As it turned out, the wonder wasn't in the pills that Ulia gave me. She introduced me to proper usage of the "Stomach" magic gift; it was a standard magic power, like the Eye that I had used before I got used to my godly powers, designed to take the contents of your stomach and immediately supply them across your body. If you ate a medicinal pill, it reached your muscles, your skin, your heart and lungs, your liver... everywhere, immediately. You didn't need to wait for digestion... but it also had to be exactly the right stuff to be useful.

The pill itself, according to Ulia, was mostly nutrition with some medicine. The one in particular that I got had little that was special, except some medicine to resist blisters and some kind of blood-cleansing things used for new warriors. As underwhelming as it could have been, the fact that it got to every corner of my brain and to every muscle meant that I actually felt significantly better pretty much as soon as I started using the gift.

While I was resting, Ulia walked through more of her Time and Space katas. I could tell that she was trying to unlearn and relearn what she had practiced thousands of times before, and it wasn't easy. I got the impression that for her Space katas, she was mostly trying to not prepare ahead of time, and for her Time katas she was mostly trying to focus on maintaining her focus while combining it with the Space arts... but from the outside, it was hard to know exactly what was going on in her head.

Whatever she was doing made her look incompetent, when I knew that she wasn't; she simply didn't pull off what she had already proven to me that she could do, so it looked kind of like she didn't know what she was doing. Rather than looking like a master, she seemed like a neophyte going through the motions. Although to some extent it was embarrassing to watch, I decided to take it for what it was: a sign that she trusted me, and didn't feel threatened by me at all, both in terms of martial prowess, and that I wouldn't try to denigrate her or humiliate her for her failures.

And I wouldn't. After all, I knew, I was soon going to be looking like a total fool. There was no sense in making fun of her when I was about to be at her mercy.

The next few hours were a repeat of the last few, after which I had to apologize and stop. Ulia seemed a little surprised--I guess she was something of a training maniac, at least while she was trying to get through this martial arts quandary, and it didn't occur to her that I might not be. But in the end, I just didn't feel comfortable letting the whole day get away from me.

The next step after exercising, of course, was a bath. I managed to prepare myself mentally for it, mostly by not dwelling on the weird thoughts that kept popping up, but when Ulia led me back to the bridge and the bathing area there, I still felt entirely out of place. There were four women-at-arms bathing there when we arrived, and none reacted to my arrival or presence at all. With some effort, I managed to be equally aloof.

The bathing area itself was kind of neat. The water coming from the fountain, above, fell through a number of stone slots, each of which had something like a metal water spreader underneath it, so that instead of a downpour it was a slightly more diffuse, almost shower-like experience, if not quite as regular as I was used to. The water disappeared into several cracks in the floor, the edges of each worn down by time and use, and from there, I assumed, out and down into the city below. There was a chest-high wall with many pillars on the outer edge of the bridge, so people could look out but not worry about falling, although the view was mostly blocked by the remnants of the water above falling over the edge.

It was nice to bathe again. The high pressure blast from the waterfall when I'd bathed below was a... unique experience, but this was less off-putting, suitable for constant use, and the area was large enough to serve dozens at once. In short, both practical and pleasant, although... the fact that there was probably another baths beneath us, and people would be bathing in the water I just used, was kind of creepy.

When I stepped out, I couldn't help looking out over the edge of the bridge. I could certainly go back to my room and spend time as my Avatar, but if I was looking for clues about what was going on, I should probably go into town. I needed time away from that room, from the Temple, and from confinement in general, but I also needed a new perspective, and I wasn't sure where I'd get one.

So I thanked Ulia and told her I needed to see the town, which Pal'lud had said I could do. She promised to make sure the guards would let me back in--I wasn't sure if that was joking or serious, since I didn't know how many guards there were or how many would have heard of me. In any case, I was quickly loose again, on the public side of the Temple gates, feeling mildly disgruntled.

