All the Dust that Falls

Chapter 256: Home Away from Home

I excitedly waited at the corner as Beatrice made her way to me as fast as she could. I couldn't help but bounce in the air slightly as I hovered, unwilling to let myself rest on the ground. The prospect of having new paint was simply too much. Beatrice was power walking as fast as she could without looking suspicious, but still, it took her several seconds to reach the corner. I zipped off to the next one.

Despite my excitement, I was trying to make my concealment a little bit less conspicuous. Before, I had just projected false images around myself to hide my presence. However, now I needed to make sure Beatrice could selectively see me to follow.

Of course, this only worked some of the time, and I was pretty sure a few people caught glimpses of me along the way. But they mostly just shrugged it off or acted a little spooked. There were no cries of alarm or anything that drastic.

With a bit of guidance, Beatrice followed my optimized route to the paint shop. We arrived just as they were opening, and despite Beatrice's limited speed, we hadn't really lost any time because of it.

A little bell hung above the door chimed as she opened it. A young man sat behind the counter, looked up from whatever he was doing at the entry desk, and greeted Beatrice with a smile. "Hello, miss. Is there anything I can do for you today?"

I visibly saw Beatrice's face change as she adopted the persona of her merchant's daughter. She lifted her head and met the man's eyes with a cold indifference that just didn't fit her personality. "Yes, there is. I have recently acquired a manor in my father's name. And I have been sent to pick out paint styles."

The young man looked dubious at the claim but went along with it. Her air of confidence carried her through what would have been an awkward encounter as he questioned her ability to buy a manor at her age. Apparently, her family was only well-known in the right circles. A random paint shop clerk probably wasn't aware of who she was, even if she had given him her father’s name. Even so, the confidence she carried herself with was undeniable.

She didn't move to follow the man as he moved to the paint chip display but instead pulled out the ones I had given her. He frowned as he looked over them. "These are our markings on the back, but these colors don't quite match. Don't think we have any paints that sparkle."

She looked at them again, and I mentally chided myself. What was I thinking? Leaving them in my dustbin? Of course, that would alter the coloration. One more thing to be careful about. I really needed to invest some time into a solution for this issue.

"Well, luckily, they still have the codes on the back." The man said as he flipped them over. "Yeah, well, we still have these lots, though we are a bit light on the light turquoise. Hopefully, you didn't need too much of that."

Beatrice's eyes widened, and I realized I didn't tell her how much of each one I wanted. Quickly, I found some paper lying around in my dustbin and printed out the precise amounts of each one. I slipped the note into her hand through Air Manipulation. She flinched as it brushed her fingers but picked it up and scanned through it quickly.

"Yes. The light turquoise…" She said as she scanned her list. "We only need three gallons of that."

And the man nodded. "Sure. Small orders. That's going to be at a higher price point. But how much is the rest of the stuff?"

She quickly read through and. By the time she was done, the clerk was grinning. I wasn't sure why, but he seemed happy with the amounts we were getting. Beatrice negotiated slightly about the price, and once they were both satisfied, she paid a little extra to have the paint delivered to the address later that afternoon. The afternoon part had cost her nearly double what the shipping would have been if she had been willing to wait a day or two. But I was proud of her for taking the initiative. That kind of delay was simply not an option.

With that taken care of, we headed back towards the rest of our party.

When Mrs. Chadwick saw us, she stuck her head out the door leading to the stables and yelled. A few minutes later, the not-Nnighty Kights came scrambling in the door. I was proud to see it. They each kicked their shoes together, knocking off most of the dirt they’d collected before scrubbing the rest off on the mat left outside. They could have been cleaner themselves, but at least they were showing consideration for my teachings. I also didn't hear any complaining about them leaving whatever game they were playing.

Once things got settled, everyone gathered around her expectantly. She cleared her throat, making sure that she had everyone’s attention. "So we've picked out a spot that is quite good for us. We do not have some of the amenities that we would like, such as furniture, but we will probably be able to pick that up in a day or two. We're going to move locations as soon as possible. I'll settle things with the innkeeper, and the rest of you should all follow Void. Once you've packed your belongings, we’ll be staying at our new home for the foreseeable future."

Everyone nodded, curious to see what Beatrice had procured for them. I was certain they would be pleased, especially after the upgrades I could add later today once the paint arrived.

Meanwhile, Beatrice went and talked with the innkeeper. The rest of our group headed upstairs, and I helped some of the not Nighty Knights organize their belongings a little more efficiently so they could actually fit into the small bags they had. Their default method of simply stuffing everything in didn't work nearly as well as they'd probably hoped.

Within 20 minutes, we were out of the inn and heading towards the manor.

