The exalted of Setir shook her head. “You did not recognize the hand of Divashi guiding you, so can we trust you to recognize her intentions now?
Regi narrowed his eyes and glared at her. She was being annoyingly logical, which was to be expected from one who worshiped the Lady of mathematics, but Regi still found it annoying. Even worse, the exalteds of Gavd and Asza nodded in unison, and an alliance either existed there or was forming.
“Would you speak for her instead?” Regi asked. Risking his own life, he employed one of his mother's favorite tricks. He slipped his hand under the sleeping dop and held it up and toward his opponent, inviting him to take the dop and commune with the Lady of poisons. When his mother had done that with her dafs croana, it often generated a sense of unease in the room. The bite of the creature was painful and required treatment if one wished to avoid scarring.
The same trick was even more effective when the animal in question could kill without effort. The devotee of Setir flinched, scooting her chair backwards in an attempt to escape. Regi shifted to hold the creature out toward the exalted of Gavd. He didn’t move his chair, but he did glare, his gaze focused on the dop. The creature woke, stretched, and grabbed the top of one of Regi's fingers to hold itself up. As it looked about the room, all the exalteds grew quiet.
Regi pulled his hand back and attempted to put dop on the table. The annoying creature instead grabbed Regi's shirt and climbed to his shoulder. It stretched, an action that caused all of its quills to puff out. Given the creature's proximity to Regi’s face, that terrified him. However, Regi refused to blink. He had seen his mother negotiate with those who would dismiss her authority, and he knew the political theater required if he hoped to keep his crew on the planet.
He needed a place that he could retreat–a place where he would be Regi and not the exalted of Divashi. He needed to drink with Vk and argue with Ter. He needed to roll his eyes at another of Cota’s training exercises and talk to Ean about some crew member who could not resist the urge to fight every time the boredom grew too intense. He needed Dante who would ask him the religious implications of these changes without condemning his belief as superstition or fearing it because of the power of the goddess who had chosen him. He needed his crew.
Other than Nawr, none of these others had even introduced themselves. They existed only as exalteds.
Regi felt as if these people were threatening to cut off his retreat when he was in the midst of battle, and he would not allow that. Perhaps that was selfish of him, but if his life was to be hijacked by a goddess, he would not be his mother. He would not sacrifice everything he was to serve another, and that meant he had a right to be selfish. If anyone could understand that, it would be the Lady of disorder who had a certain flippant attitude towards rules herself.
The other exalteds looked at each other. A general sense of unease filled the silence, and Nawr fixed his gaze on the exalted of Oba. Regi suspected that if he made some proclamation about Divashi’s wishes at this very moment, they would all leap on any suggestion that would save them from this unbearable uncertainty. But Regi had no answers. He only had a devout wish to not be left alone amongst people who inflicted their fear and pity on him because of the creature that sat on his shoulder.
The silence grew longer, and Regi waited for one of these elders to make a decision worthy of their age, even if it was that they should all retire until they had had time to consider the problem. Instead, they all continued to stare at each other. Political alliances were forged in the silence, and Regi suspected he was losing the battle without saying a word. The awkwardness had grown almost unbearable when the heavy door creaked open slightly and a young Kowri stuck her head inside.
“Exalteds,” she said with respect in her voice, “there is an outsider who refuses to leave the door of the temple.”
The exalted of Gavd shot to his feet. “An outsider defiles the temple?” His hand fell to his weapon. Regi groaned as he stood and attempted to get the dop off his shoulder. If he had to race off to prevent Ter from insulting someone badly enough to killed, he did not want to risk the creature either falling off or stabbing him in the cheek with a quill. The dop chittered at him for a moment before it waddled onto his hand. It then held his fingers with far more strength than Regi had expected in those tiny paws.
The young woman eased a little farther into the room. “No. He says that he will not disrespect a house of gods, but that he is not leaving without speaking to Regi of Poque. She winced. Regi understood her discomfort. To assign the exalted of one god to a different god was to risk offending everyone involved. If the outsider in question feared disrespecting the temple that could only mean Dante was searching for him.