So I walked. The hill on the other side of the bridge, the one I had climbed to get access to the Temple in the first place, was mostly government buildings, from what I could tell. Without asking too many questions, I was quickly told that the complex on the far side of the hill was mostly meeting rooms and offices of the state, and the ruling clan (that was how they phrased it) would take quarters below. As I strolled among these official buildings, I saw a flag that piqued my interest. After searching my memory, I nodded. Selmont.

The woman who had delivered the draft notice, Prenima de Selmont, had made it sound like her clan were in charge. Bard had deferred to the Weavers, but she'd said the Weavers weren't in charge. From what I'd learned, though, the Weavers were definitely central to how the place was governed even if they weren't, nominally, in charge. So perhaps these Selmonts were in power now, but that could change later? Maybe the Weavers got to decide who was in charge?

Not too long after that, while I was getting something cheap to eat from a food stall, I felt a strong pull from Alanna, one I wasn't expecting. I stepped into a side alley as though just to rest my head, and shifted my perspective, discovering that I was being summoned into a woman's shadow, a woman I'd never met--a blind woman, apparently, who was elderly and leaning on a gnarled wooden cane.

Nearby were several well-dressed men, all kneeling. They did not make any moves or sounds.

Without knowing exactly how to begin, I tried to project confidence and just a bit of confusion. "Well, well, this is a surprise," the words came, in Xethram's warm baritone, "and what may I do for you gentlemen, today?"

"We, ah, we bear a message, for the great God of Eyes," said the man in front. "We represent the Yunian Order of Masters, from Contel. We were asked to pass on this message to you from--the Patron of the Order."

I made a puzzled noise, and shifted to looking at the woman. Alanna's avatar clearly sensed me, because she turned her head as though to meet my eyes, in spite of a black blindfold that was hiding, I could tell, two empty eye sockets. She passed me some kind of mental message that was the equivalent of a shrug, implying she didn't know what to say about it, either.

"I'm happy to receive your message," I replied to the man. After a moment, I realized he had an envelope in his hand. "If you would just hand it to the lady, she'll read it for me."

Oh, I like that, I felt Alanna's voice in my mind. Are you going to give me an eye?

I can lend you one, or let you see through the blindfold. Either way.

I want to see the looks on their faces. Wait until I lift it.

So the old woman held out her hand, and the man handed her the envelope. With the same hand, the woman reached up and slipped her blindfold up, so the men could see the empty socket, and I passed to her the Far Seeing Eye. From my perspective on the floor, it seemed to appear in her socket first as a burst of blue flame, one that expanded to fill her eye socket and then solidified into a material eye, one that I could swear looking at it from the floor might have contained a whole world inside of it. Without needing to adjust to the eye for more than a moment, Alanna flicked her gaze across the men before her, and couldn't quite resist a smug smirk on her face.

I looked at them as well, but honestly, I was never one for savoring the looks of shock and confusion on people's faces. Instead, as Alanna released her gnarled staff to open the envelope and pull out the paper within, I shifted to also look through the godly Eye I had granted her.

The paper within the envelope was crossed with light blue ruled lines, with three holes punched on the left side. The writing was in English, but I translated for Alanna, since she already knew how deep I was in this whole mess.

I apologize, I realized later how ominous my previous note must have seemed. I can assure you that while there are many factions in this world hostile to you, I am none of them. In fact, I suspect strongly that you will be able to help me with a problem I face, a problem that perhaps none except you will understand. To that end I will leave instruction that the Order send one of their experts to help with the construction of your Temple.

This of course comes with terms. First, you must follow my instructions, both in my original letter, and when we meet, no matter how much you may disagree with them. As you have caught my interest, I assure you that I will notice if you fail to do so. Second, in the process of creating your temple, you must accomplish the task I will set out for you. I suspect circumstances will make it difficult, but I have faith you can accomplish it. If you do not agree to or comply with these terms, my assistance will be immediately and permanently withdrawn. If you do agree, let the men here know.

As a further down payment, I suggest that you withdraw your Vicar as soon as you receive this note. There should be a brief period when it is safe to contact her. To clarify, I am not responsible for the dangers she is under. I merely am one with the perspective necessary to offer advice.

