Emily, Crystal Shrine of Tiki

I woke up to a worried Foyuna reading a book in the chair that I couldn't climb onto in my bedroom.

"That's quite a scowl," I muttered in a half-asleep voice since I was not completely awake.

She put the book down in a hurry, "You're awake."

"Maybe. Maybe not. Haven't decided yet." I admit I was feeling a bit flat since I had problems falling asleep last night and I didn't know where Lisaykos was sleeping so I could ask her for a sleep charm. I was a bit underslept, assuming it was still morning.

"W...what time is it?" I asked.

"About half-past the second bell."

Yes, I was underslept. Sleeping some more was tempting, except now I wanted to know why Foyuna was camping out in my bedroom, waiting for me to wake up.

"So, Holy One," I began, "why are you reading a book next to w...where I'm sleeping?"

"You can call me by my name, Great One," Foyuna said tentatively. That surprised me.

"W...we haven't spoken much at all," I pointed out. "I didn't w...want to be rude. Lisaykos really beats me up verbally when she thinks I've been rude, even by accident. I try to avoid that. She's scary when she gets all proper."

Foyuna started laughing, "oh, that was such a great face." She laughed some more.

"W...when you remember how to breathe, the name is Emily," I said.

"I'm sorry," Foyuna finally managed to get her episode of hilarity under control. "You just looked so put out when you mentioned being chided by Lisaykos. You seem to have endured a few sessions of being coached by the best bred and most mannered of all the high priestesses."

"Once or twice," I said as drily as possible. “Why are y...you here, Foyuna?"

"I'm here because the Queen and High Priestess Lisaykos left for Black Falls well before dawn," Foyuna explained. "The Shrine of Sassoo was attacked and burnt. High Priestess Senlyosart is on the edge of death. The people at the scene requested the Queen and High Priestess of Mugash, to see if they could save her. I decided you needed to hear that news from me since this is my shrine and it looks like you'll be here for two to three days longer. So, tell me: how can I keep you entertained enough so you won't try to go climbing about in my plumbing or go exploring when Lisaykos wants you to stay in bed or at least not go walking around?"

"Huh," what a vexing question. How would I entertain myself so I didn't get into too much trouble while at her shrine? I wasn't even quite sure what this shrine did other than taking care of that huge crystal under the dome. "If you have the time to spare, what about a tour of your shrine, for starters? I don't know what all y...you do here other than babysit that lovely chunk of quartz out under the dome."

"Quartz?" she asked, looking confused.

"Y...your huge crystal is made of a substance called quartz, which is silicon dioxide. I think it's the biggest quartz crystal I've ever seen or heard of."

"Are all of the crystals in the shrines this quartz stuff?" she was intrigued.

"The ones at Is'syal, Aybhas, and Omexkel are also Quartz. The one in the vault at the Shrine of Galt, wh...which is to say in the original Well of Galt, is a topaz, an aluminum neosilicate with fluorine in it. It's much rarer than quartz and I've been w...wondering where it came from. It's amazing. I haven’t seen any other shrines’ crystals."

"I have no idea, and I have no idea what all those different things mean," Foyuna admitted. "All the crystals are so old that no one remembers where they came from."

"I w...wonder if there's anything about that in the vault at the Shrine of Galt?" I would have to ask Kamagishi the next time I saw her. "Anyway, a tour might be good." I rubbed the sleep out of my eyes. "I hope Senlyosart makes it. She's nice. It w...would be not good if she died. We talked about going fishing together."

"Yes, she suffers from that strange affliction of wanting to catch fish and eat them," Foyuna considered. "I didn't know that you suffered from the same disease."

"You don't like fish?" I asked.

"Well, the fish that got served up at the Convocation dinner at the Shrine of Mugash last year was very good. If all fish tasted like that, I think I might change my mind about fish."

"Y...you just need to learn how to prepare it properly. The Foskos habit of boiling fish is the w...worst way to make it unless you're preparing a soup or stew. Certain varieties of fish do better if cleaned and then allowed to soak overnight in cold milk, coated in egg and then dipped in flour, and cooked in a cast-iron frying pan in hot oil. Y...you can put herbs or cheese in the flour to change up the seasoning. Others do better baked in butter with bread crumbs. Again you can flavor the butter with lemon or garlic or herbs to achieve variations in the seasoning. Cheese with some fish is always good if you know wh...which varieties are suitable for it. There's so much y...you can do with fish."

