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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Silver Moon" data-source="post: 3054006" data-attributes="member: 8530">Chapter Seventy-seven, “Differences of Opinion”, Saturday, June 3rd , 1882, 7:30 P.M. Ginnie pulls Jake aside and continue talking to him about business “Jake I have a list of supplies that the Lady is going to need to continue to bring in a profit. I need you to sign it so that people don't question what's being picked up as it will need to be charged to your account here.”  He says, "Certainly, just bring it over and I will sign it." She says, “I have set a wage of twenty-five percent plus one-sixth of the nightly tips for both Nakomo and Melvin And we are running a little low on the upper shelve whiskey but should be set until next week unless something changes. I have the floor set and Ma'am Kate will be doing more playing and less tables. I expect to have the take even tonight or a little above but we should think about another advertisement run it's time. And we still need to talk about my pay.”He answers, "I am surely in part to blame on the upper shelf volume. Do not scrimp there," he says with a smirk. "We are not dragging our feet on your pay, Ginnie girl, but what is your job? Are you managing the saloon at night? What about our hotel? You really want a full time job or just a part time one? Are you just doing this for a short while or are you in it for a while? Once you know what you want then we figure out how you do it and make everyone believe that someone of legal age is running the show. Then you tell me what you want out of it all. You want just a salary? You want services like room and board? You want to trade some or all of a salary for a percent of sales or profit?" Jake shrugs. "I am all ears." The child continues, “On the plus side it seems that we have limited people trying to kill us at the moment although that may change with the elections. Are you planning to run for town council? We need to make sure that we have someone that will get the right story first hand before it gets muddy and lost in the rest of the political garbage.”   Jake's eyes nearly pop out of his head, "You think I should run for town council? Up until now I thought your judgment was pretty good. Who in their right mind would vote for me? Hermes, all we need is another reason for folks to be digging up dirt on me."After he finishes speaking with Ginnie Darla Peacock approaches Jake and says, "Pretty good night so far Mr. Cook. I'll let you know by the end of the evening how things turn out." The Barkers are not present, as they are playing at the Comique since its 'German night' theme lends itself to the work of Mozart, Wagner and Beethoven. Job Kane arrives and starts his game up. Neil Cassidy, Al Brower and Ned Walters all join Job, as does attorney Elihu Upton who as far as anybody can remember has never visited the Lucky Lady before. Jake starts up his game for the evening. Seated now at Jake's table are Alfredo Garcia, Don Wainwright, Carl Berman, Pierre Jaquet, and the dwarven miner Torvald MacNaulty.The remainder of the night at the Lucky Lady passes with a minimum of eventfulness. The Barkers arrive late after spending the first few hours of the evening at the Comique and Clarisse excuses her self to go sing there for the rest of the night. Jake finishes the night $ 50 ahead. Darla Peacock's Faro game is deemed a success, with over a dozen different players joining her game throughout the night.Saturday night wound down and Kate cleaned up after the last patrons. Miss Florencia was again sitting at a table, waiting. Kate sighed. Her own thoughts were muddled and she wasn't sure she wanted to clear them. It wouldn't reflect well on her. Finally she made her way over to the table and sat down, taking the long way around the very tempting bar. Minerva watches her as she approaches, she says a quick prayer, determined to listen to her goddess Minerva and not to say the wrong thing. When Kate sits opposite her she says nothing. Several minutes passed in silence. "You misunderstood me earlier. Any fears I may have had about you revealing my secrets are long gone. I resent the fact that you know them at all. I never chose to tell them to you. I was forced to, or you guessed them. A stranger knew intimate things about me that not even my family did. Can you imagine anyone being comfortable with that? After that you just seemed to assume I wanted that intimacy. So again, I wasn't given a choice." Minerva speaks calmly, with a congenial smile upon her lips. " It does seem that we have been thrown together rather abruptly, does it not? I chose to accept the gift that the gods placed in my path. Whether or not you do is your choice to make Katherine. The gods cannot force their will upon us the choice is ALWAYS ours to make. " "I didn't say anything about the gods, their gifts, or their wills. Abrupt is a mild word for it. One night I walked into the Lucky Lady to find not just a new acquaintance, but someone suddenly trusted by some of the most naturally suspicious people I know. What was my choice? To abandon people who needed me for my own protection and comfort? That is no choice." "It was a difficult choice, but a choice that YOU made, none the less. And the fact that your naturally suspicious friends trust me should have eased your mind, not placed you in further turmoil. So what is the conflict that wars within your heart, Katherine. Is it that I am a priestess? With all your talk of equality, I would hope that you could see beyond that. I must admit that I did not trust you when I discovered what you were. It took me a while to reconcile the fact that you are a wizard with my past experiences. Where I come from wizards are a controlling, power hungry lot, who care naught for anything but their own gain.." she said bitterly. "But I have learned not to judge a people as a whole. Not all wizards are alike, just as all clerics are not alike." Kate replies, "I went to Greece and faced one of the highest ranking Priests in the world. I went to the Priests who visited in March for help. Alone. I know that clerics are not all alike, but I will never trust a cleric at first meeting. It's a lesson I learned very early and I've never forgotten. I even came to you for help. I didn't tell you that secret either, only that Tom had been with me and yet you knew. And I got more than I bargained for. I only wanted to thank Diana, not