The pause at the stream was a welcomed rest for all of them. Verne yanked off his shoes and sank his feet into the cool water, groaning in relief. “I didn’t think ground could be different levels of hardness…but I’d take the forest path over this trek any day.”

“Even risking cockatrice attacks?”

“Even then.” Verne slumped onto his back. Judd, Verne and Caste did the same as Verne, cooling their feet in the water.

“And suddenly I’m back on the docks of Astaril,” Judd closed his eyes, “a rod in my hand, seagulls calling to each other…”

“I thought you hated fish.”

“I never put any bait on my hook.” Judd confessed. “I just wanted to sit in the sun. Then one of my brothers would dare me to swim to the outer buoy and we’d abandon our rods and dive into the water…”

Caste shuddered. Verne opened one eye and looked at him. “What?”

“Bacteria.”

Verne snorted. Judd looked over his shoulder. “Aalis, you’ve got to try this. It’s so good.”

“No, thank you.” Aalis stammered, her toes curling in her shoes. She was thinking about her darkening toenails.

Judd sighed. “Sorry, that’s modesty thing, isn’t it?” He said, misinterpreting her reluctance.

“I suppose girls on the docks of Astaril are not so encumbered with notions of modesty?” Giordi asked.

“Don’t say yes. Look at the gleam in his eyes!” Caste muttered.

“Actually, I always thought how unfair it was. Men seem to be less bound in many ways than women. I mean, just look at clothing! Corsets, stockings, heels, bodices, long skirts, long sleeves, low neckline yet woe betide showing off ankle or wrist…” Giordi shook his head. “You don’t wear a corset, do you, Aalis?”

She gave a horrified gasp, her arms clutching her body. “What an impertinent thing to say?!”

“Gavoli!”

“Yes father!” Giordi chuckled at Judd’s authoritative use of his last name. “I’m not asking for my own titillation…”

“Could have fooled me.” Said the cleric.

“…I just wanted to make a point. Even women in villages are expected to wear corsets and under things. Only women like Aalis who live without the constraints of society are free to be without such trappings. And as for being a queen or female nobility…” Giordi snorted. “Do you know how many layers a noblewoman must wear to be considered ‘modestly dressed’?”

“I suppose you know from personal experience?” Verne asked dryly.

“Very personal,” Giordi chuckled, “but, as reluctant as I am to leave this example of men verses women, it is the same with education. I mean, are there any female clerics?”

Caste snorted and they all turned to him. “What?”

“I take it that’s a no?” Verne asked again, his tone reaching new levels of dryness.

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“Of course not.”

“Why not?”

“Because…women are unsuitable for education.”

Aalis put her hands on her hips. “Which part of us makes us unsuitable?”

“Uh…” Verne jerked his head at her and she gulped and put her hands down, her face reddening as she realised what she’d asked.

“I meant their minds.” Caste argued. “Men’s minds are more attuned to the nature of education. We are dispassionate, regimented and focussed. Women are notoriously emotional and empathetic and easily distracted.” Verne laughed outright. “It is a proven fact, a documented difference between the sexes!”

“And who proved this documented fact? Who wrote the rules for the sexes?” Giordi asked.

“Well…the Order of the Grail is responsible for over ninety percent of the doctrine taught in Astaril…”

“Which is made up entirely of…men?” Caste nodded to Giordi’s question.

“You don’t…ugh…you do not think that this makes your findings a little biased?” Judd asked.

“I didn’t write it.”

“But you do believe it.”

“You’re making it out to be a faith step belief, like whether or not the Second Coming is a physical manifestation of the knights of old or a metaphor. This isn’t open for debate. It’s a closed theology on the difference between men and women, assembled by the Order of the Grail and approved by King…Etchelon I think…”

“Then I’m confused.” Giordi put down his bread and cheese. “The Order of the Grail…it’s based upon the Sorceress Grail…so why aren’t women allowed to be clerics?”

“It’s not that they’re not ‘allowed’,” Caste did his finger motion as he mocked Giordi’s words, “but no woman has ever applied.”

“I bet not a single woman in all of Terra knows that they could ‘apply’.” Giordi motioned back. “A restriction conveniently put in place by simply not advertising the opportunity.”

“It does seem a little hypocritical that the Order of the Grail, started by the Sorceress Grail, has no female clerics.” Judd agreed.

“That’s because you are all under the misinformation of how the Order came about.” Caste sat up.

“Oh Maul…” Verne closed his eyes.

“Here comes the lecture.”

“After the king and knight, Andigre, left the newly formed kingdom of Astaril because he believed he could end the threat of Maul, Grail, sorceress and queen, taught her son, the crown prince, Inigre, her knowledge, the history and tales, the deeds of the knights…all of it. It was Prince Inigre who established the Order of the Grail in order to preserve and pass on this information so that our history would never be forgotten. He named it after his mother.”

“But it was still based on Grail’s knowledge.”

“Yes but she gave it to her son.”

“That’s just because he was there.” Judd said, taking his feet out of the water and kicking the droplets off. “If Andigre and Grail had had a daughter, only women might have been allowed to become clerics and men would have been seen as the lower gender and in service to their queens, princesses, wives, sisters...”

“That’s preposterous!”

“Pity…” Giordi laughed, picking up his pack.

They camped a little earlier than usual that night because they found a defensible position near a stream. In such open country and after the warnings of the shepherds, Clai and Rai Borre, Judd and his party were aware that danger was without restraint in the absence of walls. It was even clearer that they had made a good choice by the presence of an old campfire and a pile of wood left from the previous campers.

Giordi flung himself onto the ground, groaning with his usual dramatic flare and his habit of, once down, not back up again until the next morning. He was kicked from the side and looked up, Verne standing over him.

“Come on.”

“What?”

“You agreed to learn how to use a bow.”

“Now?”

Verne folded his arms, his blue eyes as unamused as a stormy sky. “Light’s fading and it’s kind of hard to hit things in the dark, regardless of how full the moon is becoming.”

Giordi groaned and dragged himself back to his feet, following Verne to where some trees stood a short distance away.

“How long before you think Giordi comes back after Verne breaks a bow over his head?” Aalis laughed at Judd’s remark which conjured an amusing image in her head as she unpacked her cooking pot. Judd put his hand out and stopped her. “Oh no, not tonight.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m cooking tonight.”

Aalis smiled at him. “Judd, you do not have to prove you are a gentleman.”

“Thank you but…ahem, however, that is not what I am doing. You need to study.”

“Study?” Judd nodded then pointed to where Caste was seated.

“Before you have to peer at the words by firelight.”

“Are you sure?” He nodded again then shoed Aalis towards Caste. Then he paused and looked towards the stream. He sighed and marched off in its direction, carrying the pot.