The size of the structure that Joshua called Gai’faitotoa continued to grow ever more the closer we got to it, really putting into perspective how big this place actually was considering we could still see great detail even though we still had to travel for… I think Eon said twenty minutes? He has this device that he kept looking at, apparently it was one of his greatest trades with a separate traveling group of Faithless. He said something about it being able to keep time, which to me seemed to be ambiguous at best as I have seen gods prolong their influence in the real world which would tell me that time is malleable in certain situations, but he doesn’t know that and I’m not going to tell him. Regardless, Eon said twenty of the clock things minutes were required for us to get to the front gate.

Sol had almost fully disappeared beneath the horizon, yet the amount of Gaian’s I saw in front of the gate was astounding. Let alone teeming with numbers that made me feel like the Conclave was tiny, the variety in those that surrounded us was more than I thought were possible. I saw people with leaves and twigs in there hair, or were they growing from their hair? There were normal looking people, people with animal like feature, actual animal wondering the streets of various species. And as much as I tried to ignore it, there were several beings who emanated a sharp green glow, they varied in size and shape as well, but judging by the lack of reaction from both Lily and Eon, I kind of figured that if Joshua knew of them he wouldn’t bother to tell us unless we asked, I figured that the glow was something only I could see as I bore the mark of the ‘Moon’s Eye’ making me… what do the Brightons call their Luminous again?

… Full… Saint…

The sudden whisper made me jerk my head side to side, looking for whoever it was that spoke to me. And then I saw it, Luna rising to greet the night, appearing to shine a bit brighter than usual as she was in full form tonight. Bringing my attention back to my immediate surroundings, I said my thanks to Luna, quite enough for none of the others to be able to hear. “Thank you Luna, I remembered I was your saint, I just forgot my title is all.”

A soft breeze came and brushed past my face as if to acknowledge my thanks. As it did, I noticed that at least one of the figures shrouded in the veil of green suddenly looked in our direction. From where they stood on top of a building enjoying a fruit of sone kind, they had a full view of the Faithless as they went through town. “Crap,” I said a bit more forcibly than I intended.

“What’s up Adamas?” came a slightly concerned Joshua.

“Well… I just have a feeling that something might happen, I just caught a glimpse of someone looking at us a bit too intently. Over there on top… of… that…” my speech faltered as when I pointed out the building that I saw the figure perched upon, there was no one there.

“Are your nerves getting to you? I mean, I know that this is your first time meeting fanatics… I mean religious folks of a different religion, but no need to be so tense.” Joshua said, trying his best to calm me down. “I’ve been through here multiple times! Just stick close to me and try not to stand out to much, ya got that?”

A cluster of soft acknowledgements came in response. “Good, now get comfy everyone, not much longer now till we get to the gate.”

Well, I’m fairly positive that the whole not sticking out thing is a no go. I mean, if I could see the green veil around them, could at least one of them see the now growing silvery whisps I could see coming off of my arms. “Well that is not good…” I whispered to myself as I saw the whisps getting bigger and brighter as Luna rose to her position in the sky.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

At this point in time, I wish that I had more of an idea as to what all being the Saint of Luna entailed ability wise, because if I had any idea how to at least control at least some of what was going on, I wouldn’t know that several of the green aura’s that I had seen earlier were currently following us. Though only one person seems to be able to see me, as the figure that caught me staring at them earlier is the only one that stares at me often enough to not be a coincidence. That, and with the amount of fidgeting I’m doing has made it plenty clear to those following us that at least one person is aware of their presence.

Joshua had noticed my nonstop movement, and without asking took a quick look around. “What… what did you do Adamas? I’m not seeing as many of the Guardians keeping watch over this section as I should be.”

“I… don’t think our arrival was announced to the Gaians. We are from a rival religion, and I think they can tell. Though I’m not sure how.”

The look on Joshua’s face showed that he had forgotten about the religions not always getting along. “Crap… sorry Adamas, I’m so used to being to come and go, that I forgot to think about the situation that you three are in. Do you guys at least have some form of identification to prove you are who you say you are and doing what you say you are doing?”

Hearing this, Eon stuck his arm between the two of us and then spoke up. “I do! My Bright gave me enough proof of Pilgrimage for the three of us. Bright Harkness always did say that for as smart as Bright Daphne was, she had a habit of forgetting the finer details when it came to the bigger picture.”

