Cass had slipped through crowds and watched them from the shadows of alleys, but she had never been part of them. The Silver District had a market that was open to all of the castes, and so was filled with all kinds of people both buying and selling. Cass’s first reaction to being in the crowd was… It was hard to move through.

When she had slipped through the crowds as a street urchin, she had not had any reason to worry about things like etiquette or not knocking people over. Often she had been running from something, and those things were the last things on her mind. It didn’t help that she was no longer emaciated and actually took up the space of a normal person. Getting to a stall on the other side of the street could be a chore.

However, the things at those stalls caused Cass to gasp in wonder. Perhaps they would not have attracted a noble from Tyine, or even a normal Strioi here in Beergmutar, but to Cass many of the stalls were filled with things of beauty or utility that she could not ignore.

“It is the finest and purest silver,” the merchant said proudly, gesturing to two silver earrings that had caught Cass’s eye. “Straight from the mines and worked by the some of the finest Stone artisans we have seen in years.”

They reminded Cass of swirling wind through someone’s hair, and she was quite taken with them. They cost fifty Brass Voni, which was about half of a Gold Voni. Incidentally, silver was not used as a currency here except for a small amount mixed into the gold of the Gold Voni. Ten Copper Voni equalled a Brass Voni, and one hundred Brass Voni equalled a Gold Voni. She had to get her ears pierced to wear them and the lady who did so for her was surprised when Cass had no reaction to the piercing process, and even more surprised by the rapid healing of Cass’s earlobes. She was able to wear her new earrings immediately that day, to her absolute joy.

There was quite a bit of other things that she saw that she wanted to buy, but Cass managed to restrain herself. All the way back to her time in the orphanage she had memories of people on the streets having a lucky windfall and squandering it all immediately. But Cass would swear up and down that her next purchases were justified. She had not purchased that armlet because she admired how it looked, but because she thought it could be used with her glyphs. Somehow… The same with the bracelet and anklet…

“Odal…” Cass looked longingly at another stall filled with beautiful clothes, “get me out of here before I buy anything else!”

Outside of the market, Cass caught her breath. She had wondered why rich people always wore such gaudy and tasteless jewelry and clothes, and now she figured that they probably wore it to justify their purchase of it. Being able to buy whatever caught her fancy, was intoxicating… Cass would have to be careful, she had managed to spend fifteen of her Golden Voni just four hours! It wasn’t a waste, Cass muttered to herself. She would make them into magic tools later… The armlet was purchased for that purpose after all… But she had to admit she had no idea what to do with the anklet…

“Thank you Odal,” Cass laughed at Odal’s exasperated expression. “I did not realize how fun that would be… And now I have no idea where I am…”

The districts were arranged along the mountain with the higher ranking castes at the top, but the Warrior, Priest, and Strioi district were arranged in such a way that they each shared a border with the Silver District from the top and side, and of course the Stone was bordering it below. So Cass could be almost anywhere in the city now, though they had headed up so it must be one of the first three.

The roads were paved and wide, like the Strioi district, but there was a different sense of silence here and the buildings on the sides of the roads were not manors but more like public monuments and meeting areas. It was a peaceful place…

“This is the Priest’s District,” Odal confirmed Cass’s suspicion. “There are no restrictions about who can come here, but few people actually come to this part of it.”

“What about the others?” Cass asked curiously.

“The other areas?” Odal scratched his head, “Well the Temple is generally quite busy, but other than that it is just space for meditation and the Priest’s quarters, so aside for the Priests, few go anywhere else.”

“I’d like to see it,” Cass said, she had liked Brother Cushan Klein, even though she was unsure about his brother’s motivations. For that matter, the Priests seemed to have considerable power in this kingdom, though Cass was unsure how precisely. The more she knew, the more she could avoid the traps and tricks that Cass was sure was coming.

Odal was happy to take here there and soon she was in front of the single most beautiful building Cass had ever seen. A soaring and swirling structure of white marble that shined and sparkled in the sunlight. The courtyard was spacious with tasteful gardens and fountains built throughout. The effect of the whole was to create a feeling of inspiration and admiration, and Cass could not help but bask in it.

There were many people moving to and from the temple, and Cass joined the throng and entered the building. The first room inside was a gigantic hall that had other corridors branching off in many directions. Warriors stood at many of them, barring anyone but the priests from entering. The only two corridors that were open to the general public were the ones towards the main chapel and the one towards administration.

“Administration?” Cass asked curiously, “what do they administrate?”

“Births, marriages, deaths,” Odal answered. “All of these things are in the sphere of the Priests, law and order are the sphere of the Voni.”

“What would you administrate with birth?” Cass was confused by this, “it isn’t like you can tell the baby not to be born.”

Odal laughed, “No, no it isn't like that. The children are blessed by the Priests and added to the register.”

“Register?”

“Ah, it is a record of everyone who has been born in Beergmutar and their families,” Odal smiled. “How else would we keep track of the Sand after all? We are not so barbaric as to brand them…”

That was an interesting idea… Cass would have to remember this, it certainly made more sense than the way it was handled in Haj. Which was to say, it wasn’t. Local authorities came from the locality they worked in, and so were just expected to know everyone that they had to deal with. But this often didn’t work out for a host of reasons, not the least of which was corruption, but if people knew what was expected from each area…

Cass went to take a look at the administration for herself, though Odal said they would not let her back to see the register or the scribes. Priests were of a higher caste than Strioi after all.

