It was late in the evening when I left the temple and walked across the main square, making my way home. We had spent hours going over the things currently on everyone’s minds, we left one more time to talk to Fae, and finally, Miles, Riala, and I sat down to study. I was spent, and I couldn’t wait to crawl into bed. However, I decided to endure another half hour to go home, so Aelene wouldn’t have to be all alone. She seemed better this morning, but I still felt bad for her, especially because we were at least partially at fault for her current situation.

Meanwhile, right before I left, Miles had gotten ready to work on the things he hadn’t had time for in the afternoon, and he would probably work through the night. Even though I was almost always with him, he was still taking care of most things, from talking to department heads, to managing personnel and resources, to announcements, to planning future strategies, and so on. He really made full use of never having to sleep, with the longest breaks apparently being dedicated to spending time with Berla.

Even from my point of view, as someone close to the action, ruling Alarna seemed relatively simple so far, but I knew that this wouldn’t work at all without him. He was essentially doing the job of two people, king and High Priest, plus the ones of those still in prison that we hadn’t found suitable replacements for. Neither of these jobs was simple, no matter what he claimed. Add to that all the issues we had and nobody would be surprised anymore about his rant earlier in the day. He could keep going for a while, even if things weren’t going smoothly, but at some point, he had to vent a little.

All in all, I was optimistic about our progress though. Granted, Arax was a problem, but as I looked around and saw all the people who were still out and about at this time of day, I couldn’t help but feel happy. It was past curfew, but we had done away with that, because it wasn’t necessary anymore, and people gratefully accepted this change. There were even merchants and bars who decided to change their hours, to take advantage of customers who took a stroll through town after work.

I greeted and waved at a few people on my way down the main street and the winding side-street, until my house finally came into view. As it did however, I stopped for a moment when I saw the light inside. I hadn’t returned home to someone since mom died, and even though I knew that it was just Aelene, it still gave me pause.

Eventually, I entered through the front door and saw her sitting at the kitchen table, absorbed in a book, with a pile of three more sitting on the table.

“Hi,” I said as I got closer, and she briefly winced in surprise, apparently not having heard me before.

“Wah! ... Huf... Hello.”

“Sorry,” I said, giggling lightly.

“It’s okay, I tend to forget everything around me while reading.”

After grabbing a cup and filling it with water, I sat down opposite of her at the table.

“I know the feeling. How are you?” I asked.

“I’m okay. I didn’t think much about anything the whole day after all,” she said with a sad smile, looking at the books.

“Did you finish all of those?” I asked in surprise. The books weren’t particularly thick, but finishing more than maybe two would still be impressive.

“Not quite, this is the third one,” she said, pointing at the one in front of her. “‘The History of Alarna’... It’s pretty interesting, the story is slightly different from the books at the temple.”

“Oh? How so?”

“Well, this one focuses more on the Rulers, and what they did right, while the books I’ve read before talk more about the gods, the priests, and the mistakes that were made over the years. ”

“I guess that makes sense.”

“Yes, maybe... but there are also actual differences. The temple books say that no Worshipper has ever become Mad for example, but this book does mention one. I wonder which is true...”

At first glance it seemed weird that there were different stories that contradicted each other, but I had grown up in this town, and I knew how rare it was to see a priest outside the temple. Now that I had spent a few days in close proximity to them, I realized even more that they mostly lived their lives secluded from the general public. They had their own books, focused on the gods and their beliefs, and they were written from the point of view of the temple. In this particular case, both versions could potentially be true though. For the temple, it would be good if there hadn’t been a Mad Worshipper, while the opposite would be true for the Rulers.

“Hm. Hard to say. Does it matter though?”

“Well, I’d like to know the true story. Besides... I always trusted the temple books, and I based my own decisions on them... If they’re wrong... then... I... Ehem,” she said, clearing her throat. “Sorry, that doesn’t have anything to do with you.”

“I don’t mind listening if you’d like to talk about it. I know that it’s been difficult for Lilana too. A lot of things she believed turned out to be false... And it feels like there’s more and more by the day...”

“Right... you guys probably know more than I do in this regard. Actually, I’d like to ask you something if you don’t mind.”

“Sure.”

“I’ve been thinking about Lilly, and how different she is. I don’t understand why though. It would make sense if she had received an actual Calling, but... she didn’t, did she? Isn’t she like you?”

I wasn’t sure how to respond to this question. She had hit the nail on the head, which was not a big surprise, given how much she knew. Explaining Lilly would require explaining Miles, however, which I couldn’t do.

“Sorry, I can’t give you an answer.”

“Hm, okay. I expected that,” she said, a little disappointed. “Maybe one day. How about this... where can I get more of these books?”

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“Ah, at the library north of here,” I said with a chuckle. “It’s about five minutes up the main street, and then down a side street eastwards. I guess you would need more material soon if you’re always reading this fast.”

I had a few more books, but at this rate they would last her only another day or two.

“Hehe, yes, that’s always been a problem. I read every book at the Raising Site at least twice before I even had my Calling. And there aren’t all that many books I don’t know at the temple library anymore either. Honestly... today was really nice. Just leaning back and reading from dusk till dawn... I haven’t been able to do that for a while.”

“Now that you mention it... me neither,” I said.

“Though this can’t last forever either...”

