#tevlan

Temples never jived with Varis. He believed in the gods, sure as the next guy, but he wasn’t a fan, per se. All the ceremony and worship, all the codes of conduct and rules to be followed; he liked to keep his options open. This irreverence always made him feel out of place in holy buildings. Sure, he was an outcast in most places, but it was places like this where he felt his ability to blend in with the background did him no good. He always stuck out like a sore thumb. The irony of it, that he lived with the three most religious people in the whole of Daarastil.

The warm breeze of the southern River Ward faded as he stepped through the entrance gates to the city’s temple to the Star Mother, Asa. In its place was a cooler, if more stagnant air, with a hint of humidity. The temple was built onto and along the River Yua itself, and used a sort of water power and network of aqueducts that Varis didn’t really have an interest in researching, to provide the building with naturally cooler air.

Still, it was the place the be during the summer. Probably why worship turnout was so much larger that time of year, he figured.

Varis’ sturdy boots caused his footsteps to echo against the marble floor, drawing the attention of the otherwise hushed main antechamber. Priests and acolytes, in their white and blue fabrics and silver trimmings, recognized him even at a distance. Their looks of disapproval was clue enough.

He shrugged them off. He was used to getting those looks. Besides, what could they do to him? The general clergy might not care for him, but the two most important people in the city’s religious sector were coming his way, all smiles. Two elves, a man and a woman, both with flowing auburn hair and soft, rounded features; the true mark of full-blooded River-folk.

“Varis, my boy, how does the day find you?” greeted the man.

Varis gave a slight nod. “Tevlan. Just glad to be out of the heat, Spring’s on its last leg.”

“So it is.”

“We appreciate your punctuality, Varis,” said the woman. “I know the temple is not among your favored places in the city, but we have matters to discuss with you that we felt best done here.”

“Mya,” spoke Tevlan, “let us take this to the Riverwalk. The antechamber is a bit too public.”

She nodded in agreement. “Of course. Come, Varis.”

In the years that Varis had known Tevlan and Mya, they’d never been ones for secrecy. If anything, he found them almost dangerously open and honest. An Asa thing.

Anything they felt the need to be hush about was important enough to catch Varis’ attention. He followed them out of the antechamber, and onto the temple Riverwalk.

Daarastil, being the southern-most River Ward city along the Yua, was a vital trade stop between the elven Wards and the kingdoms of Celym to the southeast. The city’s lifeblood was its coast, and from the temple’s Riverwalk –an ornate walkway of statues and carefully manicured miniature gardens which doubled as a private wharf– one could view the daily bustle of the city’s docks and trade-district.

Tevlan and Mya walked on either side of Varis as they traversed down the relatively peaceful wharfs of the temple.

“Varis,” started Tevlan, “for the last seven years, you’ve been a welcome member of our household. The city’s clergy and citizens may have their own opinions about you, but know that you have our complete trust.”

“Whatever it is, I didn’t do it.”

Mya laughed, and placed a reaffirming hand on his shoulder. “You’re not being accused of anything. Rather, we have a task for you. One we would nary hand to another.”

“It concerns Sariel,” added Tevlan.

“I’m listening.”

“Over thirty years ago, my wife and I beseeched Asa, the blessed mother, for a child. A child gifted with wisdom, kindness and strength. She saw fit to answer these prayers, bringing to us our beloved daughter and your precious friend, Sariel. In return we have given the whole of our lives to Asa since, built this glorious temple from the foundation up, all in her name.”

“You have stood by her ever since you came to Daarastil,” continued Mya. “For that, we trust this request to you alone.”

Varis averted his gaze from either of them. Dirty looks and insults he could deal with just fine, but praise was all together foreign. He wasn’t sure he’d ever get used to it.

“She saved my life, what else could I do? Dragging somebody bleeding out in a gutter to safety deserves a little more than a thank you and some flowers.”

“Exactly, she is special. More than most realize, but you’ve seen it first-hand,” Tevlan pointed out. “Clerics must train their minds and bodies decades before the gods grant them their boons, yet Sariel has healed the people of Daarastil since her teenage years. It has come to her as naturally as breathing, and her strength is nothing to be balked at either.”

“What is it you’re getting at?” Varis asked.

“Sariel must travel north to Elkora,” Mya explained. “There, she will undergo judgement at the holiest of Asa’s temples. She will prove before the Prime Astra  that she is the next chosen champion of Asa.”

Varis stopped dead in his tracks.

“Her champion?”

