#bartos

Bartos

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The lost and now found again father of Lucille, recently reunited with his daughter.

Though her mother Cerys hoped that she would join the priesthood, Zamzi refuses to believe in any gods, from the little gods to the Eleven. Kyro refers the argument over Zamzi's future to Gibralt, who is surprised to find the little god Bartos speaking in support of Zamzi.

“There are no gods,” the young pearlcatcher informed Kyro in a disturbingly matter-of-fact way.

“She says that just to annoy me,” said the adolescent’s mother: Cerys, the little gods’ chief -- only, really -- priest. From the strained tone of her voice, it was very much working.

Kyro took a deep breath. He’d never had to deal with a family quarrel like this, let alone a theological issue, and he was a bit at sea. Calm , he reminded himself. This is a learning experience for everyone.

“What makes you believe that?” he asked Zamzi, the little atheist. “We see the gods’ work every day. Many of our fellows have gone to serve them. Here at Lukra, small gods even live among us. How can you say they don’t exist?”

“Your ‘small gods’ are nothing but magically gifted dragons,” Zamzi said. Her mother gasped, recoiled, but Kyro put up a paw when she would have responded. He wanted to hear what Zamzi had to say, not get into a holier-than-thou argument -- literally. “Their very physical presence proves that. As for the Eleven -- have you seen them? Have any of the dragons sent to serve them ever communicated their existence, or communicated with us at all? We no more know their fates than we do the fates of the dead. They may as well be dead, in fact.”