Her biggest worry right now was what to do next. One of the laws that was still in effect right now was that everybody needed to have a job, and while we could give her a few days to recover from everything, she would technically need to do something again soon. She couldn’t picture herself going back to the temple, as a Worshipper, but she probably thought that she didn’t have much of a choice. This had also been part of our discussions during the afternoon though.

“Lilly actually had an idea about a job for you,” I said.

“Really?”

“Yeah. We’re thinking about establishing a school outside of the temple, which would teach more general subjects.”

“You mean in addition to reading, writing, math, and the gods?”

“That’s right. She figured that would be a good fit, with your background as a teacher.”

“She did...? Huh.”

“And until then you could teach Riala and Hati alone.”

“Right, Riala is at that age, she—... Wait. Did you just say Hati...?”

“Heh, yeah. He’s interested in books and wants to learn to read.”

“I’m supposed to teach a beast to read...?”

We talked for a while longer, and even though she was perplexed by the idea of teaching Hati, her response to this proposition was generally positive. She had primarily taught the history of Alarna and the gods at the temple, which was presumably why I hadn’t met her before, having not attended these classes. However, she had also dabbled in teaching reading and writing, and she was very clearly well read.

To me, it seemed like she would be a perfect candidate for a teacher position at the new school that Miles wanted to establish in the future. This was not only to decouple the service from the temple, but also in preparation for teaching broader and more advanced topics, for people who wanted to learn something before or in place of getting a Calling. And since we also had plans to make people’s lives easier in general, the children of Alarna would hopefully have a lot more time at their disposal in the near future, which they could then spend at the school.

Aelene and I lost ourselves in discussions about the future and idle smalltalk, and it wasn’t until an hour later that I would finally crawl into bed. It was later than usual, and I was practically guaranteed to oversleep... but since Miles was at the temple, nobody would wake me up at four in the morning. With this in mind, and a grin on my face, I closed my eyes.

***

A young woman entered a dark room, which was only illuminated by a couple of candles. It was carg, without windows or decoration, and the only furniture was a simple mattress on the floor, a desk with a chair, and, curiously, a pile of stones in a corner, some a light color, some dark. A man sat at the desk, working, though he stopped when the young woman addressed him accusingly from behind.

“Hey, Ten. Did you send someone to rile up the guards yesterday?”

“Huh? What are you talking about, Ari?”

“I talked to our contacts about what happened at the southern gate. Apparently ‘the boss’ arranged for the guards to gather there and oppose Lilly.”

“Eh? Nonsense. Openly opposing her won’t work. What exactly happened?”

Ari briefly summarized how a dozen guards had tried to lock Lilly and her followers out, including the beast that was apparently in town now. However, as one would expect, the guards quickly surrendered when Lilly stood right in front of them, and nothing more had come from it.

“... Who came up with that stupid plan?”

“Until a minute ago I thought you did. That you might’ve had a bad day.”

“Definitely not... That makes no sense, why would they...? And then they let her in...?”

“Grym gave the order to open the gate. He supposedly wanted to give Lilly the chance to reconsider bringing a beast inside.”

“Hm...”

Ten fell deep into thought. That entire plan had been extremely weak. Not only would the guards have to assume that a gate wouldn’t stop these people, the guards presumably wouldn’t stand a chance against them either. Whoever put them up to this must’ve been a complete idiot.

“Unless they never intended for it to work...” Ten mumbled.

“Huh?”

“Hm... I think we should have someone look into what Grym is up to.”

“You think it was him...?”

“That might at least make some sense. I’m not sure about it, but it can’t hurt to check.”

“Alright, that can be arranged. Shadi and the others have already sent their applications by the way. I’ve read them. If Lilly has a heart, she will accept their pleas.”

“Haha, nice. Let’s hope we get lucky. That would be the best case scenario.”

“You don’t feel the least bit guilty, do you?” Ari asked with a wry smile. “They only accepted it this easily because they adore you. Especially Shadi. Even though they have to get a Calling.”

“You know I’d prefer that it wasn’t necessary, but it is what it is. And of course I know about Shadi, I’m not blind. But as long as Wex doesn’t know, it’s fine.”

“Well, I’m certainly not going to crush his dreams.”

“Speaking of dreams... Did you hear anything about Cerus? If we don’t get a delivery this month, we’re going to be in trouble.”

“No, unfortunately not. And there haven’t been any preparations. It doesn’t seem like Lilly is planning to send people there any time soon.”

Ten leaned back with a worried expression. He had managed to amass a certain amount of influence and power in this town over the past three years, but that was largely thanks to his connections, and particularly the merchants he used to smuggle wares from Cerus to Alarna. Without these, people would be less inclined to help him, which would endanger his plans.

“Hm... What do you think?” he asked.

“You’re asking me? Gosh, already at the end of your rope?”

“Isn’t that obvious? Please help me, Ari!” he said sarcastically.

“Oh well, because you said please,” she said, playing along. “We can’t really do much, right? If nobody goes to Cerus, we don’t get anything. Maybe we could have the merchants ask Lilly what the plans are. I mean, they must be wondering anyway.”

“Yeah... Alright, let’s go with that,” Ten said, and swiftly turned around to make notes.

“Okay, I’ll get back to it, boss.”

“Oh, shut up...” Ten said, as Ari left the room with a giggle.