Emily, Healing Shrine of Mugash

I didn't wake up until the next morning when Lisaylos, shook me awake. The monster queen was standing behind her, peering over the older lady's shoulder, dressed in the shin-length tunics and pants for riding the griffin. Lisaykos was wearing the standard grey robes worn in the shrine over a white linen floor-length dress.

"Might I see if these fit?" Lisaykos held up some draw-string stockings and a pair of ankle boots with a face less stern than her usual. I motioned my agreement. Footwear was high on my list of things to re-acquire. Escaping this place depended on it.

She sat on the edge of the bed, "I will need your feet." I slipped my feet out from under the bedding and Lisaykos had the stockings and shoes on me faster than I expected. I wiggled my toes and flexed my ankles, then jumped out of bed onto the floor which startled both the Queen and Lisaykos. I walked to the door, exploring how my feet liked the fit. I looked up to see that griffin peeking around the doorjamb, and then he winked at me. I rolled my eyes at him and he made that funny snorkeling noise which I decided must be the griffin equivalent of laughter. I shook my head then turned around and walked back.

"How are they?" Lisaykos asked. I gave her a thumbs up and she looked back at me confused.

"People don't use thumbs up or down here," the monster queen explained with a look of apology on her face, though why she made that face was beyond me. "You should do this for yes," she cupped her hand and made a motion as if scooping up water. "And this is no," she flattened her fingers and palm and made a sudden motion as if slapping an imaginary surface, palm facing downward.

Lisaykos looked up and studied the queen's face with a deep crease between her eyebrows, then looked down at me with the same expression. "Aylem, how is she not of the people here and how do you know this?"

The Queen bit her lower lip and her eyes pleaded for Lisaykos to not pursue what she just asked.

Lisaykos looked at both of us in frustration, "Aylem, you are holding back information."

The Queen suddenly scowled and her cheeks flushed red. Lisaykos grimaced and stumbled, gasping, and I fell, finding it impossible to breathe. The sound snapped the Queen out of whatever nasty moment of anger she was in.

"Lisaykos!" The Queen grabbed the older woman by the shoulders. "I'm sorry, dear heart. I lost myself there for a breath. Here," she guided the high priestess to a chair. "Catch you breath."

The sudden change in the Queen was frightening. I wanted to get away from her.

The Queen looked down on me where I had fallen on the floor, face resolute and grim, "do you know how to write in Fosk?"

I shook my head no.

"Oh dear, oh dear, oh dear," the eavesdropping griffin dropped his head between his talons and sighed.

"I know you remember how to write because I saw the labeling on your jars in your workshop, every one of them in Latin script," the Queen stated it as a fact, not a question. "You will need to learn how to write in Fosk."

Lisaykos sat forward and frowned. "What are you saying? She can write but not in Fosk? What is Latin? I don't understand."

"Asgotl, is anyone in the hallway?" the Queen asked her griffin. "No one," he replied.

The Queen looked at Lisaykos, "Remember when I was 12, you gave me a book of legends which had stories of people who had lived previous lives? And then I told you I had memories of another life?" In response, the look that spread across the older woman's face can only be described as gobsmacked.

Behind me, the griffin let out a loud exasperated sigh. "Oh damn," the Queen muttered, looking at my face and where I had fallen on my backside. She knelt on one knee in front of me, looking distressed. "I am so sorry," her voice cracked. "I know you are frightened. I am trying hard not to be frightening. You're the last person I want to hurt. You're the only person besides Asgotl who is like me. Come on, I'm going to put you on the bed now." She lifted me off the floor, set me down on the edge of the mattress, and pulled my shoes off. She took out her wax tablet and stylus and handed them to me.

"I don't even know your name," she smiled tentatively as she pulled up a chair and sat. With my hand still shaking a little, I wrote my name from another life in the wax and handed the tablet to her. "Emily," she handed the tablet back to me. "It beats plain Jane. Lisaykos, have you recovered yet?"

"No, I doubt I will ever recover from this," she glowered at me and then at the Queen. "I locked you in the Well of Mugash for three days as punishment. Oh gods! What was I thinking?"

"You were thinking I was a young troubled child spinning tales, which is what anyone would think in the same circumstances, dearest." The Queen suddenly grinned with one devilish eyebrow cocked, "Mugash said to humor you since you would figure out the truth one day. I took her at her word."

"Mugash said...," Lisaykos's eyes grew round. "Mugash spoke to you?"

"Did you forget what I am? Maybe you and I should visit the Well of Mugash together and I can introduce you," the grin got deeper. I felt a bit sorry for Lisaykos. I'm not sure I would be up for meeting a deity myself. I found the discovery that there were real and active gods on this world was unnerving.

