Gray had tried his best to clean up. The Church of Light valued cleanliness above all else, akining it to being close to the Goddess, and would never take him seriously if he was filthy.

Per the rules of his pilgrimage, he couldn’t heal himself for trivial things like a sunburn, so he did his best to scrub off all the dead skin, leaving fresh pink skin behind. His clothes had to be washed four times to get all of the grime out, and he was up for the majority of the night trying to clean them up. Even so, he looked better now that he was staring at himself in the reflection of the basin in his room. His skin was still tinged pink, and his script embroidery of his oaths in his native tongue around the curve of the hem of his arms and neck was frayed, but he didn’t really have time to fix it. Instead, he pulled on the cloak that wrapped easily around his shoulders and sat there to cover it up, making sure his amulet that marked him as a Sojourner was hidden under his clothing. They tended to take offense to that sort of thing.

“Alright,” he said into his reflection and studied his crooked, prominent nose. “I will mediate. I will be calm and gracious. I will come to an agreement between both parties. And if they are unreasonable, I will be understanding and kind.”

Oh, he didn’t get heated about many things. He truly did not. Gray liked to think of himself as a kind, understanding, patient person. That was all a part of his training. All faiths are based in truth. But, there was another part of his training. Compassion is more important than truth. This was also a fact. Even if their faith was ‘truth’, that didn’t mean their tactics were compassionate and empathetic, and that was a cardinal sin in the eyes of the Librarians.

But, children were on the line, and it was the children that would be caught in the fallout if he failed in negotiations.

There was a knock on the door, and Gray looked up with a practiced smile.

“It’s open!” he called and the door swung open to reveal Alfie.

“Ah, you cleaned up,” Alfie said, who was still covered in sand and looked a bit dirty. Oh, that wouldn’t go over well with the church. “You look better!”

“Thank you,” Gray said and pulled on his backpack under the cloak. “Shall we go?”

“Yes,” Alfie agreed and stood back from the door to let Gray slip out. “So, I have a question.”

“I love answering questions!” Gray said happily, and Alfie frowned.

“You said you don’t believe in forcing religion on other people, but you travel everywhere with your religion?”

“Yes,” Gray confirmed happily. “But we don’t prioritize conversion. Librarians are raised from a young age in a Library. We don’t like to share our faith with those outside, though we welcome people that are questioning, and accept help and assistance from people that agree with us.”

“So, why do you travel then?” Alfie asked as they walked down the stairs.

“Well, we can’t spend our whole lives in four walls, though many choose to do so,” Gray replied with a half-shrug. “While we spread our knowledge and stories, we believe it’s important to make sure people know it’s a choice, not a requirement. So, I suppose that could be spreading our religion, though if we’re unwelcome, we tend to leave immediately, as it goes against our faith to pressure those that don’t wish to learn.”

“I heard Wanderers all specialize in different… learnings? Or something?” Alfie asked and Gray nodded several times.

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“Yes! My best friend and creche mate, Teal, specializes in mathematics! She’s much smarter than me. I only specialize in poetry.”

“So, how do you make money off that?” Alfie asked, and Gray blinked at him.

“I am granted stipends from Libraries when I reach them. When I can’t make it all the way to one before I run out of money, I do performances as a bard, or accept education appointments in villages where they want their children to be able to read and write.”

“So, you know how to teach letters?” Alfie asked in awe, and Gray nodded several times.

“I do! I love teaching it to children. I typically only accept donations and don’t set a rate for my services, as that goes against our ideals of free education. I even carry storybooks with my poetry books to teach them better! It’s all very exciting when I get to teach.”

“Well, that’s real nice,” Alfie said as they exited the inn. “Now, this is very important t’me, so answer honestly.”

“Alright,” Gray agreed, and Alfie squinted at him.

“Do all of ye take vows against alcohol?”

Gray actually laughed at that, bright and loud, and shook his head no.

“Most Sojourners do, but Librarians regularly don’t,” he explained. “Because Sojourners are often attacked on the road, so it just makes sense to never be inebriated. It’s a safety precaution more than anything. Did it offend you?”

“No, not at all! We got quite a few of them sober folk around here,” Alfie said with a bold laugh as they set off down the dusty dirt road. “I don’t really get it, but if it makes ‘em happy and not act like fools like they used to, so be it, then!”

“Well, everyone has their own reasons!” Gray said happily and then tilted his head. “Though, the whole idea your brother had of us naming ourselves after colors wasn’t quite right. Whichever Sojourner came here before must have been a part of my order, the Order Of Rain. We specialize in divine weather magic and name ourselves after colors with respect to the rainbow.”

“Well, gray isn’t a color of the rainbow,” Alfie said, and Gray decided it would be condescending to point out that they couldn’t all share seven names when there were close to fifty of them.

“No, but it’s the color of overcast skies,” he said and looked up at the cloudy sky that was most certainly not his doing. A slight smile hit his lips. “I think it’s more beautiful than the blue we look at every day. I like a change in pace.”

“Well,” Alfie said and followed his gaze up. “That’s true, I suppose.”

“Mm,” Gray agreed as they reached the outskirts of the small town. It was still early morning, and a trail of men were on their way up to the mountain with pickaxes and shovels slung over their shoulders, brightly colored cloths wrapped around their lunches. There was a sort of serenity in the quiet as the men murmured to each other, and then one called out to them.

“Oy, Alfie! Skipping out today?” one called with a jovial wave, and Alfie waved back.

“Coming along later!” he shouted. “Showing the Wanderer here the way to the church!”

The energy in the air instantly shifted as piercing eyes laid into Gray’s back, and there was a pause in the work procession as they all considered confronting him. Gray just smiled and waved at them. It was only natural that they be nervous about the whole ordeal. After all, it was their children on the line here, and here they were, making their treacherous march to work while their children were being held at the church.

“How long has the church been here?” Gray asked quietly, and Alfie frowned.

“Bout two years or so. It started slow with the orphans, and once we realized what was goin’ on, we really felt like there was nothin’ t’do on account of things being so… normal with them all over the place,” he explained, and Gray nodded.

That was par for the course. A sense of complacency, and then confusion, and then no one knew what to do because everything had been fine up until that point. There had probably been some officials from the government in town, too, visiting the church, because they had connections with basically every country on this continent. That probably scared the miners, too. They could handle some random church with no name and no connection. This was different, though. But, it wouldn’t take long before confusion turned to anger, and judging from the way they were willing to ask a complete stranger for help, it was probably at the tipping point.

He hoped he could resolve this before violence happened.