“Can I ask you about the temple and the Lodge? I noticed that there are only men working here and Enbergin the cook told me it was one of Auretheos’ rules that he put in place centuries ago. What’s it all about?”
Sylwen finished that last of her Zerquin and put her hand on my hand. Her touch was oddly comforting, although I generally didn’t like to be touched without forewarning.
“I do not know the exact reasons for this, and it is not my place to question a God’s decision. What I can tell you, is that when Auretheos was younger, he would spend time with all of us in town. We’d go to the fair together, went bathing in the lake and even stole some tobacco from one of the priests one time, can you imagine?” Sylwen laughed.
“It all changed when he was getting older, his duties in the temple becoming more and more. That’s when he put the rules into place, only allowing men to work at the house and the temple. If you ask me, I think it’s self-defense, he doesn’t want any distractions…”
Before I could ask Sylwen what she meant by that, Caelan was approaching us.
“Aha, I see you have met with the troublemaker of this realm.” He grinned and greeted Sylwen with a hug.
“I haven’t been a troublemaker for a very long time and you know it! Although I do hear that you don’t go by Caelan anymore, but rather by ‘shrine rag.’”
Caelan laughed, and Sylwen gave him a slight push.
“Wow, word travels fast around here,” I said, slightly embarrassed that in my anger I had given Caelan such an unfortunate nickname. They squabbled back and forth with each other for a few more minutes before Caelan turned to me:
“I am sorry I wasn’t there this morning, but there was a problem at one of the cities nearby. Are you ready to return to the Lodge for another meeting with Auretheos?”
I playfully rolled my eyes, but said my goodbyes to Sylwen and promised to come back another time to hear more stories about the God of Wisdom stealing tobacco.
“She is nice,” I said to Caelan as we walked back towards the Lodge, and he smiled.
“She is trouble, be careful with that one.”
Chapter 10
As we made our way up the path, I spotted Auretheos on the porch. He looked comically oversized in one of the delicate wooden chairs. The gold paint on his hands and face was back, making him look like a statue someone had enchanted and then forgotten about. He stood as we approached.
“I hope your trip into town was successful?” he asked. The words were polite enough, but the flatness in his tone made it painfully obvious he couldn’t care less.
“Yes, thank you, it was,” I replied. “Please let me know how I can repay your generosity.”
He gave a vague wave of his hand, brushing the thanks aside like it meant nothing. All right, that was obviously the end of our talk as he disappeared inside the house.
Caelan and I followed him inside, and Auretheos led me to his office. It was a cozy space with a grand desk at one end of the room and bookcases towards the other. The floor to ceiling windows offered a stunning view of the valley below, the clouds for once breaking up, giving me an indication of how far up we were. Caelan and Auretheos went over a few points concerning their everyday business while I took in the view. I was so entranced by the sight of the valley downbelow, with its glittering river snaking through a landscape of lush green meadows and trees in orange and red that I didn’t notice Caelan leaving. Auretheos cleared his throat and as I turned around to face him, looked a bit stiff, standing next to his desk.
“Can I ask you a question about the Lodge?” I asked, coming closer and sitting on the chair opposite his desk.
“Of course, what do you want to know?” he said while sitting down himself. He looked at me expectantly as if he was seriously interested in what I had to say. It was unnerving.
“I was wondering why you only let men work at the house and the temple. It seems like nobody truly knows and it seems odd and also… rather sexist.”
He was surprised. It wasn’t easy to read his facial expressions, but this one emotion was easy to spot. His eyebrows rose up, and he slightly tilted his head to the side. The expression was quickly replaced by his usual neutral look again, but he answered nonetheless.
“You have come to the Gods realm and are about to embark on one of the most dangerous journeys to fight evil and you are worried about the sexism in my temples?” His deep voice was tinged with amusement, but it seemed like he was truly curious.
“I figure we are going to have all day to talk about all of this here,” I gestured towards the maps and documents sprawled about his table, “so I thought I could learn about this place as well.”
Auretheos got up and walked towards a bookcase, seemingly looking for something.
“It’s merely a rule I have put into place a long time ago andit has served me well. You shouldn’t concern yourself with these things.”
Every instinct in my body told me to shut it down. Nothing good ever came from making a man angry, I had learned this the hard way. And the version of myself that I had been a mere few days ago would have retreated into herself, would have apologized for being too forward, would have let it go to preserve the peace. But something about the events of the past few days had changed me.
So I got up and followed him, but when I reached his side, he shrank away. He actually put a few stretches of distance between us, as if standing next to me was somehow disgusting to him. Either I smelled truly despicable, or this God had some serious issues.
“What exactly is your problem, Aurelius?” I asked, barely containing my annoyance. “I get it, I am just a human and female too, but can’t you have the courtesy of treating me with just an ounce of respect? Is that too much to ask of a God?”
