and pulled her close. “My lady here seems to be a tad underdressed for the weather. Would it be possible to get her something more suitable for the climate?”
In a flash Evixus raised his right hand and snapped his fingers. The Ulgor behind him did a quick bow before walking off at a brisk pace. “My assistant will fulfill that request for you and have the attire delivered to your personal chambers. Speaking of which, please follow me and I’ll show you the way. Don’t fret about your supplies and carriages, we will have them secured in storage or sent to you as appropriate. If any more questions arise, do not hesitate to ask.”
With that he turned and started to lead the way to our new residence. My friends all moved accordingly to the situation and formed a small encirclement around me before we too started moving. Along the way we had many eyes turn in our direction, though they were focused almost solely on me. There were quiet words spoken in the ears of compatriots, fleeting glances when I was looking their way, and gestures when they thought I wasn’t. Whether they were talking about my connection to the goddess or thought I was a Thrainian couldn’t be determined, but one thing was certain, I already hated it.
To distract myself from the eyes upon us, I thought of some more questions to ask our guide. “So, is there any word about when I might be able to meet with the council members?”
“News of your arrival has reached the ears of the council and several other interested parties who would like to have a word with you. The council will most likely wish to meet with you at the earliest opportunity, but being as busy as they are running the affairs of the coalition, it may take an hour or two before they can properly welcome you. In the meantime, we encourage you to familiarize yourselves with your quarters and the upper district. The only request we make of you is to not wander too far away so we might be able to quickly find you when the council is prepared to meet.”
I nodded along with the explanation. “I see. Thank you for the information, I will try to factor that into any plans we might make while waiting.” Having to maintain a formal disposition was draining, but if I treated it like a job then it could be managed.
The wind picked up a little bit and made Kala press up closer to me for warmth. I leaned down a spoke softly so no one else could hear. “You alright?”
“I can manage until we get inside.” She took a deep breath to try and steady her resolve. “Well, it’s obvious why no one from my village knew anything about this place. It probably gets colder than the pits themselves up here.”
There was a small amount of humor in her voice that made me chuckle quietly while pulling her into my body just a bit more firmly. She seemed rather grateful that I was sharing my heat. Luckily for her, we arrived at the building that would be our new home for the foreseeable future before she went into hibernation.
It was a grand and impressive building that utilized mostly stonework in the construction process. The face of the building had hints of gothic architecture around the door and the windows with that sunken in design that was common in that aesthetic. The windows were tall and thin with shutters on the inside and short hardy looking shrubs just beneath them, meticulously pruned into a box like shape.
Evixus and his Valus assistant opened the set of double doors for us which released a wave of warmth from inside. It wasn’t just the air that was warm in the building, but the décor was very rich in color and comfy in design. Everything looked like someone scooped the insides of a log cabin and threw it into a castle. There were dark wood floors, fur rugs and chairs, a crackling stone fireplace, and very rustic furnishings. There were hallways leading both left and right deeper into the building, and a set of stairs that climbed to the second floor.
Our guide stopped once we all stood comfortably in the center of the entry room. “This building is one we keep open to host political guests. We have accommodations to suit any occasion or need so if something does not meet your expectations, feel free to voice your concerns and we will remedy them immediately. You will all be staying in the same wing of the building as, I assume, you would not wish to be far from your escort. Are there any questions?”
When none of us spoke up he just nodded and continued deeper into the building, taking the left hallway. Along the way we were greeted by the sight of a variety of paintings that decorated the walls at even intervals. Many of them presented a view of foreign landscapes, places warmer, wetter, drier, and everything in between. It was interesting to see just how similar yet unique these places were compared to locations on Earth.
The ones that weren’t landscapes were portraits instead. Each of the people depicted held a regal countenance about them as they stood or sat stoically for the painter to capture. There were no name plates or titles for the works so I couldn’t tell if they were simply notable patrons of this place or perhaps figures of importance from the city’s past, maybe previous council members. That seemed like a question that had to be asked to get clarification on, but for now, I focused on what was in the present.
After passing several rooms we finally stopped near the back corner of the building. Evixus made an open-handed gesture towards one of the doors. “This is the room that has been prepared for you, Lord James, and your lady. The three nearest rooms to this have also been set aside for your escort. Now, if there is nothing else that you need at this moment, I will leave you to get comfortable in your rooms. When the council is ready to meet with you, a messanger will be sent to notify you and lead the way. Is there anything else?”
I looked at everyone else to see if they had something to say. Nobody looked like they had any complaints or questions, so it was best to move on. “Nothing seems to be out of place right now. Thank you for your help and your service, Evixus.”
He placed a hand on his chest while bending slightly in a bow. “It was only my duty as well as an honor to assist you, Lord James. If you should need anything else, I am currently staying in the room just beneath the staircase. Do not hesitate to call on me, I am at your service.”
