It was evening before Raine next awoke. I had spent a lot of that time rereading the Book of Ciel'ostra, both wondering if I had something constructive to offer in terms of rewriting it, and trying to learn anything I could from it.

I'd paid for a small brass cauldron and enough soup to fill it, plus a spoon, and moved that to my hideout for Raine, but in spite of the good smell, she just didn't wake up. So, my Avatar used just a bit of godly magic to break off a thin, clean rock sheet and placed it on top of the cauldron, then kept the soup warm at intervals with traces of red essence. It wasn't ideal, but nothing here was.

I really wanted to talk to Ciel'ostra. I wanted to know that things were okay. I left a message with the guards asking to be notified as soon as Pal'lud awoke, that I needed to talk with her, but nothing had come of it. I could have, should have asked about the High Priestess... but in the end, she was also the same person. What would be the point?

When Raine finally stirred, the first thing I did was warm up the soup and carry it over. It wasn't hot anymore, but I knew without needing to be told that Raine was wiped out.

Luckily I didn't bring the pot too near her, because she reacted badly when she saw the Avatar. She screamed and scrambled back into the corner of the room, holding up the blanket... but quickly, as if out of nowhere, seemed to understand some piece of the situation, and she started to look at me very, very differently.

"I'm sorry, my lady," I said, setting the soup down. "I promised you answers, and you'll get them. But... you should eat, first."

"Who are you?" demanded Raine, not moving towards the food.

I chuckled dryly. "I am exactly who I seem to be," I said. "Though I have no doubt you're disappointed to discover the truth."

After a moment of staring, Raine crawled out of the corner, reaching for my face. I was a little amused, a little concerned, and a little confused, but I let her reach up and touch my cheek. "Xethram?"

"In the flesh, as it were. Though it's not wrong for you to suggest, as you did before, that Ryan was also me. It is... a little complicated." I held up the soup. "Eat."

Raine looked at the brass bowl as though it was very strange, but didn't need any more encouragement. She ate everything that was there, and asked if there was more. I could only laugh quietly and shake my head.

"I'll see about getting more," I said, "but it's not as easy as you might hope. We are... not exactly close to civilization, at the moment. And we are also very far away from the army, and very far from the enemy that was chasing you."

"How?" Raine looked around the room, then frowned and added, "...and what's that noise?"

"Some things are simply possible for gods, my dear Vicar." I offered a smile. "And the noise would be the waterfall."

"Waterfall?" Raine got up and walked first towards the window holes I'd cut, before pausing. Somehow, in spite of the gloom that was starting to settle over the place, she noticed and walked right to the door, which was not terribly well concealed from this side, but certainly wasn't obvious. With a minimum of fussing, she pulled it open.

There was little to see out that way, with the water itself in the way. I felt a little tug of power as Tammy improved her eyesight, but even so, I knew from experience that it wasn't much to look at unless you climbed out around the edges.

"Where are we?" Although I couldn't quite hear her voice over the waterfall itself, not with the door open, I could feel the question as clearly as if she were praying to me.

So I walked up closer behind and gave a little laugh. "We are nowhere, my lady," I said. "Though this will be the location for my first temple, unless I am forced to change it. Somewhere in Belma, but as to the specific location..." I paused. "It is simply... a sacred place to me."

Raine, perhaps to her credit, did in fact sneak out to the edge, and quickly located the handholds that let her climb up to the cliff. I followed, trying to look suave and practiced, although I'd only made this trip a couple times myself. As we sat there looking out over a sea of trees and a bit of a road in the distance, Raine felt the wind on her face and closed her eyes, smelling, feeling, sensing, listening.

"I love it," she said quietly. "I feel... free."

"Well, I hope you always feel the same," I said. "I worry that we may need to hide here for some time. The monster that was chasing you..."

"Black..." Raine tuned immediately to face me. "What is it? What does it mean?"

"The creature that hunted you was a necromancer," I explained, and paused. How should I explain? How much? "A man who feeds on death and destruction the way gods feed on devotion and worship. Rather than earning their share, they kill and steal, and they are uncouth, uncultured creatures worthy of no more than destruction. I have some hope that Murn can handle the creature that was hunting you, but I must ask..." I looked her in the eyes. "Did you get to meet her when you arrived in camp? Does she know what happened?"

"I... met her, but only briefly. She looked at me, and bared her fangs, and said something about hunting them down." Raine's eyes went up and down, as she studied me. "You... are worried about her."

"Very much so, my lady." I paused. "She was good to Ryan... and her Lady, the Goddess of Blades, has been a friend to me. Murn is a powerful Vicar, and I am weak as a god, but... I wish to know for certain that she is not walking into a trap."

"If they could take on me, you think they could take on Murn," interpreted Raine.

"Murn is a great warrior, far better than I ever will be," I replied easily, "and I feel no shame in saying that. But men and women of all kinds can be led into a trap. It is easier for people like Murn, who can be motivated by their emotions... or who are bound by a promise."

"And what did she promise you?"

I laughed. "Me? Nothing, lady. But Murn will protect her nation and her people to her dying breath; I know that much about her." I looked at her. "I have answered you well enough for now. Please... tell me what happened."

