“Ethinia would never deny any soul Her light.” Celeste responded, holding her ground. “And neither shall I.”

Despite the woman’s bent back, she still stood a good two heads taller than Celeste. The old woman’s long bony fingers clenched her walking stick with a white knuckled strength.

“First gift the girl denied. Babe now price pays. Saving now, impossible.” The woman spoke, but Celeste struggled to understand. The first gift? Paying price? What was she talking about? The woman hadn’t committed suicide, the ultimate denial of Ethinia’s first gift of life. So what had she denied?

“Life is life, a soul is a soul. I will not let you get in the way of me saving them.” Celeste responded with strength. She saw Kriss and her sisters approach from behind, and they seemed reluctant to get involved. Kriss stayed close however, not even an arm’s length from her.

“Baby live, If Eten’a wills. Go to Eten’a, if not.” The Korek woman explained, and something passed over the old woman’s features. Whatever she may say, Celeste knew she saw pain in those wrinkled eyes. “Mother from band banished. Of us, no more. For her sins, can not know her. Save only Eten’a can.” She seemed to struggle with the words, despite her surprisingly good vocabulary.

Celeste looked at the woman though. Eten’a? Did she mean Ethinia? Celeste looked down at her own hands, still a faint glow radiating from them.

“Eten’a saves through me, and I am not of your band.” Celeste stated, then took the child in her hands.

Life flowed forth from Celeste in the moment of a child’s heartbeat. She felt the light pouring out of her, feeding into the weakened child. Looking at the baby, then to its mother with her eyes full of hope, Celeste saw a flickering within them both. Small, gentle, but she saw it as surely as she had in Vallerian. Celeste felt her soul connect with the child’s and felt a taint upon this child. For a moment fear gripped her heart. It was as if a drop of oil had touched the pure waters that rushed forth from her. Celeste focused on that taint, the terrible oil of chaos lighting aflame, trying to burn away the flood that Celeste sent to it. The fire of chaos burned hot, pushing against Celeste for control of the babies soul. Celeste then pulled open her soul bare, let the floodgates pull open wider than she ever had. With a rush of smothering life, it washed the chaos clean with from the child's soul. And when the light faded to reveal a vibrant red child, Celeste smiled, and breathed heavily.

Then the baby cried, and its mother broke into heaving sobs.

“Th… Thank.” She said, her chest heaving with her desperate cries. “Eten’a bless. Eten’a bless.”

The old Korek woman seemed shocked at first, staring at Celeste wide eyed. Slowly, she made the symbol of the crescent moon across her chest. “Eten’a bless…” the old woman mumbled. Eten’a bless, Celeste thought, Eten’a always blesses those in need.

The old woman began to talk to the young mother in Koreki, occasional glances shot over to Celeste and her friends. With the women distracted, Celeste moved to rest and stumbled. Kriss caught her in one arm, then steadied her.

“Thank you.” She whispered to him.

“Always.” He whispered back. Supported by Kriss, Celeste focused on the Korek. The language they spoke was thick with heavy, explosive consonants, but Celeste found a beauty in it. Like the beatings of the drum that these people used. The baby’s healthy cries were simply a harmony to the joy Celeste felt.

Looking over at the women talking though, Celeste fell that joy dim. That had been Chaos in the child's soul. The only true evil in all of creation, the absolute antithesis to the Pantheon. Why had it been within the soul of a child? Siphoning away at it's life? Celeste eyed the mother again, and saw that she still carried the same pale complexion the child had previously. Chaos could only be called to this world by mortal souls, that was what the scriptures taught. Locked away by the gods after the Daemon wars. Had this mother invited it into her own body? How had she gotten to such a point? To such desperation as to bring... that into her soul?

“We failed.” Celeste whispered in realization. The memory of that twisted evil shaking her to the core. The temple was failing these people. No longer did they provide the support, the compassion, the outreach that Southshore needed. “Instead we just parade me around, as a statue.” Celeste shook her head. They had failed these people. No, they had failed all the people of Southshore. The faith was not doing as it was made to do, as it was commanded by the Pantheon.

Celeste looked back to the pair of women, and felt shock at what she saw. The older women took the baby from the mother, cradling it in her own arms.

“What are you doing?” Celeste demanded with a panic. “You can’t just give away your child.” She had not just saved the child’s life for it to be separated from its mother. “She needs you. She needs her mother.”

“Eten’a bless, healthy is child.” The old Korek woman explained. “Child did not break. Her name, band remembers.” she explained roughly. Celeste still felt she could not completely understand, but she grasped some of it.

“What of her?” Celeste asked, motioning to the crying mother. “Does the band remember her?”

The old woman set her jaw, and for a moment Celeste saw a moistness to her eyes.

“I speak as Ga’Na. She banished from band; covenant she broke.”

“You would separate a child from its mother?” Celeste asked with a quiver to her voice. The old woman returned a pained, angry look.

“My granddaughter.” She motioned to the mother, a single tear in her eye. “Blood weaker than iron. Iron is band. Covenant most sacred, Betrayal in her, band break would.” The tear streamed down the old Korek woman’s face now. “She leave, for band.” The old woman held the baby tightly to her chest and turned to walk away. Celeste stepped forward to confront the old woman once more but was stopped by the weeping mother’s hand grabbing her.

“No, this choice me.” She said in a hoarse whisper. Her face was formed in an intense look of concentration as she tried to find the right words. “Band good. Band strong. I weak.”

“But you’re…”

“Thank you.” The woman held Celeste’s hand in hers and cried. “Thank you, child Eten’a.”

Celeste choked back a tear, her lips quivering, but as the old woman returned to the reverberating drumbeats of the bonfires, she knew it was too late to do anything.

“You did well, Radiance.” Valleresa said, grabbing her arm that Kriss didn’t have. “You saved that child.”

Celeste sighed heavily. No, this was not a success. This was her failure, and she would not fail like this again. She knew what would be said by priests at the temple, the gates are open for all. That wasn't enough anymore, not when the faith had been complacent for so long. The Korek needed to be met on their terms. Needed to be understood, so they can understand the institutions of the temple in turn. Then, when they make an understanding between their peoples, Celeste knew she could truly help them.

“Come along Sisters, we have research to do.”