Regi headed for the door before the exalted of Gavd could exacerbate the situation. “I know which outsider she speaks of, and he is one who respects the gods.”
The exalted of Gavd snorted his disbelief of that statement. Regi pinned him with a sharp look. “The god Texas respects strength and has a sacred animal which his favorites ride, an animal which Dante misses greatly since he has been taken from his planet. He does not disrespect our gods and you will not disrespect his,” Regi snapped.
The exalted of Gavd pressed his lips together until his hairs at the corners of his mouth stood out like an angry dop's quills. Regi turned his back and headed towards the door. The young woman rushed to clear a path for him, and Regi pretended that her haste was born of respect for his position and not fear of his new goddess or her sacred animal.
Regi also liked to pretend that life came with guaranteed happy endings. Neither were true, but pretending did offer a balm to the soul.
Kowri now prayed at the various niches that marked the inside wall of the corridor, some standing with their hands pressed against the bars and others kneeling so that they could rest their foreheads against the low sill. Regi passed the double doors to the inner sanctum shortly before he reached the turn that would lead him out towards the front gates. He could hear raised voices, and risking the displeasure of the dop in his hand, he broke into a trot. The creature clung to his fingers and chittered, but it didn't appear overly concerned at the jostling. When Regi came out into the light of the setting sun, Dante stood with his arms crossed as he glared down at a Kowri who stood with his hand on his bladed weapon.
“I'm not about to move, and if you try to move me again, I'm going to show you how a Texan shows his displeasure.”
“Those who come to pray do not wish to look upon the ugliness of an outsider,” the Kowri snapped back.
Dante pursed his lips. “You know, I'm not very pretty. And my lack of prettiness doesn't bother me one bit. I would be more embarrassed if I suffered from the lack of manners you do.”
Regi broke into a run to cover the last two yards so he could put a hand on the Kowri’s arm before he could draw his weapon. “Do not offend the huuman god, Texas,” Regi advised him. The young Kowri's eyes went wide and his ears flattened at Regi's words. Hopefully that would forestall any violence, and Regi turned towards Dante. “What's wrong?”
Dante had his eye hairs lowered, but after a second, he shook his head and his expression returned to one that Regi associated with complacency. “You were gone a long time, and the others kept talking about how these folks didn't like outsiders. I grew a little concerned that they might not like one of you lot that brought outsiders to the planet.”
Regi felt unimaginable gratitude that Dante had been willing to challenge an entire planet of Kowri in order to make sure that Regi was safe. The gesture was utterly pointless, and if the Kowri had chosen violence, Dante had no hope of providing any real assistance, but his decision to come anyway warmed Regi. Regi pulled the dop closer to him to minimize any chance of accident before he rested his other hand on Dante’s shoulder. “I appreciate your willingness to assist, but the situation has grown more complex. Apparently a goddess other than Poque has taken an interest, and this is a difficult situation for all of the Kowri, myself included.”
Dante cocked his head to the side. “More difficult. Sounds like a euphemism for someone having fucked something up.”
“I don't believe copulation is involved,” Regi said. With dop in the area, copulation would be even more foolish than stepping backwards without first ensuring that the path was clear. Regi glanced down at the dop that clung to his fingers.
Dante followed his gaze. “Is that one of the hedgehogs from the ship?”
Regi's head snapped up. “What?”
“The ship,” Dante said, his words coming out even slower than usual. “Is that one of the hedgehogs from the ship?” He held out his hand, and Regi drew back in horror. Unfortunately, the dop leapt off his hand, and landed on Dante's. Fear froze Regi in place, and he watched as Dante lifted the dop to study it nose to nose.
“Here there little fella. Dante slipped a finger underneath the dop's front paws and lifted. “Yep, you're a fella. I wouldn’t want to insult a lady by suggesting she had genitalia she didn't. But you look awfully small for one of the hedgehogs from the ship. Is this the planet you come from?” The dop chittered and shook out its quills.