-E

I felt frozen in place as I read. After a long moment, I withdrew from Alanna's Eye, then took the eye back from her, and watched as it turned to flame in her eye socket and vanished. The old sage woman let the blindfold fall back over her socket and folded up the paper, by feel. She did not let her face betray any sign that she understood what she had seen.

"Well, that news is... hm. Something of a mixed bag, I suppose." I looked over the men assembled in front of us. "Some of this news is ominous, but... I feel that I must agree to the terms. You said it came from the Patron of your order?"

"Yes." The man kneeling ahead of the others met my gaze, which must have felt very strange for him. "I don't know much about her, except that she is very old. The Yunian Order of Masters has records of her interference for many generations, and she always has acted in the best interests of the Order and the world."

"And one of you is promised to assist me," I said, flicking my eyes between them.

"We... have some understanding that we must construct a Temple for you. The instructions that were delivered to us said you must make an oath."

I started to ask a question, but before I could, I found myself before the Council of Gods. However... I tried to talk but could not, tried to move but could not, and even thinking seemed not to work right. Then, suddenly, I realized I was looking at a woman standing in the center of them all.

It was a woman I had seen before. I had been arguing with Alanna, and Xenma, and the unnamed earth god. I was showing them the whole world, trying to put into perspective how small their lives were. There was one shining spark in the asteroid belt surrounding the planet, and in that one shining spark was a woman. Although I didn't understand, I had thought for a moment that she was a robot, only to understand immediately that she wasn't--that she was flesh and blood.

This woman was before the Council, and I realized after a moment that none of them could move a finger. I also realized, belatedly, that this was not happening at this moment--it was a memory from long ago; there were more faces, and some faces that had never raised their heads when I was there were staring at her, fully enraptured, mostly enraged.

"What comes next is simple," said the woman. "Either you swear to me an oath, or you don't. If you don't, I will not permit you to know of me, speak of me, or do anything to me, ever again." And in her hand emerged a spark of light that poured out magic endlessly, and I Felt, with a religious capital letter, a spell circle hundreds of times larger than the council chamber itself, appear around the meeting hall--a circle I could not see, but knew in my bones.

"Swear that you exist to serve humanity, in all its races and forms, and that you shall never reveal my presence to anyone, mortal or immortal, who has not sworn the same oath. Swear that your life and soul are forfeit if you knowingly and willingly break the terms of this agreement."

Among the council, only two agreed, one being the muscled judge, and one I did not see. Halos appeared around their heads, and when the woman squeezed her hand around the magic ball she held, crushing it, the others were the target of that vast spell circle. As it activated, spiraling down on us all, I could feel it beginning to crush my own mind--

I blinked, coming out of the memory. Had the previous owner of my Key been on that council? And this woman knew about it? She was more powerful than gods, for all that she seemed to not be using soulflame to accomplish her goals, not if that memory was accurate. That had to mean... that she was the descendant of the Arch Sorcerers, right?

I swallowed, and considered the oath she had offered. I... had no reason not to accept those terms, did I? I wanted to serve humanity, and keeping her secret was nothing. So I opened my mouth, feeling something tremble in my Key as I did so.

"Very well, then. I hereby, humbly..." I hesitated for only a moment. "...swear that I exist to serve humanity, in all its races and forms, and shall never reveal the presence of the Patron to anyone who does not, or else..." and I got the impression they could not hear this part of the oath as I spoke it, "...my life and soul are forfeit."

I felt a shudder pass through Alanna's avatar, though I wasn't sure what it was--if she was having her memory wiped, or if she were reviewing the same dream of that oath, or whatever else. I felt a little worried that I had already revealed what I knew to her... but the oath couldn't possibly be retroactive, right? As long as I held to the terms moving forward, there was nothing else I could do.

"Then we will do our best to follow the Patron's instructions," said the man, as the kneeling parties stood up. "We should arrive at the location for your temple soon."

"Soon?" I let my voice carry a curious, doubting tone.

The man hesitated. "I was told... we will be there before you have any guests. I don't know more than that."