With a nod of acknowledgement and a few more words of thanks, Evixus left us to explore our rooms and get comfortable. It would be two people in each room. Kala and I were obviously together, and the brothers would be sharing a room as well. The other four divided themselves as Hargon and Holdrem took a room leaving Ulthises and Velian to share one as well.
The décor of the room was similar to that of the rest of the building. The bed was covered in thick furs and blankets while the two chairs sitting at the opposite end of the room next to the fireplace were upholstered in soft fur as well. Other than that, there was a dresser, a mirror in the back left corner, and a vanity set up along the right-hand wall close to the door. It all looked quite comfortable, especially on a cold night.
Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Kala smiled and started to head into the room, but I grabbed her by the shoulder to stop her. She gave me a questioning tilt of her head in response to my action. “Just one second, Kala. Let me have a look around first.”
She watched me as I approached the bed and started to pull the covers, sheets and even the mattress up to look under everything. When I moved to the dresser to examine each of the drawers, Kala finally spoke up.
“Don’t you think you’re being a little paranoid right now? What are you even expecting to find?”
“I’m not sure, and that’s the problem. I don’t know what these people are capable of, what methods they will use to gain an advantage over me or how much danger we are in at this point. While the risks may be low considering we just got here, I'm still not willing to take them at face value.” Honestly, I wasn’t sure how advanced their surveillance apparatus was in this world, but magical listening crystals were still a possibility if one of their mages happened to be particularly clever. I wouldn’t put it past Sert to come up with the idea if he had sufficient prompting.
She shrugged but nodded in agreement. “Alright, so is the bed safe, or are we sleeping on the floor tonight?”
The way she said that contained a bit of humor and caused me to huff in amusement. “I believe the bed is fine, there’s nothing out of the ordinary as far as I can tell.”
“Good, because I wanted to do this.” She walked up to the bed and then flopped on its surface with all the grace of a drunken seal. The moment her body hit the soft surface with a quiet puff she released a pleased sigh. “This is a nice bed, fuzzy and warm, kind of like you before you got that shave.”
“Not sure if I should be offended or not being compared to a bed.”
“Well, you are my warm rock, remember?”
“How can I forget being pinned under you, unable to move as you made yourself at home.”
“Don’t lie, you loved it.”
I chuckled. “Yeah, it was pretty nice to be close to someone like that. But now I get to do this all the time.” I leaned down and planted a kiss on the side of her face.
She practically purred when I did this, inviting me to snuggle with her for a moment, which I readily accepted. Our brief moment of peace was broken when there was a knock on the door. With a sigh, I got up to answer it while Kala straightened herself out again to appear professional.
It was the Ulgor that had been sent out to get the warmer clothing for Kala. “My lord, I have brought the requested clothing for your lady.”
“Ahh, thank you, I appreciate it.” The clothing in question ended up being a cloak of thick black fur that would sit over the shoulders and cover most of the body, basically falling just slightly below the knees. It was heavy, but that also meant that it would be warm.
It seemed that was not all there was to this visit though because after handing the cloak over he continued to speak. “Sir, I would like to inform you that there is someone here who has voiced a desire to speak with you. If you do not wish to speak with anyone right now, I can send them away.”
That was a bit of a surprise. We had barely been here for fifteen minutes and already people were showing up. News travels fast, I guess.
“Really? Did they say who they are or who they are representing?”
“From their garb, it was easy to infer that they were members of the church, sir.”
I resisted the urge to cringe and groan. This was expected to happen at some point, but I had hoped that it would take place after my meeting with the council as a sort of warm-up. No use turning them away when we would meet eventually though, so for now I would just suck it up and get it over with.
“No, it’s fine, don’t turn them away. I’ll be out in a minute, just give me some time to prepare.”
“As you wish, my lord.” With a bow the man turned and started walking down the hall to pass along the news of my impending arrival to the priests.
I closed the door and let out a long sigh. “Well, they certainly move quickly.” Kala spoke up behind me, prompting me to turn and face her again.
“Yeah, though I'd hoped they would at least give me day, or a few hours.”
“At least this is a good chance to start gaining support, right?”
“That it is. I think I’m going to grab two of our escort and head out to greet them.”
“Should I come too?”
I gave her a smile. “No, it’s alright, don’t want you to freeze your tail off out there. Besides, I get the feeling that it’s mostly going to be them bowing down to me and then asking for favors, blessings, and whatever else comes to their mind. If I'm lucky I may be able to plead my case to someone before the council summons me.”
“Okay, but I want to be there for the council meeting, so be sure to come get me if they find you out there.”
“Will do. Stay warm, stay safe, and I’ll see you in a little while.” I gave her a quick kiss goodbye before making my way out and to the other rooms in the hall. The first choice of guard duty for this outing was obvious, so I knocked on the door to Holdrem’s room.
He was quick to answer, and the door was opened to reveal him, still in armor. Apparently, he barely had time to get the tabard off before this new event was set in motion. “Ja- err, my lord, what can I do for you.”
