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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Sagiro" data-source="post: 4153435" data-attributes="member: 726">Sagiro’s Story Hour, Part 277The Power of Perspective“She’s clearly intelligent,” says Dranko, rubbing his temples.   Ye Gods... Turlissa?  It’s going to take some getting used to.“She has a legitimate front,” says Grey Wolf, “but she’s involved with you in something shadier, no doubt.”“And your extra key is probably to your hideout,” adds Kibi.“A hideout that I’m in charge of,” says Dranko.  “But this Lucas guy has taken over in my stead.”The party ponders this change is history – that Dranko may rule his own criminal organization.  Ernie looks around to see if he’s spontaneously acquired a five-star restaurant.  Aravis looks for his mages’ academy.  “I’m afraid to go to my temple,” says Morningstar with a nervous laugh.“You might be running it,” says Grey Wolf.Ernie suggests that Dranko might get some insight into the recent changes from his old landlady, Berthel.  It’s not far to his old house, so Dranko takes the thieves' highway, stopping only for the traditional bottle of wine.  Soon he is knocking on Berthel’s window from out on the wall.“Dranko?  That you?” comes Berthel’s screechy, abrasive voice.  “What you doing out there?”He slips in the window.“You being followed?” asks Berthel.  “And if not, why didn’t you use the door?”“Boring!” is Dranko’s reply.  He hands Berthel the wine, then sits in a chair in the landlady’s small apartment.  “I need info,” says Dranko.  “What do you know about my reputation in the city?”“You’ve always been kind of cagey about that,” says Berthel.  “You’re a priest, right?”“Yeah, that’s right, I’m a priest.  Say, there was a parade, right?”  Dranko is suddenly terrified of the thought that his big victory celebration never happened.  “Oh, yeah,” says Berthel.  “A couple of months ago I think.  I didn’t go to it.”“You didn’t go to a parade for me?” accuses Dranko.“That was for you?  Should have told me!  But why would they have a parade for you?”Dranko sighs.  “Look, is there anything else you know about me?”“I think you know everything I know about you.  And yet you’re an incredibly generous person underneath all of that.  You’ve made a family very happy, when you let them have your old place with the rent paid up forever. I’ve even fixed the roof.”Dranko stands and stretches.  “Look, next time there’s a parade for me, will you come to it?”“If you send me a letter or something, sure!” says Berthel.“Oh,” adds Dranko.  “Also I’m royalty.  They made me a knight.”“Really.”“And I got married!”Berthel laughs.  “Is this ‘make up stories about yourself’ day, and no one told me?”“No, really.  I did get knighted, and I did get married.  Look, I have a ring!”Berthel looks at his hands.  “You have lots of rings,” she says.“Yeah, but this ring lets me fall of high buildings, and this ring means I can control water, and this ring means I’m married.”“Dranko, I believe you.  Congratulations.  So, who is it?”“Morningstar,” says Dranko proudly.  “The Ellish priestess?” Berthel raises her eyebrows.  “She agreed to marry you?  Did you cast a spell on her or something?Dranko leaves by the window.* *A brief interview with Eddings after dinner confirms that while he didn’t actually travel with the Company, he also remembers the past the same way as they do.   He was just as surprised to find the change in Turlus.  “She thinks that the two of us, and some guy named Lucas, are involved in some underground organization," says Dranko.“Who’s Lucas?” asks Eddings.“I think he’s probably that man who came to visit you while we were away,” says Dranko.“Turlissa was flirting with Dranko, too,” adds Morningstar.“Was she?  Harlot!”“Eddings, I’ve really missed you,” says Ernie.“This seems like a bigger change than Cranchus said would happen,” says Grey Wolf, lounging in the Greenhouse living room.Aravis nods.  “He’s ended up with a key to manse owned by a secret organization of which he’s evidently the leader?  Yeah, I’d say that’s not small.”Morningstar stands up and peers outside at the setting sun.  “I really need to check in with my temple,” she says.   * *She finds that her reception is the same as always; her sistren are cold, suspicious, but not overtly rude or hostile.   Her request to speak with the High Priestess Milanwy is quickly passed on, and soon she is praying in the small chapel beside her old superior.   