stand naked in the desert honoring goddesses I had no intention to honor when I set out. The only thing I thought about Jake and Ruby's trust what that if you were fooling them you had to be very good." Minerva replies, "I am sorry that my presence has caused you discomfort and that you feel that you need protection from me, Katherine... but truly, I am not out to con anyone. I ask you, To what purpose would I do so? I have placed my way in harms path for Ruby, Jake, Chester, Nanuet and you on several occasions. I do not see the gain in that, unless of course I am trying to find my way home to Olympus sometime soon," she chuckles. She puts her hand up. "Now don't get me wrong. I realize that I have gained their friendship in return and I in turn, have grown to rely on them also," her mind momentarily wanders to Nanuet, "but what is the harm in that? Is it not natural to ward off loneliness and seek out companionship in a strange place? Did you not do the same?  As for your vestment that I know your secrets; I see what the gods wish me to see. I will not apologize for it." She falls silent for a moment. Her eyes fill with regret. "I have offered my hand in friendship Katherine. There is nothing more that I can do. As you said; you walked into the Lucky Lady that day and passed judgment. You do not trust me. Nothing I say or do will open your heart to me and I will not force you to do so. I promised Nanuet that I would not push.. I am afraid that I have not held to that promise very well, but I will not push further." She begins to rise. "You may rest assured that I do not know all your secrets, Katherine. I do not know what happened to you to cause you to close your heart to me. But I do know that if you continue to let it fester it will eat at your soul. If you change your mind and want to share whatever it is that is that has caused you so much pain, you know where to find me." Kate wanted to let her leave. She almost did but they couldn't go on with each other like this. And there was Mr. Gonzales to consider. "You know, it's like we speak different languages. Everything I say you misunderstand just enough to bend it out of shape. "I don't feel I need protection from you. I don't think you're going to betray my secrets or attempt to do me harm. It's not you I don't trust, it's the ones you represent." Kate got up and paced, rubbing her arms with her hands. "You really want to know the last of my secrets? When I was a little girl I loved going to church. It was a miraculous place. So full of light and beauty and music, and I loved the gods. I loved them. I wanted to know everything, understand everything and feel all wrapped up in them like a blanket. I even dreamed I might serve them someday. And then Papa went to the war." Kate walked over to the window, arms still wrapped around herself. "My mother is French. The clergy at our church were always welcoming to her; but that changed after Papa left. She continued to bring us to church every week but the clergy became more and more hostile to her. Finally she stopped taking us, but we still held services at home. As an adult I realize she was never devout but she never gave us any hint of that as children. They started coming to us. Almost every day one of the priests or priestesses would come by. To 'comfort us in Papa's absence,' they'd say. Phil was only a baby, but they spent hours trying to poison us against Maman. I still remember the terrible things they said about her, calling her a witch and worse. One day a group of them came into the nursery. One of the priestesses was holding Phil. Maman ran in after, shouting at them but they held her back. One of the priests tried to grab me but I ran and hid behind Henry in a corner. He tried to keep them away from me even as they were trying to take him too." Kate's voice was increasing broken as she went on. "Papa was already gone, and they were going to take us from Maman. Mathias and Mr. Emerson had to threaten them with guns to make them leave without us. Nothing ever happened to any of those priests. They were never punished, they didn't lose their powers. It was as if it didn't matter to the gods what they had done. I loved them, but.... I had nightmares for months. When Papa came home and tried to take us back to church... for two months he had to turn around and go home because I was so terrified. I never went to church again." She had to stop and breathe, openly weeping now. "I finally made a place for myself here, and then you arrived. You're very much like me, you realize that? A counselor, a healer, even down to the color of our hair and eyes. You're what I might have been, and you fill my place better than I did." Minerva's eyes shine with tears as Katherine reveals her sad tale. She sits back down, careful not to touch Katherine, sensing that her comforting gesture would not be welcome. She speaks quietly. "The gods are not always gentle in the molding of our destinies. They use others as crude tools to pound and slice at us mercilessly as a potter does when he forces a lump of clay to reveal the beautiful sculpture hidden within it. I understand your pain all too well, but do you not see that in the end the gods did not allow you and your siblings to be taken from your Maman? That the attempt was required to mold your destiny? It is the pain of your experience that has made you what you are; a strong, compassionate woman with the heart and intelligence required to sculpt the lives of others, to teach them to fight against injustice as you have learned to do. You are so much more than you give yourself credit for, Katherine. " She resist reaching out to place her hand over Katherine's and continues. "We are more alike than you know. It is as though our lives are mirror images of one another. I was raised in a land where I had to hide my cleric abilities for fear that my family would be punished. I arrived home one day to find my father lying in a pool of blood, murdered by wizards who ruled with a cruel hand. And then the gods led me here. To you. You have taught me not to judge all wizards as one. I am asking you to reach beyond your pain and try to do the same.  I'm sorry about your Papa. That ridiculous war will continue to breed hatred for many, many years." Kate was quiet for a while, collecting herself. "I think you still don't quite understand, maybe because I don't really understand myself. I do not believe you have any intention of harming me or anyone else. And I have come to trust that my secrets and my life are safe with you.  