A small slip up as he realized he was still on duty, but he quickly recovered. “Well, Holdrem, it seems the church is getting in contact with me already, and since you are the most religiously knowledgeable out of all of us, you're up for escort duty.”
He took just a second to process that. “I see. In that case I'll get ready to leave immediately.”
“Also, tell Hargon to get out here too. The rest of them are going to have to decide amongst themselves who will be filling the second spot.” Something else occurred to me then as well. “Are you alright to handle the cold? We can probably get some more cloaks for you if need be.”
“Thank you for the concern, but I’ll be alright for now. The padding in the armor insulates well enough, so as long as we aren’t going to be standing in the open for hours or patrol around at night, I should be fine.”
I nodded. “Good to know. Still, I’ll ask for a few more to be brought to everyone later, just in case.”
A small smirk crossed his face. “I doubt Hargon will need one though, sir, considering how redundant it is for him.”
I gave a brief chuckle in response to that. “True enough, but it’s still polite. Enough talk though, I don’t want to keep the priests waiting.”
“Yes sir.” His brief response was followed by a hasty retreat into the room where he would get his equipment back on and inform Hargon of the situation.
In turn, I went to the other rooms and called upon the rest of our company to decide who would take the second spot. They took to flipping coins in a brief tournament of sorts until eventually Velian was declared ‘winner.’ He wasn’t exactly happy with his prize, that being, following me around on diplomatic missions instead of staying warm in the room, but he didn’t complain as it was a fair decision.
It was time to go now, and I mentally prepared myself to deal with the bullshit that was undoubtedly in my future. Upon entering the main lobby my attention was immediately drawn to the two individuals standing in it. These two were wearing very simple looking dark grey robes. The material was thick, probably due to the local environment, but there was barely even a sash to hold everything in place. These people took minimalism very seriously.
They noticed us shortly after our entrance and the look on their faces when they saw me was like they just had a revelation. Considering my relation to their deity of worship, it probably was something akin to a revelation going on in their minds. One of them was a satyr and the other was an Ulgor, though one of a slightly skinnier body type than most of the Ulgor that I had seen in the past. Naturally, the first thing they did was fall to their knees, draw a circle in the air, and assume their prayer position with hands outstretched.
“Great champion of the Mother, her will made manifest, we humble servants stand in awe of you and your achievements. With humility we extend to you an invitation from the bishop of our church who would like to discuss matters of importance involving your coming role in the resurgence of faith.” It was the satyr that opened the conversation.
That was... A lot to take in all at once. I slowly took in a long breath before letting it out just as smoothly. Now that I had centered myself at least a little bit, I felt confident enough to provide a diplomatically sound answer.
“Well, despite the suddenness of the invitation, I am willing to hear what the bishop has to say. I take you will be leading us to him?”
“It would be our absolute honor to guide you to the bishop and show you the church grounds. If anything meets with your displeasure or the displeasure of the Mother, please voice it and we will immediately seek to correct the mistake.”
The power these people just freely give me... I sighed in my head before continuing. “Lead the way then. We’ll be right behind you.”
“Yes, great champion!” The reply was practically fanatical as both of them immediately got up, spun on their heels, and marched towards the exit. Holdrem, Velian and I followed along as the door to the building was opened.
We immediately got hit with the temperature difference as a cold blast of air came rushing in. It was enough to make me shiver before my body adjusted again. The people out on the boulevard were largely the same as they were when I was out here fifteen minutes ago. Still rich, still looking curiously at me when I passed by.
My focus wasn’t on them though, but rather the large imposing building with the statues of the gods looming over any who dared approach. Subtly, I leaned over towards Holdrem and whispered to him.
“Any idea what I can expect once I'm in there?”
“Honestly, I don’t have any personal experience dealing with bishops of the faith. I’ve seen a few from time to time. They usually visit the larger churches to give a few sermons while completing other tasks of necessity for their position. Few ever get the opportunity to speak on an individual basis with a bishop in a capacity more than receiving orders from one.”
“What about the head of the church? Do they have a centralized leadership in the form of a single person, or multiple?”
“Singular. And that person holds the title of Blessed Child. I’ve not kept up with many details of the current Blessed Child as I have been preoccupied with fighting in the war. All I know is that they are female and if you are currently meeting with a bishop instead of her, then it is likely she is not in the city at the moment.”
Okay, not sure if that’s a good or bad thing. On one hand I may be able to get more done around here by dealing with the lesser forces at work, but on the other, there was always the chance that the bureaucracy swallowed up any of my attempts to create some reasonable change. All part of the game that I had been thrust into, and that wasn’t even taking into account the chance that this Blessed Child person returns in the middle of my efforts and completely demolishes them.
Whatever the case, this was going to be a headache to try and navigate. There’s a lot to be said about an outside perspective like my own, but few people look at it from the position of said outsider. At times it felt like I was the only sane person on this whole damn planet what with everyone trying to kill each other. Here’s hoping that at least a shred of sanity could be found in this church. Hehehe... yeah, like that would fucking happen.