Moving through the streets with a large group of people was a bit chaotic. The children had to be watched constantly, or else they were liable to wander off and start up some sort of conversation with random adults or other children. I was happy that they were being social, but still. It seemed a bit excessive. However, most of the encounters proceeded without incident. Most of them.

About halfway through our trip, Bradley got into a yelling argument with one of the white-robed men on the corner. The man had been shouting something strange about the end times as usual, though the content of his speech had gone straight into my memory banks. It hadn't seemed relevant to much of anything, to be honest.

"That's not true! Lord Void doesn't kill farm animals to avoid their waste!" Bradley yelled up at the very surprised yet equally irate man. "He calls for proper care and order for them. Waste is a natural part of order, and we have to deal with that. Why, I've seen Lord Void himself care for sheep."

The man started screaming something about the child being a heretic and demanded to know where he had seen Lord Void. Bradley was understandably confused. Who thought I would be for killing all animals to stop their defecation? I mean, I might have considered that a while ago, but now? It just was too impractical. Besides, humans needed to eat.

The logic didn’t even make sense. Should we kill all humans because they also defecated? That just seemed silly. My job was to bring order where I could and prevent disorder when necessary, but there was a limit to that. We had to let the rest of the world play out and then order it as it came. Order was a choice. When it came down to it, everyone had the right to choose not to follow the way of order. I had the right to correct them, of course, but that was it.

I gently tugged on Bradley's sleeve to pull him along, leaving the shouting man behind. I didn't want to risk this strange argument turning into anything else.

When we finally made it to the manor, everyone stared in appropriate awe. Once we got the gates open and they were inside, the cascade of magical sparks in the chandelier was a great hit. So much so, in fact, that I thought about updating some of the castle to feature something similar. It would be fun, not to mention even more efficient. Open flames did cause soot stains in the ceilings that were rather hard to remove, but magical flames… now had potential.

---

Bee's skin crawled as Void pulled Bradley Chadwick away from the man robed in white. Suddenly, it clicked. Something must have happened that spread the word of Void's teachings away from the castle, away from Caleb. It must have happened some while ago, too. That would explain the spiritual connections between these robed men and her spiritual sense.

Of course. It also explained the different flavors, as it were. The teachings these people were professing did not at all match with what she had learned from her time spent with Void. In fact, they were often rather sickening. There was a distorted, twisted view of cleanliness and order. Yet Void hadn't seen fit to correct them, so she deferred to her master. She would just move on, for now, getting everyone to the manor in an orderly fashion.

Unfortunately, it was impossible for her to pull her mind away from the oozing quicksand that the false beliefs were. It took under an hour to show everyone around, select rooms, and settle in a little bit. Some of the adults were tasked to go find basic furniture so that they didn't have to use sleeping pads tonight. But as soon as that was taken care of, Bee headed out to see if she could talk to one of these actual cultists and figure out what was going on.

These men in white seemed dangerous. But if they truly were willing to believe in Void, perhaps she could teach them the right way to go about their worship. If so, then most of their job would already be done. Especially if these people had as strong of a foothold as it seemed in the city.

How exactly this faith had spread so quickly and ubiquitously baffled her, though. She never did find that yelling things at people was a good way of convincing them to do anything. Any argument she'd have with her father that devolved into yelling never accomplished anything.

Actually, as she thought about it more, she realized that the only time her father had ever managed to get her to do anything his way was with calmer appeals and a bit of bait at the end. Some incentive to do things his way. And Void never had to convince her of anything. Her master just led by example. It did what it did, and she would observe and interpret those actions to teach others. It was up to them to extrapolate the meaning behind them and understand how to live their life.

Maybe Void itself would be helpful here. How could it not if it truly was the god that these people claimed to follow? But even at the castle, her master preferred to take a more hands-off approach and leave such things to her.

Of course, when asked, her master would usually give some sort of interesting bit of advice. It was usually told in some sort of analogy, too. That was useful for determining one's path, but it only went so far. She wasn't sure of her ability to do the same, to show these people the right way of things. But what kind of High Priestess would she be if she couldn’t handle something like this?

She found a young woman, one of the few female street preachers, giving a much more reasonable sermon about the health benefits of washing one's hands on a corner. No one was actually paying attention to her. Hurrying forward, Beatrice came up and interrupted the lady’s rather eloquent diatribe. "Excuse me. I'm new to the city. Could you tell me more about what you people in white are doing?"

The lady blinked as if surprised that Bee could actually see her. It felt as though no one else had been willing to talk to her.

"Eh, uh, yeah, yeah!" She stammered before, eventually, the elegance of her previous speech returned. "You would like to hear more about the Church?" She asked, the surprise still evident in her tone.

"In a sense," Bee said. "I think there's a lot we have to talk about."