My trouble is... how do I explain? For many years people have been trying to get me back to church. You and I disagree very fundamentally about how much involvement the gods take in our lives. But I've had people pushing at me for so many years that I have become very sensitive. You attribute almost everything to the gods, and I feel as if you are trying to convince me." She unconsciously mirrored the other woman's earlier gesture and raised her hand. "I know that is not your intention. It is just your belief and natural to express it. So often I am already struggling to push away the erroneous feeling of being pressured when that enthusiastic friendliness comes in and I just feel overwhelmed. It will just take some time for me to adjust. And I was, but I'm afraid I was very hurt by what was said in Thomaswell, perhaps because I felt the truth of it. And it made me question again why you would seek my friendship. You seem to be drawn to bright, exciting people and I am neither." "I have never tried to force you to go to church Katherine, except that one time when I was trying to rally support for myself when I first came to town and that had nothing to do with the church or the gods or saving anyone's soul. If the truth be told, if I did not need this job, I would not feel compelled to enter a church either. We both know that Prayer is useless without action. The gods expect us to act, not whine about our troubles. They do not need prayers to know us. They are gods! They know what is in our hearts whether or not we grovel at their feet and whine about our lot in life, or beg for their intervention. And we both know that it is not always wise to wait for that," she says with a slight smile and a touch of sarcasm. "I regretted my words to you as soon as they were out. I was hurt by your repeated rebuffs and believed you to be prejudiced against what I am. It was petty of me to strike out as I did and I apologize for it. Why would I want your friendship, you ask? You said it yourself. We are very alike you and I, and although our methods may be different our hearts beat in the same rhythm. We both abhor injustice and feel compelled to right it to protect those who are unable to fend for themselves. As individuals we are strong but together Katherine, we are formidable." She laughs. "Between the two of us, the bigots, petty minded and evil doers of this town do not stand a chance! I will make a sincere attempt to heed your words and not be too preachy although I must warn you, I will most probably fail in this attempt and you will have to just tell me to quiet my mouth," she grins. "I am glad that we had this talk and now that I understand why you have responded to me the way you have, I will not be offended." Kate nodded. "Hopefully I won't continue to offend you at all. I feel a bit as if a weight has been lifted from my shoulders. I will feel freer to speak my own mind and that always makes me more comfortable. I'm a little volatile right now as well. The little one seems to be wreaking havoc with my emotions and it's hard to keep a serene countenance. I'm just thankful that the ring Mr. Gonzales lent me spares me from the fatigue and the morning sickness." "I wish that Senor Gonzales had a ring that would spare me from the fatigue and worries I have felt since Nakomo has come into my life. I wish that Nanuet would return. I am not sure that I am made to be a parent and it would seem that that is what I have become, at least for the time being. I never had a mother to show me how to nurture another and I know nothing of the mind and hearts of teenage boys. What am I going to do? I know very little about Nakomo's past except that he was mistreated," she shakes her head and sighs. "How do parent's make it through the day never knowing if they have said or done the right thing?" "I'm afraid I don't know the first thing about teenage boys either. Except perhaps that there are two who are sniffing around Ginnie at the moment, and she seems to be completely oblivious. I'm no expert, I've only had Ginnie with me for a few months. She was on her own for a long time, so I just try to acknowledge that she is perfectly capable of caring for herself and only step in when absolutely necessary. Some days are hard to get through. Rather than worry about whether what you did was right or wrong, just make sure you do it with only their interest in mind. As long as you're sure you're acting in their best interest instead of yours you won't often go wrong." "Gracias, Katherine. You have such a gift when it comes to dealing with children. I am sure that you are right. Ginnie is proof of it. She is such a wonderful girl. I hope that it will not be to much of an imposition if I ask your advise from time to time. I am terrified that I will only make matters worse with the boy. It is getting quite late and I do not want to keep you overly long. A woman in your condition needs her rest and I have a wedding to perform tomorrow." "I'm looking forward to that. This town needs more happy events to make it a community. One which I hope would eventually win over even the Vigilance Committee. How can a community where all races are living peacefully together be wrong?" Kate stood up and offered her hand. "We may have a few bumps, but I think we will rub along together now. And you are right, I have a great desire for my bed. Good night, Minerva.“I am not looking for a fight, Katherine and I am sorry if you believe that. Spaniards are very passionate people, heated discussions are how we resolve our differences. I apologize if you are insulted by my outburst, but really it only shows how much I care. I will try and contain my enthusiasm and attempt to speak more calmly when you return. I will wait for you to finish for the evening and we will talk." She says and picks up her wine.  "Buenos Nochas Katherine. I shall see you at the wedding." she says and makes her way home feeling relieved that they have finally come to understand one another at least a little bit.  Jake meanders about at the end of the night, ingratiating himself among all those remaining. He congratulates Darla Peacock, and indicates he is looking forward to her coming back but does not pressure her. After making sure that everything is fine for the night, but without actually doing any real work he make his way home.</blockquote>

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