To her surprise, she saw Brother Cushan at one of the many desks scattered throughout the room. Well, since he had invited her, she might as well stop by. At the very least she should learn if the Priests intended to go after her for her belief in the Church of Light.

Before she got there however, a woman with two children came up to speak to him first. Based on her clothes, they were Stone Caste, and Cass happened to overhear the conversation from where she was.

“Greetings, Brother Priest.” The woman bowed respectfully, nudging her children, who were probably five and six years old respectively, to get the to do the same.

“Greetings and welcome,” Cushan replied with a smile, he seemed sad to Cass though. “Though it pains me to have to consider a divorce, you know that the doctrine only allows it in the most extreme circumstances, correct?”

“I understand Brother,” the woman was unfazed by this statement. “But enough is enough, my husband is out drinking and smoking every night, and I have long suspected he was seeing other women as well, but I could not exactly leave the house to check.”

Anger sparked in the woman’s eyes as she continued, “But this morning he came home with broken hands and covered in bruises, and was not even able to go to his job. I have asked for a divorce four times, and now this is the fifth, I want nothing more to do with the man.”

Broken hands? She must be married to one of the Stones that Cass ‘met’ last night. If it came down to it, Cass decided she would tell Cushan about that event last night if it would help the woman. She didn’t particularly care, but she had to respect the woman who managed to raise two kids while being married to someone that unreliable. That was a kind of strength that Cass though was all too rare, she would have more likely expected the kids to be abandoned than for something like this to occur.

Cushan did approve the divorce and the woman left without ever meeting Cass, who simply walked over to say hello to the Priest in her absence.

“Hello, Brother Klein.” Cass was not completely sure about how to greet someone of a higher caste in this society, so she was grateful that Cushan knew that she was just being introduced to this kingdom. She didn’t have to worry as much about insulting him on accident.

“Ah, Cass.” He smiled mischievously, with more energy than Cass would expect from a man of his advanced age. “Eavesdropping is not a very polite thing to do you know.”

The Kleins were observant men, Cass made a note to be especially careful around them from now on. Barely two days into her arrival and she was already getting the feeling that there machinations and schemes following her wherever she went.

“I apologise,” Cass decided on how precisely to respond. “However, I think it was necessary in this case.”

The Priest paused for a moment and studied her.

“My brother told me about those glyphs of yours.” Cushan said slowly, “I imagine that if someone shook your hand you would have a ‘crushing’ grip.”

Cass just smiled back at him as she took the seat across the desk. Her thoughts were a bit chaotic though, these two brothers seemed nearly fucking omniscient! At this rate she wouldn’t be surprised if when she showed up for the meeting with those Sands from last night that Elder Klein and Brother Klein had a table and were having a beer!

“I wanted to take your invitation earlier than I originally planned, and I still want to come back after this,” Cass changed the subject. “But there was a question I had to ask you.”

“I have some idea of what you are going to say, but please continue.”

Of course you do, Cass sighed internally, he might be a nice guy, but his prescience was scary. “I wanted to know if I will be allowed to continue my faith with the Church.”

She would, regardless the answer. But it would be good to know ahead of time what kind of situation this would evolve, or perhaps devolve, into.

“Hmmmm,” Cushan sat back in his chair slowly, folding his wrinkled hands on the desk in front of him. “The short answer is yes, so long as you do not speak about it. Beergmutar is a closed kingdom, the mountainous terrain has allowed the Warriors to seal off any kind of entrance that is deemed unfit by the Voni. So essentially, no one enters or leaves Beergmutar.”

“I thought only Strioi were placed under that restriction?” Cass found this situation odd, did they deny all trade as well? If no one could leave or enter, why were they getting involved with Southern Haj?

“Technically, only Strioi are restricted true.” Cushan nodded and continued, “however the blocking of all travel is a temporary decree from the King, though the temporary part is a bit of a joke since it has been in place for nearly three hundred years now.”

That seemed impossible to Cass. Just basic street intuition told her that somewhere there were smugglers trading and traveling across the border, even Tyine could not fully regulate access and it was just a city! How could an entire country succeed in doing the same?

“How does this relate to the Church though?” Cass kept on subject for now, her speculation about how to leave Beergmutar was not something she planned to share with anyone before she left.

“We have no rules regarding other religions,” Cushan shrugged. “There are sermons and doctrine that warn against them, but no actual rules saying that you cannot believe something else or that you need to convert when you live here.”

“I see.” Cass nodded, this part she understood. It was better than she had feared, but worse than she had hoped in some ways. True, technically it was not required, but it was also not, not required. A grey area in the law, and if Cass kept her head down and gave them no reason to revisit it, it would likely stay that way.

“Thank you Brother Cushan,” Cass meant that and smiled warmly. “This is a large weight off my shoulders.”

After that, the conversation continued on about less weighty subjects for a time before Cushan excused himself to continue his duties. From the conversation she had just had with him, Cass knew that Cushan was not required to work at his age, but still did so to pass the time and because he enjoyed his work.

Cass left in the mid afternoon and returned to her quarters, saying goodbye to Odal at the door. She had several things to do before tonight, and Cass wanted to be prepared.