Derek spent the afternoon with his Granny Penny. Her actual name was Penelope, but other than her brother, there was no one alive that still called her that. As it turned out, she was ancient when his grandmother was a child and his grandmother's grandfather before that. Several generations of young Thornes from their branch of the clan had grown up calling her Granny Penny.

She led him around the back side of the Cathedral grounds doing various chores. The people largely ignored her, presumably believing her to be a simple groundskeeper. As they worked, they got to know each other a little better. This Granny of his had grown up on the grounds of this very cathedral. Her father had been the Guardian of the Priestess of his generation. He had married a noblewoman from outside of the city and they had been blessed with two children, Reginald and Penelope.

Later, Penelope and Reginald had been selected as the next generation’s Priestess and Guardian and she met Matteus a few years after she had taken up that post. Matteus was a young Demon Warrior of the Thorne Clan and an exemplary Knight Errant at that time. The three had quested together for a few years and she had married him in spite of the resistance of her mother.

Matteus had stayed with her in Windreach until the next Priestess had taken her place and they returned to the mountains to start a family. There they raised that family in the ways of the Thorne Clan and eventually reached the peak of tier ten. Their lives changed then, and eventually the new requirements and pressures on them had created a rift in their relationship. Only one hundred years ago Penny had returned from the mountains to settle in this old cottage.

“But Granny, if you moved back a hundred years ago, how did you know my grandmother?” Derek asked as he scooped leaves out of a fountain.

“Oh, that was a few years later. Her grandfather brought her to me to avoid some of the trouble around the clan. She was quite young at the time; probably about half of your age. Such a cheerful little girl, she liked picking my flowers and braiding them into her hair. It’s sad. they all grow up so quickly.”

He smiled at her, “I am sure she will come by when she has some free time, Granny. I think we are done here, what next?”

They continued working until supper time and returned to the cottage. While they were out, some people had come by to drop off some of Derek’s things. His mother had sent a few changes of clothes as well as the course work from the Academy and a nice note sending her love and reminding him to be on his best behavior.

Penny reheated the soup and Reginald came to join them. The old man didn’t say much, only greeting them when he entered and listening while Penny lectured Derek about his courses. It seemed she knew quite a lot about these topics as she had graduated from the same academy generations ago.

“But I don’t understand, Granny. Why is there so much focus on tier zeros in statecraft. If there is so much benefit from gaining tiers, like the advantage in our bodies and minds, stronger magic, and ability to live longer, why after all these years is there still such a low percentage of people at higher tiers? Why isn’t the majority of the population high tier now?”

“Hmm, that’s a good question,” she said, “but your common sense is off because of the circumstances of your clan. Normal people don’t have access to the wealth that your clan does. Even if your clan is poor compared to its neighbors, the traditions passed down throughout the generations, the shrine itself, and even the Demons of the mountains give you a massive advantage that normal people don’t possess. Even the commoners of Redwyrm don’t share in this advantage. Normally it would take a noble family thousands to tens of thousands of talents to produce just one child with your training, schema, and tier. Regular people would be lucky to see that kind of wealth in a lifetime.

“The resources needed to continue to grow in strength are even more difficult or more dangerous to accrue as you get stronger. The easiest way is to go Errant and gain essence and rare materials through questing, but with that comes the risk of death and the vast majority of people want to live peaceful lives and are unwilling to put themselves into the kind of danger necessary for that. All that leaves for them is to spend money on the resources gathered by others.

“Even wealthy parents usually cannot afford to raise many children and limit themselves to one or two to ensure that as many resources can be funneled into those children as possible. Then there is the essence cost. Producing children takes a price in essence from the parents and while a peasant who will never gain a tier in his life has no problem sacrificing essence that can no longer strengthen him, the higher tier a person gets, the more valuable their essence is to them. Sure they can regain it, but how long will it take?

“That doesn’t even go into the changes in the human body that occurs as more essence settles into it. The trade off to longevity is always speed of reproduction. Insects live very short lives but reproduce often, while powerful dragons may only give birth to a single clutch of hatchlings in their entire lives. So too with humans augmented by essence. The more powerful you are, the longer you will live, and the lower your drive for reproduction will be. A peasant with no real gain in longevity will be driven by hormones to reproduce to a greater degree than a noble who can live to a few hundred years.

“It’s even worse for those of us who practice holy magic. The sheer nature of our magic is known to suppress sex drives and the church even has to encourage it’s most powerful practitioners to reproduce if only to keep our bloodlines going. There are still more reasons for higher tier people to be less likely to reproduce or more likely to have reduced sex drives. But they are as varied as the ways we grow stronger.

“You are likely a great example of this, though you probably haven’t even noticed it. I imagine your sex drive is even more suppressed than others. The easiest reasons to point out are that your tier is not comparable to your age and you are a potent holy magic user.

“Also, with the coming of age ceremony not quite complete, the Demon’s constant damage to your soul is naturally having a secondary effect on your sex drive as well. The entire psyche is under attack so the mind can’t even be bothered by these desires while it struggles to merely exist. Impotence is, after all, a common effect of mental illness among men.

“Then there’s those other markings on you… No, I would be far more surprised to find out that you were showing interest in others at all than the lack thereof with so many suppressing effects on you. So don’t worry my boy, everything is normal considering your circumstances.”

“Err… Thanks?” Derek didn’t quite know how he felt about his granny going on at length about sex drives. At first they were talking about why there are so many more tier zeros than high tiers, and while he felt she had adequately explained it, the direction she opted to go afterwards was rather awkward for him. It did give him some insight into the strange behaviors he had seen in others since coming to the academy. Those teens spending so much time focused not on training, but on socializing.