"I can only deal with one revelation a day," Lisaykos snapped, "and you still need to suppress that temper of yours. I can bear your momentary lapses but this little one can not." Then she looked at me with a wry expression: "So, your name is Emily. That's a very odd name. You didn't get that name here, did you? Did anyone give you a Fosk name?" I shook my head no, realizing that Fosk must be the name of the language spoken here.

"It will be a few more days before the rest of her clothes are finished," the Queen said. "Is it possible to teach her Fosk letters while we wait?" I gave her a questioning look. Clothes? What new clothes?

"What you were wearing when I found you was a bit tattered, and the shirt had holes burned in it. So I ordered some clothes for you. Most are like what I'm currently wearing though I did slip in a kirtle and gown, on the chance you might want to mingle with civilized people someday. I brought one set of clothes with me just to check the fit. We only have one pair of shoes so far since shoes are harder to get right. Now that I know we have the right sizing for your feet, we will get some warm weather slips and some good winter boots made for you."

I wrote "apron? knife?" on the tablet and held it up.

"Those are all safe. I have the belt with me. I have your knife too. I thought you might enjoy wearing something other than a nightdress, so I brought the belt to wear with the new clothes, though it could use replacing too."

Lisaykos reached out and took the tablet from me and frowned at what I had written. "So strange. These are Latin letters? You both can read this?" She looked from me to the Queen, shaking her head. "I'm getting too old for this."

The Queen left me alone with the pile of clothes she fetched from her saddle bags still slung on the griffin, asking that I try them on and then meet her in the hallway so she could check the fit. The underclothes felt like cotton. The bottoms were shorts with a drawstring. The top adjusted to the chest with front laces, not that I had much on top to lace up. The pants were a fine, soft, and stretchy wool in grey. There was a long undertunic of pale yellow linen, slit on the sides, that came down to just below my knees and a longer over a tunic of deep blue, slit front and back, that came down to my shins.

It felt strange to wear cloth again after wearing the leathers I tanned or tawed myself over the last five years. Having gotten accustomed to how deer and elkskin moved and stretched with me as I moved, I felt like the cloth was fighting me as I flexed my arms and legs. I resolved to get used to wearing fabric for now. It wasn't as if I had anything else to wear at the moment.

My original plan was to flee this place and pick up the clothing I needed through discrete theft from the Coyn who provided labor in the local community surrounding the shrine. They would be a better class of Coyn than what I grew up with, so the pickings would be good. The loss of an item or two spread across more than one habitation would not be too much of a burden for those I victimized.

The Queen surprised me by providing clothes. It was considerate and thoughtful, I realized. She had a bit of a temper but she could also remember to get me clothes, having removed my old clothing. Her kindness also saved me from the distasteful task of stealing to make do.

I put on my belt and was shocked to see that it was a bit loose. I only ever punched one hole in it for the tongue on the buckle. Did I really lose weight? Maybe there was something to everyone wanting to get me to eat more. I walked to the door only to discover I couldn't reach the latch. I tried jumping and could barely touch it with my fingers, which wasn't any better and much more frustrating.

While I wondering what to do, Lisaykos opened the door. "I wondered if you could reach. I will get a step made so you can open the door. We usually don't host Coyn at the main healing shrine. Healing shrines for Coyn are built on a different scale altogether, but someone insisted you be treated here," she gave the Queen an accusatory sideways glance.

I felt like I had just stepped into the middle of a well-worn ongoing argument.

"It was simply a matter of who I could trust," the Queen answered without missing a beat. She knelt in front of me and sat back on her heels, "hold out your arms. Hmm, just a little too long. A bit loose in the waist." She hooked a finger in my belt and pulled it, noticing it was loose. "You lost weight. You are not allowed to lose weight. You are too thin as it is."

"I brought more of that spread you like," the griffin said from behind me. "There are also yummy things to buy in the market. We could..."

"No, you won't," the Queen cut him off in mid-sentence. "I am sure the King's agents are looking for her." A kick of adrenalin hit my gut and I looked at the Queen, wondering what was going on. She let off one of those big sighs, "my son has a big mouth and he told my husband about the matches. So now the King wants to acquire you, which is why someone has been with you every minute of the day for the last several days. Those three sweet girls who take care of you can level ten regular soldiers and maybe a general or two."

"We emptied this wing," Lisaykos added. "You are the only occupant. This is the highest floor, reserved for special patients. My study and my personal living chambers are just on the other side of the atrium. I am not one to ever boast, but I have stronger magic than even the King. The shrine is probably the safest place in Foskos for you to stay right now."

What they just said caused me to shudder involuntarily. I know they meant well but at this moment, I wanted to be home, safe in my cave, far away from a world overrun with Cosm.