After trying every trick in the book I could think of short of putting all three of Gat's barrels under the chin of my pink robed guide, I had to admit, the son of bitch had salt.

After he had agreed to take me to the Pontificate, he hadn't so much as looked at me. Even when I had grabbed him by the shoulder and spun him around, he had clamped his eyes shut and repeated the same phrase over and over until I let him go. I shall not be tempted for temptation is partaking.

I'd left well enough alone after that. The strange man had looked like his heart was gonna give out. I needed it to keep beating until he got me to wherever he must be from. So, I’d let him be, making peace with being led blindly through the dusty desert.

Just as the pink moon began to flatten against the dusty horizon at my back, The Beast's roar echoed across the land and pushed my guide's pace to a quickening jog. We'd been moving towards one of the rock formations that jutted out of the cracked soil my boots were caked in. Once we reached the base of the towering mass, my guide turned and made his way around the rock, his long poled lantern swinging behind him.

I followed behind, searching the flat land for any signs of The Beast.

"Remember the cliff." Gat whispered into my mind.

"Why are you whispering? He can't hear you." I whispered back.

"Remember your sisters. Don’t go chasing hats off of any cliffs." Gat said, still whispering.

"Sakes alive, my hat's on my head and the ground is flat as could be, this isn't the same at all."

Gat sighed. In the decades that the talking gun had been my partner, him sighing had become the sign that he was done talking for the time being. I didn't press. If I wound up needing him later, I didn't want him to be out of sorts with me.

My guide and I reached the right side of the big rock.

A crystalline growl that sounded much closer than the bestial roars had before filled the night air. The lantern atop my guide's pole swung wildly as he spun on his heels towards me, painting sharp shadows across his scared face.

"The Beast has found us!" He whispered harshly, throwing his back against the rock beside us.

Turning my own back to the rock, as it was a damn smart thing to do, I scanned the flat land around me and my hand slowly found its way to Gat's grip.

Appearing out of the dusty air, a ghostly blue light streaked across the ground towards me. I did not draw my aura nor my familiar, but my finger and my mind rested close on both triggers. Lithe and nimble, the shape of a large feline made entirely of the ghostly blue light approached with a quickness. Every impression its paws left in the dirt glowed with its shimmering motes. It slowed just outside a comfortable shooting distance and changed. It left the ground looking like an ethereal panther and landed on the two feet of a fiercely beautiful woman.

"I shall not be tempted for temptation is partaking. I shall not be tempted for temptation is partaking," The pink robed man broke into his strange mantra, the pitch of his voice climbing higher and higher with every repetition. By the time the woman had reached me, my guide was full on shrieking. "I shall not be tempted for temptation is partaking."

"Sakes alive, you're a spirit aren't you?" I said, relaxing my posture without removing my hand from my familiar.

The spirit woman did not speak, only giving me a nod in answer. She was thin, like a dancer not a pauper, and moved with a lethal grace that told me I would have an easier time trying to choke water than I would if it came to blows between us. She extended a claw tipped hand towards me and slowly crept closer.

"Do not allow it to touch you stranger! The Beast will fill your heart with sin!" My guide shrieked.

The spirit woman bared her teeth and shot a violent glance towards the hysterical man.

"The Beast might, but she ain't it." I said, ignoring the pink robed man's pleas and gently taking the spirit's hand.

Short visions flashed through my mind in a short burst. The pink moon a thin crescent, barely casting enough light for anything to be seen. A small campfire burnt down to coals and smoke. A man, wearing the same pink robes as my guide, laid on his side by the fire. A splotch of dark red stained his clothes. The spirit in her woman form stepped into the small radius of fire light and approached the man. The pain of his wound outweighed the fear he felt at the arrival of the spirit. Somehow, without speaking, the spirit conveyed her desire to help the man. Despite his reluctance, he disrobed to his waist and exposed his wounded flank to the spirit. She knelt down and bit the man on his wound, her ghostly eyes locked onto his. She had not hurt him. His head sagged back in relief and the spirit withdrew, leaving his wound healed. The man collapsed back to the ground in a stupor and the spirit woman vanished back into the dark night.

I broke my contact with the spirit, dropping my hands on my knees to keep my balance. Seeing the visions and memories of someone else had nearly put me on my ass. When I looked back up at her, the spirit woman still held her hand to me and nodded towards it.

She wanted to show me more.

"What do you think?" I asked Gat.

My familiar didn’t respond.

Feeling like I already had one foot of a cliff, I took the spirit's hand again.