“I know it is awkward, boy, but eventually you will need to consider it. Your bloodline is the combined work of all of your ancestors, and due to the essence transferred at conception, it is also a representation of all their essence as well. The very nature of our power discourages us from passing it along, but in the end, it is up to us to keep their hopes alive.”

“Granny, what happens when an old bloodline dies out?”

She thought for a moment, before shrugging her shoulders, “I suppose a new one will take its place. Though, they rarely truly die out. Maybe the Thorne name will disappear one day, but there will be people unknowingly carrying the bloodline along. Let’s not invite bad luck, though, the world still needs fanatics like the Thornes, no matter what the fools of the world say.”

She continued instructing him on statecraft until just before dusk when she stopped the lecture to lead him to the cathedral. “Come boy, the Sun is setting and we must wish Her a peaceful rest.”

The Cathedral at dusk was beautiful. Stained glass windows lined both the eastern and western sides of the room to show the Sun’s magnificence at dawn and dusk, and a central skylight did the same for the sun at noon. As the sun set, beautiful colors were cast around the room. It seemed this service was reserved for the people of the compound as the only lay people in attendance were family members of the clergy and the staff.

Dozens of families eventually took their places in the various rows of pews in the sanctuary and finally as the Sun was setting the Priestess took her position and began the Rites of Sunset. Derek felt a soothing sensation as the service continued and finally when it ended he was left in a relaxed and composed mood. He saw that the other participants were as well, and no one talked to each other as they returned to their homes. Once more in his granny’s cottage, he wished her goodnight and prepared his guest room for sleep.

That night there were no nightmares. Derek woke full of energy and joined his grandmother to head once more to the Cathedral for the Rites of Sunrise. The day was cloudy but that did little to dampen the mood as the service seemed to energize the families there.

As the rites reached their peak, Derek heard a whisper in his consciousness, “Boy, I see that you need my aid, and I similarly need something from you.”

The whisper was equal parts feminine, regal, and proud. As he felt the power of this presence washing over him, he could guess who it was. He cast his gaze upon the representation of the Sun Goddess and responded back, “How can I possibly help you?”

“Child, I cannot directly intervene in many things, but I can empower or encourage champions to take action for me. There is something I wish for you to assist me with, and in exchange I will grant you my blessing. Will you do this for me?”

Derek understood. Accepting a blessing was not like any other boon one could gain. The blessings of the gods were conditional and demanded service. They were signs of a pact between the god and the blessed. These pacts were almost always beneficial to both parties as gods rarely gave blessings to those whose goals did not align with theirs. Knowing that she would not seek a pact with him if their goals were not in alignment, he nodded, “I accept, what is it that you need me to do.”

“You will know when you encounter the situation.” Her voice quieted as the rites came to an end.

The congregation seemed invigorated after the service. They left smiling and chatting with each other. As he followed his granny and her brother out he heard a voice calling out to him from one of the side aisles, “Oh, I know you. You were the one from the Holy Magic class that beat Paladin Rhys in spellcasting. So fierce!”

He turned to see the young freshman that his teacher had called the Priestess-in-waiting. “Oh, hi, I didn’t realize I would see you here, but I guess it makes sense.”

She smiled at him, “Yeah, I live here and take a carriage over after the morning Rites. Why are you here?”

Penelope and Reginald had stopped when they heard the girl’s voice and it was Reginald that answered her, “This is Derek Thorne, Diana, and he will be staying with Granny Penny. She is treating him for an injury he has suffered.”

Seeing the old man, the girl reacted quickly. Hurrying over to hug him she said, “Oh, Pappy, I didn’t see you there. I am so happy to see you. Hehe.”

He sighed, berating her good naturedly, “Silly girl, it is not appropriate to run in the sanctuary. You are already this old and still behaving this way.”

As the old man bantered with her a young man Derek recognized from the class also joined them. Derek’s impression of him from the class was minimal, but seeing him now he recognized that the impression was similar to the one Hector gave by remaining in Belany’s shadow. Derek nodded to him, “Hello, I am Derek.”

The boy nodded back and spoke barely above a whisper, “Anthony.”

Granny Penny stepped forward, “Derek, these two are Diana Tesni and Anthony Marsh. Diana is the current Priestess’ daughter and one of Reginald’s descendants, while Anthony will be her Guardian. That is, if he can defend the position against the challenge from Reynald of the Order of the Ardent Dawn.”

Derek nodded, “I have fought him before, how do you think you will do?”

Anthony’s face blanched and he shook his head. Understanding crossed Derek’s mind and he gave the other young man a reassuring smile, “Well keep trying, I am sure you can do it.”

At this point Diana finished chatting with her Pappy and turned to grab Anthony’s hand, “We need to hurry, Tony, we don’t want to be late for class.”

Watching the two scamper off, old Reginald let out a sigh, “It would be a shame if he were to lose that duel. The boy is much more talented than Reynald and much better with Diana as well.”

Granny Penny nodded, “It is strange indeed. The two boys have received comparable resources and their status is almost the same. They have even received the same instruction, yet somehow Reynald has never lost a match with young Anthony. I simply do not understand it.”

Derek turned to them, “Where do they train? Have you watched them to see if there is anything off? Perhaps Anthony is not putting in as much effort?”

This time it was the old man that responded, “They train their weapons at the Cathedral but we haven’t watched them, their Grandmaster has asked that elders not disturb his students so that they can train without obstruction. Others are allowed to go watch, to encourage people to join his school, but he has asked us not to interfere.”

Derek watched the young man helping the petite priestess up into her seat. Finally he responded, “Interesting. You don’t think they would mind me taking a look, do you?”