“Oh good… that… thank you Eon,” I said as I grabbed one of the scrolls he pulled out while he was talking.

“No problem Adamas, least I could do considering what you’ve done to this point. You’ve been the calm one of the three of us!”

Breathing a sigh of relief, I leaned back and help of the rolled parchment. “Well… I’m pretty positive that solves are problem here in the next few minutes, just not the one in our immediate presence.”

With a chuckle and a grin, Joshua responded. “Welp, one problem at a time Adamas, one problem at a time.”

The time leading up to our arrival at the gates was a lot faster than the previous few minutes had been as currently, I had an alibi to a certain degree now, and a lot less to worry about. Not to say that I had nothing to worry about, just less.

Coming to the back of a steady moving line consisting of just as many different types of people in different forms of transportation as there were around us walking around. The line was moving constantly, but in a stop-go pattern. Go the length of a carriage, stop for a bit, go again, repeat.

It was a bit monotonous, but progress was progress, and I wasn’t complaining. Especially since those green auras stopped encroaching on us and simply circled. Like vultures. An unpleasant thought I know, but thinking that we were almost dead was nicer than thinking what would happen if they decided to get closer; at least it meant that we were still alive.

The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation.

Forward. Stop. Forward. Stop.

The pattern repeated. “We’re almost there now kiddos, you can see the entrance from here,” Joshua said with a wave and a point. A pair of massive doors stood in the side of the tree, entirely made out of what looked like the base of the giant, sky piercing tree, yet somehow looking like it was made out of multiple different types of wood. Ornately fashioned and wielding a power almost like I was in front of a God again, though I wasn’t sure if that was an everyone thing or more of a me deal. Regardless, we crept closer.

All of a sudden, all of the green auras that were around us scattered in different directions rapidly. Some back in the direction from which we traveled, others in the direction of the gate, and the few who remained simply continued to circle. “Ah, there are the guardians,” Joshua said. “There, on top of the buildings? Hanging out and just watching the goings on. They look like they belong there don’t they? Almost statue like in there posture and intenseness, and looking like they were carved right out of the wood they stand upon don’t they?”

Taking a moment to let us look up at what he saw, there they stood where they weren’t before. Figures of different shapes and sizes, stood there as if they were there the entire time. I had no difficulty spotting them as each of the figures were shrouded in the green aura I saw earlier, assuming that is due to the proximity to the gate as those I saw earlier on were only occasionally shrouded in the aura.

Some more time past and it was finally our groups turn. The nerves of each of us began to grow bit by bit as the guards checked the two sand sleighs in front of us. Taking an extended amount of time with each, assuming because they were a Faithless caravan and not naturally from within the confines of the… Gaian Forest I guess is where this place would be called? They thoroughly searched the first one, and after checking all of its occupants, they went to the second sleigh. Repeating the process for the second sleigh appeared to be a bit faster as there was less cargo and more people. Easier to check those than the contents of bags and boxes.

When it finally came to be our turn, Joshua pulled the sleigh and cameldons up alongside the guards. “Now, before you ask fellas,” Joshua said heading off the guards before they could speak. “I do happen to have three extra packages… passengers? One of those, not sure what you guys would classify them as. I picked them up on the way here, within the Sands of Sol. I wasn’t sure of where they were going, but they happily came along in this direction.” He turned to me, patted me on the back, “this one,” and then motioning with his thumb to the back of the sleigh, “plus two more in the back. Do you need to see them before or after you confirm everything else?”

The guards, for their part, were rather patient with what Joshua had to say, and let him finish speaking and ask his question before they started. With a voice that somehow sounded like a mixture of the breeze through leaves and a whistle, the guard in front began to speak. “Thank you for the heads up of the three… to be determined’s. and after will be fine, though I will be asking for each of them, and their belongings if they have them, to be off the sleigh and in an order first while we check this sleigh and it’s contents.”

“You heard the… I’m sorry but I’m just ganna call you guard, is that ok? You tree folk are a bit difficult for me to tell the difference between the various forms of your race. No offense meant, I just don’t have much practice.”

“None taken, and ‘Guard’ works just fine.”