Even one as theologically illiterate as Varis knew the weight of a god’s chosen champion. They were the end-all enforcers of a god’s will on the mortal plane, the avatar of their virtues and values. Not to mention some of the most powerful people to walk the world.

Tevlan and Mya both stopped, their eyes showing only solid resolve and unshakable certainty.

“…What does it have to do with me?”

Tevlan’s gaze softened, and worry shifted onto his face. “A chosen champion she may be, but she is still young. Inexperienced. She has never left Daarastil. You, though, Varis, are a man of the world. You’ve traveled Celym, made your way here.”

“Watch out for her,” Mya pleaded. “She has a great destiny ahead of her, I’m certain, but she will need guidance. Perhaps even protection. You will do this, won’t you? Accompany her on her travels?”

Varis looked between the two of them. Seven years he’d lived with these people, ever since their daughter had dragged his sorry ass out of the streets and sealed up his gushing torso. In seven years they’d never asked a single thing of him. He complained about their temple, caused mischief all over the city, and all they did in response was feed him and give him a bed.

He was a punk, a thief, a liar, but he’d be damned if he didn’t have a sense of gratitude.

If this was their idea of cashing in their seven years of hospitality, this one thing, he had no business refusing them.

Besides, Sari would walk face-first into every gods-damned road-post if he weren’t there to keep her focused.  

  “When do we leave?”

*****

When Sariel needed time to herself, the first place she would go was the temple’s underground cistern. Built a bit further inland, away from the coast, it was both a fresh-water storage area, and a place of ceremony, used in purification rituals.

It was an hour past sundown, and officially it was closed, but that had never mattered to her.

Even as he snuck down the stairs leading to the giant, still pool, he could hear the plunks and plops of tossed stones. Sure enough, there she sat, facing away from him, tossing small circular rocks into the water, watching the ripples continue on across the length of the cistern.

She looked nothing like her parents, which he supposed helped their case when they claimed she was sculpted by Asa herself. She was certainly not how most people imagined River elves to look.

There was no roundness to her, and the warm auburn hair was nowhere to be found. Instead, her hair and eyes both were stark silver, and her features were almost unnaturally symmetrical and proportioned. It went past beautiful into almost unsettlingly perfect. Varis wasn’t sure how much of the story he believed, but there were times when even he had to admit his friend looked less born and more designed. Crafted by a steady hand.

The more he thought about it, her being Asa’s champion just fit.

That said, champion or no, she was still just Sari to him, and best friends were supposed to fuck with one another.

“HEY SARI!”

A shrill shriek echoed throughout the cistern. The unsuspecting girl had to stop herself from falling right into the water.

Varis found endless amusement in her mild suffering.

Sariel whipped around after her small heart-attack, and angrily pouted at him.

“Don’t DO that!”

“You gotta be more observant,” he shrugged, taking a seat at the edge of the pool next to her.

She sighed, and rolled one of her stones in her hand.

There was a brief silence between them.

“My parents spoke to you today?”

“Yup.”

“You know what’s going on? With me?”

“I don’t have to call you “your holiness” now do I? Because I won’t.”

A giggle was coaxed out of her. “Please don’t.”

Another plunk as she threw her stone.

“I’m glad you’re coming. I’m nervous.”

“Well yeah, you’ve never left the city before. The world is scary.”

Sari shook her head. “It’s more than that. I mean…look, I don’t mean to sound conceited, but I’m Asa’s champion. It’s not a matter of thinking, I just know. My healing, the way I look, I…I’ve talked to her. Asa, I mean. She speaks to me. Sometimes.”

“If it was anyone else, I’d call them mad, but you’ve been a freak since the day we met, so I believe it.”

“Thanks…I think.”

“You’re welcome.”

Varis stole one of the stones in Sari’s pile, and tossed it against one of the far pillars.

“Besides, look at it this way; you’ll get to see more mermaids while we travel up the Yua.”

At the mention of mermaids, Sari perked up.

“You’re right! Oh, I love mer people. Their scales are so shiny.”

“And maybe you’ll meet a werewolf.”

Now her eyes sparkled.

“Oooooh, Varis, you think?”

“Anything’s possible.”

“Maybe I was thinking about this the wrong way. This could be exciting after all.” Varis gave her arm a pat as he stood up.

“Come on. We’re leaving at the end of the week. We’ve got a lot to do before we leave, so we should rest up.”

She nodded back at him.

“Yeah. Lots to buy and plan. You’ve got my back, right?”

He laughed and playfully bonked her head.