"Maybe I should just put you on a stool in the kitchen and let you talk to my cooks all day about fish," she grinned at me. "I must confess, I have never cooked anything. I've always had other people to cook for me."

"Seriously? That’s as bad as Lisaykos!" I confess I was gobsmacked. I had a hard time wrapping my brain around the thought of anyone who had never learned to cook.

“Well,” she looked a little embarrassed, “we both grew up in the palace at Is’syal, though many years apart, so neither of us ever got near a kitchen when we were young.”

I had to shake my head at that. "I have no objections talking to your cooks, if they w...will listen to me," I admitted. "Some fresh fish out of the river to play with might not be a bad idea. I just w...would worry that I would tire out after a while w...without someone to take me back here to rest."

"Since you mentioned it, I was thinking of taking you around myself, at least for a tour of the shrine." She pulled a plate off the table and set it on a shorter table next to the bed that had appeared overnight. It was slightly higher than the level of the mattress. It had four egg, onion, and cheese rolls on it. "You missed early repast but one of the lead cooks with the army by the name of Emoskos left these off for you before they headed south for Black Falls. I put them under stasis to keep them fresh and then forgot about them yesterday."

I started to reach for one but Foyuna lightly swatted my hand away. "Patience, greedy little Emily. Let me lift the stasis first. Do you want two or three?"

"Two."

"How about three?" she suggested.

"If I eat three I w...won't have any appetite at midday," I pointed out.

"Alright, two." There had been four on the plate. Two disappeared back into the white baker's cloth that I knew Emoskos used to wrap rolls and bread. "We'll save the rest for later."

"How many did Emoskos give y...you?"

"Eight, and it's been hard not to eat them myself," she admitted. "I will let you devour those and will be back between now and the third bell to give you a chance to freshen up and get changed."

"How about at the third bell so I have time to soak in that w...wonderful bathtub?" I asked. "Could you do the hot w...water tank for me, please?" How I wished I had magic to cast the charm that heated water.

"Certainly."

She must have had her crystal hidden in her hand to charm the tank and the rolls because I never caught her casting the charms. It was either that or she had the knack of casting charms without using a crystal as a focus for the magic.

I confess, I lost track of time and was still soaking when Foyuna came back. She let herself in and then I heard her sit down and the bed and start laughing.

"I'll come back in just a bit so you can get dressed," she chuckled. "I seem to remember that you liked soaking. Lisaykos told me the story of you and the Queen, your hot spring, and hanging all her clothes on the trees with snow still on the ground. What a marvelous thing to have done."

"I see y...you are amused," I said, having discovered why she was laughing.

"Oh, Emily, that was a wonderful thing you did. Everyone's been so scared of the Queen for so long and here you are: tiny little you stealing her clothes despite not having a lick of magic. It's so rich. I wish I could have seen it happen."

"I'll be three doors down to the right, on the same side of the hallway as your room if you get done before I'm back," she said and she left. I was out of the tub and dressed when she came back. She caught me fighting with my hair.

"Here, let me," she got on her knees, dried my hair instantly, and did something that untangled all the tangles. Taking the comb from me, she had my hair tamed in less time than it took me to put on my shoes. Then she put it into a regular braid, not a fancy french braid which everyone in Foskos called an overplait.

"There, that looks presentable," she turned me around inspected me. "Now, I'm going to let you walk three doors down with me because someone you know wants to say hello."

"My shoes?" I asked.

"I think you won't ruin your stockings if you walk just three doors distant because other than that, you aren't walking anywhere, or Lisaykos will stick me with hosting Convocation meetings for the rest of my existence," she held the door for me and matched my pace down the hall. "This is the room," she opened the door. "Sorry, but I'll have to lift you onto the bed."

"Is that the Great One, Holy One?" a familiar voice said. I couldn't place who the man was but I knew I had heard this voice before. Whoever it was, he sounded weak.

"Yes, it is," Foyuna smiled at him. "Don't overtire yourself trying to get those fingers to move more. Just moving them is a huge improvement. Your daughter will be very happy to hear that you could move them today." She picked me up and stood me on the bed, keeping a hold of me so I didn't trip or fall.

"General!" It was Bobbo. He looked like he had been through a war, which he probably had. He did not look like the energetic and robust man I was used to seeing. "Just drop the title, please? The name is Emily. I heard y...you got injured w...with the invasion of Pinisla."

