Content Notes: play violence

Hannu spent the day reconnecting with the Green and thinking on her recent experiences. When she finished, she took to her quarters to consider what the Called of the Balance had said concerning Iberto’s hunts. After dinner, she gradually drifted to sleep. She woke the next morning to a nudge from the Green. This led her down ancient halls and abandoned parts of the temple complex to an old library.

The shelves held scrolls and papyri that might crumble at a touch. Several tables sat covered in dust, though one had been cleaned and even polished. At this table sat a man in his prime pouring carefully over several ancient documents. He had a newer book in which he took slow, careful notes.

He was not one of the new Called, as she had not seen him in a Calling ceremony. His simple clothes gave him easy movement. He was so focused on a passage he did not notice Hannu approach.

His face creased from a frown to a scowl as he read, making notes in his book. “It’s only been two generations, then…” He rubbed a hand over his face and startled when he realized another was with him. “Greetings to you?”

“Greetings. I didn’t think there were any librarians left here.”

He blinked. “Librarians? I suppose I could act as one, but no. I’m the only one who’s come here regularly of late. Um,” he rubbed the back of his neck, “Did you need something? I might be able to help you find it.”

Hannu shook her head. “No. Or,” Did she need something? “I don’t think so.” The nudge of the Green, though. She shook herself, straightened her skirts, and held out her hand, “I’m Hannu, Called of the Green, who led me here. I’m not sure why.”

“Well, Called of the Green, it’s good to meet you.” He stood and shook her offered hand. “I am Amir, Priest of the Great Goddess.”

“Priest of the Great Goddess? How did – I was not aware she had priests any longer.” Hannu frowned, glancing at the books he had open. “Did Iberto drag you here, too?”

Amir laughed, a gentle, endearing sound. “I insisted on accompanying him when he came for the Called of the Balance. I sought answers hidden or difficult to find.”

“I didn’t think…” Hannu shook herself again and stepped up to the table with his studies scattered on it. She could read very little on the dusty pages. “Forgive me; I have been away from the Temple and was surprised to see a strange face. You seek answers? Here?”

“I do. There is much to learn concerning things as they are and as they have been. A portion of it is here in this library.”

“May I see?” She gestured to his wood-bound book of notes.

Amir nodded and held out the book to her. His writing seemed like that of a child new to the craft, rough and a bit large. The current page held notes about the worship of the Great Goddess half a century ago.

“I met a hunter whose family once worshiped the Great Goddess. She said it was in her grandfather’s day that they worshiped openly.”

Amir set his full attention on Hannu, “Truly? Did she say anything about how they worshiped?”

She shook her head, “I didn’t think to ask. I will probably go back to that village sometime, though.”

“I’d be interested to accompany you and speak to this hunter myself, though–” he trailed off and frowned. “It may not be the wisest decision yet.”

The Great Goddess, hunter of innocents, devourer of children, bringer of darkness… Such views came easily to one raised with the monks. Hannu herself had fallen prey to such views and only now begun to question them. Amir was probably right. It would not be good for him to travel abroad yet. “I can ask her to share some stories when I return there.”

“I would appreciate that,” he smiled.

---

Amir and the Called of the Green spent the rest of the afternoon in the library. She was neither wary nor hostile – Perhaps Iberto had been wrong about her? – and instead asked excellent questions about his studies. Hannu eagerly discussed the differences in how the monks referenced the goddes and how the old tales described them. In time, though, he noticed a rumble in his stomach and suggested a meal break.

Hannu surprised him with the suggestion that they eat together. With Iberto gone, perhaps Hannu’s presence would keep the monks from prodding him. Likely, they were doing their best to drive him away or convince him to renounce the Goddess. After all, as a priest, he could do that. The Called did not have such an option.

As they entered the dining hall, he tensed, the senses the Great Goddess had been training in him on alert for possible danger. With Hannu beside him, though, the monks held their peace. This time.

Hannu glanced at him curiously as they filled their plates. “Is something wrong?”

Amir shrugged and took his helping of meat. “Something better discussed less publicly.” Green-called or no Green-called, he made sure he could see every monk present from his seat.

Another approached the table as they ate. “May I join you two?” Ire- no, not any longer. Now ey was Balance-called.

“Of course,” Hannu welcomed em with a smile.

Amir nodded, still on high alert.

The Balance-called sat and took a few bites of food before ey addressed Amir, “How are you settling in?”

“Well enough.”

“I haven’t seen much of you since we arrived. Though Iberto was always willing to talk about you. Like a proud older sibling, for all he’s obviously much younger than you.” The Balance-called smiled gently. “I think he missed his family very much.”

“I have found it more productive to keep to my hunts for the most part.” He spared a side-long glance at a passing monk. The monk ignored them completely. He relaxed a bit. “You would be right on that count, though. He missed them very much indeed.”

Silence fell over their table as Hannu considered what to say next. “I only heard him mention them once, during the fight over his… bringing… Kira here.”

Amir frowned and pushed at some vegetables with his fork. “It is not my answer to give, but I will say it is not a pleasant one. If he chooses to speak to you of it, that is his place.”

Hannu stifled a laugh and nodded. “Not pleasant? You have a gift for understatement. But you are right — it is his to tell.”

The Balance-called smiled. “Just so. And your hunts go well?”

With a shrug, Amir chuckled. “As well as I could have hoped. Sometimes better. Though committing everything I’m learning to memory will take time.”

“I would not have expected to find a priest of the Great Goddess in the library.” Hannu bit into her vegetables as she waved a server over for more bread.

“I was certainly surprised when the Goddess told me the answers I sought would be there.” He smiled at the memory of his first chase through the Temple. “But answers, too, are a kind of prey, it seems.”

The Balance-called nodded. “There is much more to the concept of a hunt than it would seem either the Green-called or I are familiar with.”

Hannu nodded as her features contorted into a frown. “It makes me wonder… I have never known any other who served the Green. I am the last… how else have others served it? What am I missing by doing this alone?”

“From the research I’ve done, each godde has one Called,” Amir took his time to put words to the concepts he’d studied these past days. “But along with the Called, priests serve as further contact points to the power of the godde in question. It is,” he paused, and thought creased his brow, “A sharing of responsibility. Just as my prey is different from Iberto’s, so too would a priest of the Green have a different connection than you do, Called.” Amir finished off his last bit of bread, sopped in gravy.

The Balance-called took a moment and a few bites to consider something. “Perhaps it would help you to have a priest as well,” ey said to Hannu.

“But… I don’t… How would I…” The Green-called tripped over her tongue a few more moments, then shook her head. “I need to think about this.”

“If you need to speak your thoughts, you know where you can find me.” Amir smiled softly. He wanted to help the Green-called with her own answers after she’d shown him her kindness. He stood to take his empty plate to the wash. “I’ll also see what I can find on the Green if you like.”

“I…” She paused, swallowed, then nodded, “Would appreciate that.”