While there conversation was on going, all three of us pilgrims gathered our stuff and got down from the sleigh. Upon the completion of their conversation, we were directed to stand in a line as others searched the sleigh. As this process was projected to take a bit of time, another group of guards was brought out to temporarily open another lane through which the growing line could continue to move forward. There wasn’t a whole lot in Joshua’s sleigh as most of the items had been moved to the others of the caravan to make room for the three “to be determined’s”.

When they finally got to us, they started at the end opposite from me, with Eon. He handed them his scroll and the tree like guard looked him up and down. “A Solite on a Pilgrimage huh? It has been many a season since the last of your kind came through these parts. The same with other two I assume?”

“Yes s… ma… er… guard.” Eon managed to stumble through his sentence, provoking a chuckle from the guard. “You can call me Sir, not that I am one, but I have been told that my form more closely resembles that of a he rather than a she,” Came in response from the guard.

Handing back Eon his scroll, he stepped over in front of Lily and repeated the process in a similar friendly manner. With the added questions of plans for the stay and estimated time of departure. Lily looked to Joshua, who nodded in response. “As of right now, we plan on leaving when Joshua takes his leave. I’m not sure when that is exactly, but whatever he tells you is the truth.”

The guard handed Lily her scroll back and began to step in front of me. Before he could finish his step, a voice halted him in his tracks. The voice was commanding, female, and sounded like it could put me to sleep.

And then it hit me… I had heard this voice before. Reaching into my pocket, I clenched the feathers that had followed me from my dream into the real world, and sent a prayer to whoever was willing to listen that it really wasn’t the case. All I got in response? Both brother and sister sent me chuckles that only I could hear.

Great, you’d almost think that they planned this out, well, maybe Luna had something to do with it, but Sol was definitely just enjoying the show.

“At ease Chief Pa’u, I’ve got this one. I saw that you opened up the second lane, so I came to investigate.” The voice came from up above me and to my right somewhere. And when I tried to look up, all I saw was a blur as she fell from wherever she was standing above the gate and landed with barley a thud next to the tree man I just learned was called Pa’u.

“Captain Suamalie, Good to see you. Were the reports getting to be a bit much? Or did you simply need some fresh air?”

“… yes. And I refuse to elaborate further than that. Besides, you do know that I’m basically a glorified secretary right?”

Turning to face me, I couldn’t tell if I was walking in a dream or living in a nightmare, as things were about to get more than just a little complicated. I mean, not that I did anything wrong, but she might take offense once she realizes who I am.

“Scroll please,” she said as she extended her hand.

I raised my left hand which held the scroll and handed it to her. After a brief inspection, she handed it back to me and saw that my right hand was in my pocket. “Mind showing me what you have in there?” she asked calmly.

“In all honesty, I think I shouldn’t.”

Her friendly demeanor all but melted away at my refusal. “Hand. Now.”

The increase in intensity of her voice caused both the guards and guardians to place their hands on whatever their weapons were, in preparation for subduing a “non-complaint individual”, a term used often when dealing with the malcontents of the conclave.

With great reluctance, I pulled out my hand, feathers in plain view. Upon seeing them, her eyes widened. “You?” she hissed, her pupils dilating a bit, forming vertical slits rather than dots.

“Me… and hey, before this goes down, can you let them proceed? Something tells me you have questions, and I can guarantee that they don’t have answers.”

With baited words, she spoke slowly. “Fine. Go.”

Before any words of defiance could be uttered, Joshua grabbed Lily and Eon and pulled them to his sleigh. Turning back to look at the scene that was unfolding, he mouthed “You sure” and his face implied a question. “Yeah, I’m sure. Remember that whole they weren’t informed of our arrival deal I talked about earlier? It was a bit more for me than it was for them.” I won’t say he fully realized the depths of what I said, but he understood enough that anything further would be information that wasn’t needed.

“Got it,” he said in response. “When you get finished talking, come find us in the South Market.” At that, he pushed Lily and Eon into the sleigh and began leaving, the other two starting to move at almost the same time.

As they left I slowly put my hands on my head. “Any final words before we take you in for questioning?”

And I said the only thing that came to mind. “You know, you really should try hearing the other person out first before putting a hole through their chest, how do you know that was even your d…” I wasn’t allowed time to finish my thought as I was greeted with a new sensation and an old feeling. Mass amounts of pain, and the cold embrace of unconsciousness.