So Raine told me the story of the ambush, managing with some obvious effort to distance herself from the events emotionally. Since then, she and Tammy navigated blind through the wilderness, refusing to ask for assistance, with only Tammy's vague sense to tell them when the Necromancer was hunting them. And he was; he laid traps, and twice Raine was ambushed when sleeping. Yet each time, Raine got away by the skin of her teeth, fleeing for hours and hours without rest into unfamiliar wilderness. She also spoke of magic striking her out of nowhere, weakening her, though she didn't understand or know what had happened.

Eventually, she found a tall tree on a hill to help her get a grasp on the land around her, and from there followed a river until she saw signs of where the army had passed. She followed them and was captured by Murn's own scouts. She was barely able to convince them... but Murn knew her at a glance, and that was that.

I was impressed. I would have answered any prayer she asked of me, but something about those black flames burned into Raine interfered with her link to Tammy, and to me. "Being without her was... tough. Many times, I wanted to give up. Now that I can feel her again..." Raine was at a loss for words, but for a moment. Very quickly, she shook her head, finding her strength once more. "As soon as I felt her return, I felt safe again. She is everything to me. So... thank you, for whatever you did."

I gave her a look that I hope suggested it was silly to thank me, and simply said, "You are my Vicar, Raine of Eyes. So long as this is so, you are my responsibility, as well as my joy and pride. Not many could have survived what you did. Indeed I could only do this much to save you, and for that, I apologize."

"No, no, no, my lord Xethram, not at all!" Raine laid her hands on my knee, and she gave me a look of such concern that my heart clenched. "I don't care that you are weak, that you have no temple... whatever it is that you have done, or not done, is enough. I just..." she put one hand to her chest, as the wind blowed her hair, and she closed her eyes and was drawn within herself. "...letting me be with Tammy again, letting her find me, guide me, be a part of my life. Without her, even if I'd survived the army, I would have wished I was dead. With her, even after going through hell, I'll gladly keep going. Whatever happens next, I'm ready."

I... was honestly touched. I couldn't help smiling at her. As the wind blew again across the cliffside, I looked out over the dimming skies, with the red of the sunset starting to fade, and my smile slowly disappeared. "We had better get inside," I said. "It won't be all that easy to find the way in the dark."

So we did, and once inside, I conjured just a bit of silver essence inside the room, essence that hung in the air and shone light all around. I knew I was fortunate in a lot of ways, but in this case, it was most important that essence manipulation was simple, and that it didn't take any of my soulflame, because there was no way that Raine or I would be comfortable in that small place in the dark. As it was, she looked around the place as though seeing it for the first time.

"Not much of a room," she said quietly.

"Gods draw power from their followers," I said, hoping the simple explanation didn't give too much away. "I have already made a deal to have a real temple made, but until then, I needed somewhere... safe. No more than that."

Raine closed her eyes, and I realized that I felt her in my Little God's Room, stirring and looking around. I had never been aware of her actually paying attention to that place, but now that she was here, now that she knew the waterfall, it seemed as though she could actually see the layout of that room.

"It's here," she said quietly, as I closed the door to the waterfall to seal out some of the noise. "This is the sacred place of your religion... of my religion." The last words were spoken as though she found them very odd, which I suppose she probably did.

"Indeed it is," I confirmed. "And it will only be better in the future. But first, we must survive. I fear there is a danger still lurking in the distance. Until the Goddess of Blades tells me that it is passed, I will continue to worry."

"I know that the Goddess will figure it out," she replied, with a note of conviction to her voice. "But for now... there must be some way I can be of use to you, my lord Xethram."

"Tomorrow, my dear Vicar" I promised, although I honestly wasn't sure what Raine could help me with even if she was in prime condition. "For now, rest."

After a moment, Raine gave me a strange look. "How is Ryan?"

"He is visiting the Temple of Blades," I replied, hesitating when I saw her perk up. "It has been... a strange experience for him."

Raine gave a short, snorting kind of laugh. "Is it true the Temple is full of women?"

I... can't begin to explain the feeling that came over me as I gave Raine a mischievous smile, as though the smile itself was sufficient answer. It was like I was on the receiving end of my own joke...? This body of mine wasn't stressed out or upset by what was happening to me, wasn't perturbed by the pressure or confused by the hormones and pheremones. In a strange way I was... enjoying the schadenfreude of my own suffering? I did my best to maintain a non-confused mask as I took the chair by the table and gestured for Raine to take the bed once more.

"I can sleep on the floor, my lord... I don't mean to inconvenience you..."

"Believe me when I say that I don't pay much attention to my own comfort," I said with a laugh. "And right now, you definitely need to rest, so that you may recover. Though tomorrow, perhaps you can gather some materials from above to improve the place. I have been rather ignoring the world around me in favor of... godly matters."

Raine nodded, and sat back down on the bed. I noticed her wiggling her toes and looking at the floor, but whatever thoughts she had stirring inside her head remained private. After a time, she laid down, and was still.

Elsewhere, in Balant, I flopped over on my bed. If it were at all plausible I would have passed a whole cot over to the temple through my shadow, letting this me sleep on the floor while letting both Raine and my avatar rest properly, but... I could easily think of at least three ways that could go wrong. If only I had more flame, or the ability to do magic properly, I would have at least made another slab bed to let my Avatar lie down without being on the floor. I should have gotten myself another blanket.

So much to do, so much I needed, and I had so little. Not enough money, magic, followers... not even enough information. If I got through this... when I got through this... I would have a lot of things that needed changing.

In the meantime, I had just over a day before a deadline I still didn't understand the significance of came crashing down on me. Why tomorrow? Why midnight?