She looked down at her feet, debating what to say.
“Come, child.” High Priest Silas started back along the aisle, not waiting for her.
Aloisia followed, unsure she could do otherwise.
The high priest led her to his office behind the altar. He held the door open for her and, as she went through, she glanced up to the statue of the Mother towering above them.
Silas took a seat at his worn wooden desk and indicated for her to sit opposite him. “Brother Mikkel told me Mother Lusana called upon you.”
Aloisia raised a brow. “She did.”
“And she told you we would prefer it for anything you find to be brought to one of us three.”
“She did,” Aloisia repeated.
Silas rested his elbows on the desk. “If there is anything you have found, anything at all which could help in our research, then please bring it to me. I can understand your… hesitation to take such things to the Modäiti. After all, you do not know her. But I shall take anything you bring forth to the trial. While I was not well acquainted with your brother, he was well respected. A good man. Anything that may help Fynn’s position, anything at all, please raise it.”
She considered the high priest, still unsure of what to say. True enough, of the three judiciaries, she felt Silas was the more trustworthy. Tristan trusted him. And it was enough to sway her.
“I have noticed Tristan is not himself as of late,” Silas said.
“You have?”
“I know he is close with your family. This entire ordeal cannot be easy on either of you.”
Aloisia closed her eyes against the tears threatening to fall. “Tristan is family. Of course it isn’t easy.”
Tristan’s earlier words pierced her heart.
Haven’t we lost enough?
“I try to ensure he is taking care of his own mind in all of this.” Silas scratched his beard, peppered with grey. “The research… seeing Brighde as she is… I have said he does not have to, if it is too much for him. But, I suppose, the research is some kind of solace for him. He is doing something towards finding the truth.”
Aloisia swiped away a stray tear, reminding herself why she had come here to begin with. “Actually, the research you’re doing is why I am here.”
“It is?” Silas leant forward. “Is it something which could help?”
Aloisia thought of Inari. He had said he would help. The judiciaries would need to learn of him sooner or later if he were to aid them. “The research… Have you been making copies of her markings?”
Silas nodded. “We have. Though access to both Brighde and these markings is restricted, of course. Why do you ask?”
She took a deep breath. “There is a shaman. He has offered to read these markings, but he has also said copying them could strengthen or even transfer the spell on her skin, if there is one. It could be dangerous.”
“A shaman?” The high priest sat back in his chair, shock plain on his face. “There are no shamans in Teneria. There hasn’t been for centuries. Their kind of witchcraft is outlawed; it no longer exists here.”
“He isn’t from Teneria. And I think we can all see, though these kinds of magic may have been gone for centuries, something – whether it be magic or otherwise – has awoken here.”
“And how can we be certain he is not the cause?”
Aloisia bit her lip. She knew the risks here; knew she may be gambling away her only source of information. If what he had said was true, the danger was too great to say nothing. “We don’t. He has been helpful thus far. He didn’t need to offer help, but he did.”
“And what would he stand to gain from that? What reason does he have to help us?”
“He has seen these shadow monsters, the same as Tristan and I did. He wants to help find out why they are here, and what brought them here.” At least, Aloisia imagined it was why he wanted to help. He hadn’t said. And she wasn’t about to tell the high priest, as suspicious as he already was.
Silas shook his head. “I cannot make this decision alone. As I said, access to Brighde and the copies of the markings are restricted. I will have to take this to Mother Lusana and Magistrate Vester.”
“He has been a vital source of information so far,” Aloisia added, fearing her argument may have fallen on deaf ears.
