St Charles was an inner city church built early on in the last century with a semi Gothic look complete with a bell tower, stained glass windows, and a lot of hardwood pews.
The Gothic look and the windows are still there, but the pews have cushions on them now. As well as all sorts of fluffy cushions. "Ytteri doesn't see anything holy in suffering, and it's already a sacrifice to lessen to my sermons. I do tend to go on for a bit."
I've watched some recordings of them. She does, but her enthusiasm for the subjects she preaches comes through even in video.
The person in question is Sojourner, her title not first name, Jessica Stevens, High Priestess of Ytteri, goddess of travel, and protector of the outer reaches.
The elderly black woman who had spent centuries on an inside out world, as in with a sun in the middle and the world facing in on it from all sides, grinned at me from where we sat in her office which was filled with souvenirs and Tchotchkes from that world, Iak, and this one as well.
"It turns out she is just as glad to protect the outer reaches of other worlds as well, and she certainly loves it when she gets prayers from places even she hasn't been before. Getting away from her duties is pretty hard, so she appreciates the chance to see the places we go to as a disembodied presence, even more, when we offer up snacks and drinks as a sacrifice."
She dug out a chocolate from a sampler box, checked the inner lid, and said a prayer. "Your servant offers a dark chocolate coconut to her Goddess."
The treat seems to shake a bit before vanishing like a cutout picture being turned sideways.
The older woman grinned. “You don’t need an alter for your offering when you’re a Goddess of travel, one of the perks.”
The church had gone in decline back in the eighties due to a lack of attendance in the small high school they had in the building across the street, and the elementary school in the basement. The local community had organized to keep the place going as both a church and a local community center. But by the late twenty tens, it had been decommissioned and offered up for sale.
Several years later, Sojourner Stevens picked it up from the church for an undisclosed amount of gold coins, well before the government got around to regulating that sort of thing.
She also got in some extensive renovations before the Department of the Treasury put the hammer down on paying for things with off world gold, other precious metals, and gems.
Enchanted items, however, are still unregulated. Too hard to quantify in value. Which is also allowing an illegal trade in magical animal parts.
I know I'm off on a tangent here but bear with me for a second.
It doesn't matter how few unicorns there are on Earth. They aren't protected as endangered specials until someone makes it official. On the other hand, hunting them has been pretty hard on the poachers. The creatures have those horns for a reason.
And some people take offense when you kill one, people who can find those that did not weeks or even decades after that fact. And can deal with those people in a way that their bodies will never be found.
Be warned.
On the other hand, Chupacabra, or whatever those things are they are calling Chupacabra, feel free to blow them away. It's close to being official in Mexico and they've already crossed the border. Just don't try to eat one.
The author's narrative has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.
They’re not poisonous, there just isn’t enough hot sauce in the world to cover up how they taste.
Stevens wasn’t just content to return to her home of seventy three years just to see her friends and family again, she came back here for a purpose.
To spread the faith.
She shrugged after filling me in on that. “And to see, and brag to my friends. But the real reason I came back is that after wandering around Iak for three hundred years, I’ve seen most of it. At least the most interesting place, or interesting to me anyways.”
Looking up at the world map hung up on the wall, and covered with pink and yellow push pins, with more pink than yellow, she waved her hand up at it. "The yellow ones are the places I've gotten to travel to, the pink ones..." She turned back to me with a gleam in her eyes. "All the places I get to go to as soon as I can find the time, and my students are keeping me pretty busy."
Her students, yeah, St Charles is now a school again, or rather, a seminary.
The first Temple of Yetteri is taking in lay students for training in the faith, and the possibility of entering the Goddesses service. Complete with access to holy magic.
Needless to say, with a goddess of travel, there are a lot of field trips.
Also, humanitarian aid, such as Faith healing, and delivering food and other supplies directly to the people who need it instead of going through the local governments who might take a cut, demand a bribe, or even let it rot on a dock rather than give it to the people in need.
Sojourner Steven seemed a bit grim when talking about the incident in West Africa. "The local warlord wanted those people to die off so they wouldn't be a problem for him anymore." She looked down at the low table between us, "But the followers of Ytteri are travelers, and travelers sometimes face dangers. Yetteri doesn't ask us to turn the other cheek, just to give people a fair warning. I thought the tornado was a fair warning, but those idiots still tried to shoot me instead of taking their business elsewhere."
She shook her head sadly. "Their choice, their consequences. I don't see how anyone can still be trying to blame me for interfering in another country's business. Suffering matters then borders, and I even patched up the survivors. Right after I helped the people they shot while trying to kill me and my students."
The video of the three armored vehicles spinning around in the air with the sound clip from The Wizard of Oz, "Auntie Em, Auntie Em, it's a twister, a twister." before being carried out and away is still getting hits two months later. Even after someone stopped kept taking them down.
Also. Faith healing. As it's a result of the power of the goddess answering prayers, rather than something the anointed Sojourners are doing themselves, it doesn't fall under legal procedures and law.
No licensees, no lawsuits, but they do charge.
Or at least place priorities on those who offer generous, very, very, generous, donations.
Stevens seemed a bit embarrassed. "I'm the only one that can call for the more powerful healing spells, but the good I can do by using them on the wealthy by putting their money to work does more good for more people than healing a poor person."
“Although even then I split my time three for one. Three people in need with no other options for each rich person in the same situation who wants to jump to the front of the line.”
But the money…" She shook her head in disbelief. "Well I always knew money talks, but with the amounts some can and will pay for a sort of help no one else can offer, money shouts louder than a jet engine. Supplies, lawyers, bribes for officials to get out of the way. Money can do so much when you don't care about keeping any of it for yourself, and more keeps coming in."
Right now, the dozen or so Sojourners she has been able to teach and guide to the point that can commune with their goddess are sticking pretty close to the old church, but…
“Right now we got a chance to be the first. The first faith to offer something miraculous on demand. Some of the money we’ve gotten is going to buying up new places for my former student to take in and teach students of their own.”
The older woman leaned back in her chair. "And once we got enough of our people out there they don't need one more old Sojourner's services, I can focus on seeing new places and trying new things."
She gave me another grin. “You’ve put me in contact with so many people who have come back from entirely new worlds for me to show my Goddess. Who knows, I might even see you out there someday.”
Before I left, I asked, and she agreed.
Before the altar of the Goddess with the great seven colored ring that was her symbol, Sojourner Stevens called for her Goddess, patron of travelers, to "Bless this son of the road on his travels, expected or otherwise. Keep him safe and may he find joy in new sights and experiences. And may he find his way home."
There was no charge for me since the blessing didn’t take using up her divine magic, but still, considering in whose name the blessing was given, I think it may have some weight.
The six inch round wicker wreath, with each strand dyed one of the nine colors of the Goddess’s symbol however did cost me a donation of twenty bucks, but it slipped onto the strap of my Ready2Go bag easily enough.
It’s not like a holy symbol of a goddess of travel doesn't count as useful gear to help me survive somewhere.
Addendum:
Sorry. The church was built in an early Renaissance Romanesque style. There, I corrected it, Brother Jude, so stop it with the church nerd rage.
Some people and their hobbies...