The pink moon had waxed half full. The same man from before, unwounded and robes bloodless, sat around a new fire in the same spot he had met the spirit before. A large cloth sack, drawstrings synched shut sat in the dust beside him. He waited for the spirit to return. She’d watched him from the moment his flint had caught the scraps of dry brush he had collected. When she was certain that the man meant her no harm, she showed herself on the far side of the fire from him. She did not expect him to be as happy as he was. The man smiled and clapped his hands in joy at the sight of her. She was not used to being received in that manner and it had made her smile. In his excitement, the man had almost forgotten the sack. He held up a finger for her to wait and opened his bag. He had brought her gifts. She could tell by his movement that the things he had brought had come to him through great personal risk and were not common trinkets even if they held no value for her. One by one, the man presented them. A golden statue of some fat man atop a throne, glass bottles of dark water that she could smell through the cork, and finally a set of robes, just like the clothes he wore. One by one, she shook her head but she smiled throughout. The man had dropped his head in defeat but the spirit wished him to understand. She crept over to him and knelt down, offering the man her hand. Slowly, he took it and she showed him that she was grateful. She showed him that though she had no need for his gifts, the man had made her happy and that it had not been often in her second life that someone had shown her gratitude. Any trace of fear the man held washed away in her ghostly light and she felt the calm that spread in his heart from her touch. Then, they were together, falling into one another in a way that the spirit didn't know was possible for someone like her to do.

The spirit pulled her hand away from me.

I hadn't realized I had sat down. The light of the new day had begun to shine across the dry ground and I could already feel the temperature rising. The Beast roared from somewhere in the distance and the spirit turned her face to that direction. A pale blue tear rolled down her cheek. She withdrew from me then, turning on her heels and dropping back into the feline shape in one seamless movement. Before I could climb back up to my feet, she vanished into the night's last remaining darkness.

My own man in pearl pink robes was already moving.

I scrambled to my feet to follow. "Did you get any of that?"

"Fortunately for both of us, I do not see through your eyes." Gat answered.

I gave him a short hand explanation of what had just happened to me as I caught up to my guide.

Not long after, we rounded to the other side of the rock formation and came to a tight group of identical buildings. Each was square and painted the same pearl pink as my guide's robes. Placed around a much larger structure that was also square, they formed a little town, barely large enough for me to call it that. Other than the tracks left in the dusty ground by my guide, there was no sign of life.

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The steadily brightening day was already hot enough that I’d become slick with sweat. As we reached the buildings, I pulled off my duster and threw it over my shoulder. My black undershirt had a high collar and long sleeves. I’d sweat to death before my skin burned.

My guide stopped in front of the buildings, his back still turned towards me. He dipped his lantern down in front of him and snuffed out the flame with his finger tips. Without turning to face me, he spoke. "You will wait here. They will prepare you to meet the Pontificate."

"Hold on there, slick. I don't even know where I am," I said, walking right up behind him. I didn't go around and try and look him in the eyes sending him back into his repetitive hysterics would do me no good. "What do I need to be prepared for?"

"By Nueter’s edicts, I have done all I am required to do," The man in the pearl pink robes said "They will prepare you to meet the Pontificate."

Before I could get another word out, my guide no longer scurried away from me and entered the large building in the middle of the open square. The sun had risen high enough that its already scorching light revealed to me what I should have noticed before.

The large building, fronted by wide steps that ran its width and led up to two wooden doors, looked like it had been attacked by a pack of dogs the size of horses. Jagged claw marks and chunks of the stone steps marred the structure and tore through the ground around it.

“You see that?”

“Indeed.” Gat answered.

“The Beast, I’d guess.”

Gat sighed. “If you get yourself killed, make sure to not leave me in the light. It gets hot in here.”

Three women stepped out from behind the building and hurried towards me, each wearing the pearl pink robes that my guide had, but with veils obscuring their faces.

In my years, I’d learned it was a mistake to trust someone when you couldn’t see their eyes.

The women reached me. One of them spoke, but I couldn't tell who due to the veils. “We will escort you to the bathing house and you will be prepared to meet the pontificate.”

“I don’t think so, slick. If he is half as holy as you folks make him out to be, he won’t mind speaking with a tired woman who is caked in a little dirt.” I answered, hand on my hip.

“Your shame must be covered in the robes,” The one on the left insisted, showing me the robes held in her arms. “You must be clean to cover your shame with the robes.”

I was hot and I was tired. I’d been shifted, who knows how far, away from my sisters and my patience for dealing with the pearl pink prudes had come up short. Guessing what would happen from the way my guide had conducted himself, I kicked off my boots and started to strip. “Give them here, I’ll put them on but I’m not going anywhere until I get some damned answers.”

A shrill shriek came from the three women. The one with the robes threw them to the dusty ground at my feet before all of them turned their backs to me. “Avert your eyes.”

Standing right out there in the middle of the desert, I stripped bare. When I wore nothing but my hair, I decided that I hadn’t lost my patience with the strange folks, I just flat out didn’t like them.

“I’m done.” I called out to the three women, lying through my teeth.

They turned and caught sight of all Willa Hollilock had to offer.

"She's naked!" One yelled in disgust.

"Oh, Neuter! Forgive us! " The second begged.

"Hang her!" The third gasped. All of them dropped to their hands and knees, pressing their veils to the dusty ground.

Laughing at my own joke while I actually pulled the heavy robes over my shame, I talked to them. “You all might be the most repressed folks in all of chaos. Why hang me for giving you a show? You should be paying me for it,” pulling my boots back on under the ridiculous amount of hems around my ankles, I whispered to Gat. “You think this Neuter thing is really a God?”