"Shot full of arrows, fell into a river, and went over two waterfalls," he managed to grin. "According to the healers, if it was a bone, then I broke it, except the ones inside the ears." He was smiling but his voice was weak.

I managed to get around his legs to sit cross-legged with my back against the wall. "Sounds like y...you got hit on the head near where the parietal and front bones of your skull come together at the top of your head and a bit to the right," I remarked. "Right side, right about here," I pointed high on my skull. "I may be off a finger or t..two in location since I'm not a healer."

"That’s right. How do you know that?" he wanted to know.

"I share quarters w...with a head trauma specialist in Aybhas," I replied with a smile. "Hard not to pick up stuff from her."

"I knew that," he rolled his eyes. "In reality, it was much worse than this but Lord Usruldes consulted with his teacher in magic, who isn't human and knows things we don't. He came back from visiting his old teacher and took me from paralysis to having a chance at a real life again. I am very much in his debt. I got my fingers to move earlier today but my left elbow seems hopeless."

“Getting better takes time,” I remarked. “You have the look of someone w...who needs a little more patience.”

"Yes, I've been telling him that too, but it hasn't sunk in," Foyuna said, pulling up a chair.

"Overachievers often have a hard time when injured or ill," I said. "It's not easy to be broken when y...you're used to being fit and w...well." I looked at Bobbo giving me an appraising look. "General, why are y...you here? I thought you w...were at the shrine in Aybhas?"

"When news arrived in Aybhas that the city walls were breached at Black Falls, I convinced that head specialist you live with and the garrison commander to bring me to the Queen," he explained. "I thought if we could use your instant fireballs on the army attacking the gates of the Shrine of Sassoo like you did in Yant, then we could delay them long enough for the ground army to get there. I know that the Queen is partial to personal hardships endured to achieve something that benefits others so I decided to make that move for the sake of the shrine."

"I take it y...you succeeded?"

"Oh yes, but at the price of having to stay here at this lovely shrine for a few extra days, being spoiled with good food and lovely company." Even in a weakened state and hardly able to move, the General was still working his audience over. What a schmooze artist.

"I wish I was not bedridden," he said with genuine regret, "because I have never had the chance to see the observatory on top of the dome here."

"Observatory?" I didn't know there was an observatory here. What sort of observatory?

"The Shrine of Tiki keeps the calendar, Emily," Foyuna explained to me. "You didn't know that?"

"No, had no idea y..you did that here. I confess, other than the shrine where I have been living, I know very little about the Shrines and Foskos in general. I didn't even know w...what territory was included in Foskos until I read about it in a book earlier this year. Is it a day or night observatory, or both?"

"Both. After we ate at midday, I'll make sure I will include it in the tour." Foyuna looked at Bobbo, "I think we may manage to get you up to the roof, General, if you don't mind being carried."

"I'm getting used to it," he said with resignation. "For the opportunity to see it, I won't turn down the help to get up there."

We had the mid repast in Bobbo's room, talking about the war. We all agreed that Aylem's flight from the kingdom probably played a role in the Impotu Empire's decision to invade.

The mid repast was sandwiches, which seemed to be catching on after Lisakos had them served to the Convocation in Aybhas. Bobbo's meal was made up of many smaller bite-size sandwiches that he could pick up with just his right hand and could pop into his mouth. Holding up his right arm was difficult but using it to move a small sandwich was currently within his ability to move.

After the meal was over, I asked Foyuna why she couldn't find a wheelchair locally in Queenstown for the General so he could come with us, even if a trainee or shrine attendant had to push it for the weakened Bobbo.

I got two blank stares in reply.

"I believe," General Bobbo said with a genuine smile of pleasure and not one of his cultivated looks, "as one would say at the Shrine of Mugash, you did it again, Great One."

"I thought I said to quit calling me Great One, you twisted conniving general," I huffed, feeling annoyed.

"But Great One," I swear his eyes twinkled as he grinned in untainted glee, "you're still so out of sorts with that title that I just can't stop myself!"

“You, sir, are as bad a tease as Healer Kayseo, and that’s saying something.” I wasn't unhappy that I could give the injured man some joy, but the cost was so high to my poor self. I didn't care for all the bowing and scraping and title-insistence that persisted in Foskos.

"So," Foyuna wanted to know, "what is a wheelchair? The name is very descriptive so I can take a good guess of what one should look like. Should I be contacting Raoleer so she can drop by and the two of you can draft the plans up?"

---