I considered that. "So you know where it is... to be built?"

"The Patron promised us specific directions." The man's voice gave me confidence that he was not asking me to provide those directions.

I hesitated, but forced some more confidence and cheer into my voice. "Very well, then. I... look forward to seeing your good work."

The three bowed, and I felt myself forcibly dismissed by Alanna.

Are you alright? I sent her that thought, but I felt that she was awake and aware, and more disturbed by what had happened than affected by it.

We'll talk. Later.

So I retreated back to my own head, there in an alleyway in the city of Balant. After a moment of confusion, I recalled the other thing the note had said: withdraw your vicar.

So I dived into my Little God's Room, and without hesitation laid a hand on Raine's shoulder, although I felt Tammy try to resist. Raine was in a tent, exhausted. She looked as though she had not gotten any sleep in days, and I could tell that Tammy's mood was not much better.

My shadow spilled out from Raine, something I had never done to her, but my voice caught in my throat. I wanted to insist that she retreat, but I just couldn't bear to ask her to keep running, not with the exhaustion I could see in her. But more than that...

More than that, I could feel her grief.

"Raine." My voice came from my shadow, and her eyes found mine immediately. I have no doubt she sensed who I was, but we had never done this before, so...

"They're dead," she whispered back. "They're all dead, and it's all my fault."

No, it's mine, some part of me wanted to argue. "I'm sorry," I said.

"It's not safe here," she said, though it didn't feel like she was talking to me. "They're coming."

That got my hackles up. What did she know? "Who?"

"Black," she said, and I sensed Tammy's voice echoing along with Raine's. "I don't know. Not safe. Not here. Black."

That sent a surge of alarm through me. I wanted to... I wanted to do so much. To tell Raine to run, or to fight. To tell Murn that something was coming. But if Raine had told me, she must have said the same to her, right? Murn must know that a necromancer was hunting them. I could feel traces of it on her, slashes of black like oily wounds on her soul. If Murn had seen her, she would know, and there seemed little doubt to me that Murn must have seen to her straight away.

And yet I was told not to speak to her... why?

I sensed something on Raine's end, something in the far distance, but powerful. In a panic, I reached out and grabbed Raine, dragging her into her shadow--our shadow, the part of her that was shared with me. There was no time to ask her to run. I don't know why I felt it, but I did.

I half expected her to appear in front of me in the city, but my Avatar caught her in the mountains, and I had to shift over there, moving her over to the hard stone bed that I had rested on since I had been there. Her eyes went wide, and she started to sit up--but I felt things strain inside of her. She, like me, had never been trained to be a real warrior. She was well past her limits, and had been for days.

"Rest," her god told her, in that same smooth baritone. "I will protect you. I wish I could do more, Raine of Eyes, I truly do. I am sorry." I let my hand cover her eyes, and gently pushed her head down to the bed. "Rest, now. I will answer your questions soon."

As Raine stopped fighting her exhaustion, I put both hands on her and unleashed what flame I could to destroy the traces of black power within her. It wasn't easy; there were marks on her that seemed like they weapons rather than wounds, powerful but crude. The images that they gave off to me were very simple--wedges, sharp strings, pointy bits. As though, perhaps, the maker wasn't quite sure what they were doing, or were doing it all by feel.

Still, the necromancer had used a lot of power. Burning it away, combined with moving Raine here, used up entirely too much of my soulflame. I wasn't quite out, but I was definitely low--dangerously low, if there was going to be a fight coming soon. Was that the implication that the Patron was trying to give when she said I'd have guests? I didn't even want to think about it.

I needed answers, and the only person who actually had those answers I was not oath-bound not to ask, or my soul was forfeit. But, I had also been feeling for days that I shouldn't. Did Ciel'ostra know what was happening to her? Did I? Had I made some kind of huge mistake trusting this Patron? What the hell was going to happen to me?

And why, if the Patron of the Yunian Order knew what was going on, did she still insist on meeting at ten minutes until midnight, tomorrow night? Why not now?