Milanwy was never quite as bad as many others, if not exactly warm and friendly.When the services end, the two of them retire to Milanwy’s office.  Morningstar realizes that navigating the dark corridor, while easy, is no longer so instinctive, so second-nature as it once was.  “Welcome!” says Milanwy.  “Welcome back.”Morningstar thinks the High Priestess is nervous, which makes sense considering the circumstances.“I take it you’ve heard some strange things,” Morningstar says.“That would be an accurate statement, yes,” says Milanwy.  “Have you come here straight away?”“We arrived back yesterday,” says Morningstar.  “I’ve visited no other temple before this one.”“Oh.”  Milanwy pauses, balancing decorum and curiosity.  “Are you here to tell me what happened?”“You mean why I disappeared?”“Yes, that, but also why...”Milanwy pauses again, then plunges onward.  “We’ve communed with Ell in your absence, and the answers have been vague, hard to decipher.  Perhaps we weren’t asking the right questions.  But... it sounded like you were not dead exactly, but rather that you existed and you didn’t exist.  It might be easier if you could just tell us what happened.   But did you...   did you exist 2000 years ago?”Morningstar nods.  “How is that possible?” asks Milanwy, awed.“It’s a very long story,” sighs Morningstar.  “Did you speak to Ell?” asks Milanwy.“Yes,” says Morningstar simply.Milanwy sinks back into her chair and looks up briefly at the ceiling.  “That I should live to see such times!”  She shakes her head a bit, as if overwhelmed by the thought.   “Can you just tell me what happened?”“I’ve told you before about the Emperor,” says Morningstar.  “We stopped two plots to bring him back, but not the third.”  “Then the Emperor has returned?”“No.. I mean, he was, but... no.   It’s complicated.   We were in the Greenhouse, which was protected by Abernathy.  It was not affected when time changed and the Emperor...”.“Time changed?” interrupts Milanwy.  “What does that mean?”“It means the Emperor had never left.  It was like we had never defeated him.”“And where was the temple when this happened?  Where was I?”“You, and it, didn’t exist.  Ell was very, very weak.  It was... terrifying.”“The Emperor had won,” says Milanwy, still unsure of what she’s hearing.  “How did that happen?”“Another servant of the Emperor used some very old magical artifacts, and changed history so that the Emperor had never fled.”“He changed history.  And in the new history, he was victorious.”  “Yes.”“Then how are we having this conversation?”“The Company and I fixed it.”“You changed history back to the way it should be,” says Milanwy nodding.  “And that’s what you were doing these last two months.  Fixing history.”“It’s been more like a year for us, but yes.”Morningstar describes Het Branoi as well as she can.  Milanwy can’t really understand the details, but Morningstar keeps it simple.  When she gets to the point about going 2000 years into the past,  Milanwy shakes her head.“That is consistent with some of the answers we’ve gotten from our divinations.  I still don’t understand much of what you’re saying, but I’ll take your word for it.  But... while you were in the past you communed with Ell?“She was not well.   I think I may have been her only disciple.”“And this was in the time when the Emperor had won.  Yes, I imagine he outlawed all other religions.   We’ll need to send a report to Rhiavonne... this will make things interesting.   I am the first person you’ve spoken to in the church?  Then you don’t know... about the Illuminated Sisters.  You see, Rhiavonne thought you were... out of the picture, so to speak.  She said that you had made a promise before your disappearance, that you would dissolve the Illuminated Sisters after the recent battle at Verdshane.”“I promised I would do my best to make it so,” says Morningstar.  “Well, she took your promise straight to Amber.  Rhiavonne has ordered the Illuminated Sisters to be disbanded.  That was about three weeks ago.”“And?” prompts Morningstar.“Amber is very clever,” says Milanwy.  “She’s stalling, calling on old laws from old books, involving church bureaucracy, which is at very least sending religious scholars scrambling.  You know my feelings on the Illuminated Sisters – neutral at best.  But the communes we have done paint a slightly different picture.  I’m no longer so convinced that they should be dissolved.  