"I have met far more people that have claimed they were a God than I have met Gods." Gat answered, his voice muffled.

"I can't disagree with that," I said, shrugging. "Do you think they can actually help me get to Merrowcrest?"

My familiar fell quiet again.

My shame properly covered, I called the prone women. “I’m done. Honest.”

They didn’t rise.

“I’m not fooling with you. The only thing you can see is my face” I insisted.

“Lower your veil!”

I did, shaking my head. “Sakes alive, I’m blind now.” Which wasn’t true, the veil was made of some kind of mesh that let me see most of what was in front of me. The three women slowly stood, watching me like I was a snake coiled to strike them.

"We will collect your clothes and burn them, to free you of their temptation." The one who had called for me to be hung said.

"If you burn my clothes I'll run you down and kiss you." I answered, giving one of the more unique threats I had ever spoken.

The threat succeeded-fear filled the woman’s voice. "We shall not touch them."

The two wooden doors that fronted the large building swung open and a person walked down the steps and towards the edge of town where I stood. The robes they wore were not pearl pink like the ones I wore and everyone else's I’d met in the damn desert. Stark white with a large pearlescent circle inlaid into the fabric over their chest, the only touch of pink was the hooded veil that concealed their face.

“The pontificate, I’d guess.” I said to Gat.

The three women noticed the pontificate’s approach and bowed in his direction before moving single file into one of the surrounding buildings.

The pontificate stopped right where the women had stood and waved. "Hello, stranger. We have not had a visitor in our little hamlet in quite some time. I hope the heat has not been too much for you."

“Damn thing,” I cursed, pulling the veil up from my face. “Hi.”

The pontificate returned the gesture.

I recognized him and I knew as soon as I met his eyes for the first time with my own that I flat out didn’t like him. The last time I had seen the Pontificate had been through a vision shown to me by the touch of the desert spirit. His cloth framed face wore a pleasant smile but reminded me altogether too much of someone that I had left in an alleyway moments before he had split himself in half.

The pontificate was a rat, no different than Fritz had been despite the robes and unhunched back.

"I know why you are here and I know what you seek." The Pontificate said in an even tone waving his hands as he spoke.

Anytime I had ever met a religious leader, and I had met more than most, they always spoke with the same tone.

"Did the fella that brought me here tell you?" I guessed.

Even though his expression didn't change, I could see in his eyes that he didn't like the way I had said what I said.

He couldn't keep his eyes on mine for very long. Every few seconds he would shift them to my nose or my lips just long enough for whatever was keeping him from looking at me square to recede.

"Ah, yes, he did. He told me other things, but I do not think they are relevant at this moment. You wish to leave our land and I wish the same," The Pontificate said, looking away from me and out over the desert. "It is unfortunate you have come on the eve of our most sacred day."

I hadn't noticed anything sacred about anything in that damn place. "Why is that unfortunate?"

"The pearl moon shall rise in full tomorrow evening and we must prove our devotion to Neuter. While I appreciate you participating in our customs for our meeting,” He looked me up and down, disapproval evident behind his pleasant smile. “We can not have you here when we make our devotion."

"Alright then, tell me how to get to Merrowcrest and I’ll be on my way." I said, wondering why the spirit had shown me her visions of the man.

"I apologize for my lack of hospitality. With The Beast about, I can not afford my people's efforts to be soiled by an outsider." The man said and then continued with his hands raising to his sides. "That leaves you two options. You may leave the way you came and try to find help elsewhere or you can undertake the Trial of the Temptress and try to find an audience with his desirelessness."

"Trial?" I asked.

"You must wait until nightfall and cross through The Gap. There, your resolve will be tested by the Temptress. If your heart is full of desire, she will consume you. If your heart is true, Neuter's resting place is just beyond that."

I didn't like the idea of wandering back into the desert with no idea what direction I should head in. At least the other choice had a goal. The Pontificate watched me as long as he thought I wasn't looking at him. Taking my time as if I couldn't decide what to do, I tried to figure out what the spirit had been trying to tell me. Her and the holy rat man had been together. The Beast seemed to not like the square little town.

"Chasing hats,” I finally answered. All I needed to worry about was getting to my sisters. “I'll take the Trial."

Again, his pleasant expression remained the same, but the look of contentment in his eyes left me feeling like I had missed something along the way. It’s never good when a rat is happy.

"And so you have chosen," The Pontificate said, turning away from me. “You will have to wait outside of town, of course, but I will have food and water brought to you.”

I agreed. I didn’t wanna go into the damn town anyway, I didn’t wanna catch whatever strange virus had turned all the pink little people into prudes.

Finding a patch of shade off the back of one of the buildings, I stowed my clothes on the lip of a window sill and sat down with my back against the wall. A woman came eventually, featureless in her pink robes, and served me room temperature water and some kind of goop made of boiled grain that was entirely flavorless. I passed the rest of the day catching up on my much needed sleep.

I’d slept in worse places, but I’d never had food that bad.

Once the sun had set, I was led to the edge of the square town and sent out into the night to undertake the Trial of the Temptress and come face to face with a "God".