You’ve learned something, haven’t you?”“I have,” says Morningstar.  “Something that’s not going to make Rhiavonne very happy?”“No.  But I have always wished that the Temple be whole.  I never asked for this.”“If it’s true that you have gone into the past and communed with Ell, and asked questions that we in the present are not encouraged to ask, and you received from the Goddess clear answers... then that puts you in a very unique position.  There will be many priestesses who will back you up, if you use this opportunity to... write policy, if you take my meaning.”Morningstar puts her head in her hands and lets out a long sigh.“If that policy is reintegration – to make the church whole, as you say – I expect little disagreement,” continues Milanwy.  “Amber, perhaps.  But... you should think about what you want.  Because whatever that is, many priestesses from all factions will be behind you.  As you know, Ell wants us to find our own path, our own interpretation of her teachings.   She does not answer direct questions about her will.   We feel that this is still true, regardless of your return.”  “And yet Ell was very straightforward in sending me to train in the light, to become who I am,” says Morningstar.  “Yes, I know,” says Milanwy.  “And I find that interesting, that Ell speaks so clearly to you.  My personal opinion is that Ell is testing us.  She wants us to see how we resolve this crisis.  I expect She will be pleased however this turns out, but then, I am an optimist.”“I hope you’re right.”“What do you want the Church to do, Morningstar of Ell?  Think upon that.  I am certain, given your journey, you should be allowed time to reflect.  You need not decide right away.  And in my opinion, you should talk to Rhiavonne, and to Amber – you need not make any decisions alone.  Your sisters... will share their opinions with you one way or another.”“Oh, I know that!” laughs Morningstar.  “Yes.  You have not been treated fairly by our church, I admit, and I personally did not make things any easier for you.  For that I am sorry.  But times have changed, and Ell, I’m sure, now watches us with great curiosity.”“When I spoke with Ell, I learned that She does not agree with everything the Illuminated Sisters would have,” admits Morningstar.  “Are you... will you share your whole conversation with me?”  asks Milanwy, expectantly.“Do you want to know?” asks Morningstar.“Of course I want to know!” Milanwy exclaims.  “Most of the High Priestesses of the various temples around Charagan would be just as eager as I am.   And were you to write you a journal of your experiences, it would quickly become among the most renowned of our religious texts.”Morningstar blinks.  “Oh,” she says quietly.For a moment they simply regard each other, quietly, in the pitch dark of the office.“I don’t envy you, Morningstar,” says Milanwy at last.  “Ell has given you a winding road.”“It’s not what I would have chosen for myself,” says Morningstar.  “And what would you have chosen for yourself?” asks Milanwy, standing up.Morningstar stands as well, before giving an answer about which she hardly needs to think.“A simple life of prayer,” she says.* *Back in the Greenhouse, Morningstar throws herself onto a sofa.  “Crap, crap, crap. Crap!”Dranko, Ernie and Flicker have stayed up to find out how things went.“Good news?” says Dranko.“Crap!” Morningstar confirms.  She shares with them her full conversation with the High Priestess.  “So you could be the architect of the future of your temple?” asks Dranko when she finishes.  “What’s wrong with that?”“I’m not qualified!” Morningstar protests.“The fact that you don’t feel worthy of the task, is a good indication that you are,” says Ernie.  Dranko frowns.  “Does that mean I’m the wrong person for the job of being in charge of the Thieves’ Guild?”“Yeah, probably,” says Flicker.Dranko turns to his wife and becomes serious.  “This is your test from Ell,” he says.  “She’s asking you to choose from between the traditional teachings of the church, and what you learned from her directly in the past.  And if you follow your conscience, and do what you feel is right, everything is going to be okay.”Morningstar smiles, reminded of why she married him.  “And if you get a swollen head in the process, we’ll mock you,” adds Dranko.  “But I don’t think that will happen.”...to be continued...</blockquote>

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