Outside Influences

Bel took in the empty room that Ventas had called an office, nervous and twitchy from the sudden lack of companionship. The office itself had little to distract her: there was a chair, a desk, and a pedestal with a small figurine of Lempo, coyly smiling in Bel’s direction. She did her best to avoid looking at Lempo. Adjusting to the knowledge that the goddess was her mother would take some time.

Bel looked away from the figurine and back to the sliding panel door that separated her from the shrine’s combined ritual and operating room. The muffled grunts coming from her brother made her want to run back inside, but Ventas had wanted her gone to remove distractions during the delicate operation of inserting an artificial core. She hesitated with her hand on the door frame; was the priest literally cutting her brother open?

Bel shook her head, trying to clear the thought from her mind. I've got to trust that James knows what he wants.

Bel stepped away from the door and began a desperate search for anything in the office that could keep her mind occupied.

Unfortunately for her idle hands, Ventas was a very tidy person. His desk was clear of clutter, with just an inkwell and a few reed pens on its surface. The air even smelled clean, without a hint of old food or the scent of sweat that usually lingered in an occupied space. Bel inspected the rest of the room and peered into a few cubbyholes that dotted the walls, but all that she turned up were some uncut reeds, some clay tablets and unused clay, a few leather scrolls, and a small assortment of tools whose uses she didn’t understand.

After checking everything else, Bel finally gave in and turned to Lempo’s figure. This one portrayed a middle-aged goddess with a thoughtful expression. The goddess’ pale blonde hair was mostly hidden under a flat-topped cap, and her trailing hair was wrapped up in a bun that held several ribbons. The goddess’ hands reached out of wide, petal-like cuffs as if she was grasping at something. Ventas had balanced a used reed in one of her hands – whether that was a tradition, some irreverence, or just a bit of absent-mindedness she didn’t know. The goddess’ other hand grasped a small essence stick, identical to the one that Ventas had given to Bel.

Lempo was wearing an incredibly ornate doll’s dress made of woven reeds. It was dyed a deep green, but had lighter accents across the front and back. This version of her looked approachable; well-dressed but not haughty, old enough to look reliable but young enough that she wasn’t crotchety. At least that was the impression Bel got. She leaned over the desk to inspect the goddess’ face.

“Uh, hi mom. If it’s okay for me to call you that. If it’s not okay, then, I dunno, strike me down with lightning or something.”

Bel stared at the immobile wooden figurine for a few seconds.

“Right, I’ll just assume that it’s cool then. So, I don’t suppose you could help me remember more about what you wanted me to do?”

Bel waited, but nothing happened. She snorted. “Just so I understand, I’m important enough to you to start a war.” Bel pointed at the goddess. “And you want me to do something, which is why I’m so important to you. But you won’t tell me what I’m supposed to do?”

Bel stared into the goddess’ painted eyes. “Nothing? No help at all? A little clue?”

Another loud moan from the operating room sent her spine tingling. She couldn’t take it any more – Bel fled the office through another door that led to a small garden. She blocked out all of her fears about her brother. Instead, she focused on the flowers and the insects, their lives locked into a mutually beneficial dance of survival. It was a good relationship, with simple roles. Not like the one between her and the gods.

In the office behind her, the small statue turned its gaze to rest upon her back. A few of Bel’s snakes flicked their tongues in surprise, but Bel was too engrossed in the flowers and butterflies to notice.

Bel tapped the metal essence rod slowly against her palm. The device was interesting; it was the opposite of the collection plates passed around in Technis’ temples, dispensing essence to the user instead of taking it. She had already advanced her core once, although she could feel that the stick was nearly empty.

Maybe this is what Technis does with all of his offerings.

She stared at the small piece of metal. Technis collected a lot of offerings; add them all up and maybe it was worth a god’s time.

The door thumped open behind her, sending Bel a good foot into the air with surprise. She turned to see the priest at the door and flushed with embarrassment.

“Ah, Ventas! You startled me!”

The old man smiled at her. “My apologies, Beloved! Enjoying the garden?”

Bel hoped that she hadn’t disturbed something important when she saw Ventas inspecting his tidy office. “Ah,” he said with delight, “I see you’ve communed with your mother. Excellent!”

“Uh…” Bel looked back at Lempo’s figurine. She didn’t think that she’d disturbed it…

“On to more mortal concerns. I came to let you know that your brother’s operation is complete. I’ll make a hearty meal to help him recover, but it would do him well if you could offer some words of comfort while he heals, if it would please you.”

“He’s okay?” Bel confirmed.

Ventas nodded and stroked his chin. “He is well. He is also full – no, overflowing is the word – with ideas. I can certainly see why you and your mother would favor him.”

The priest absently turned back to the ritual room, clearly lost in thought. Bel hoped that James hadn’t given him any ideas that were too crazy.

She quickly popped to her feet and rushed to see her brother.

When she entered the room he was still lying on the floor, his entire chest wrapped in bandages. She could see bruises peeking out from under the blood tinged cloth, but his chest was rising and falling evenly. She approached him carefully and knelt by his side.

“You okay?” she whispered.

He grunted and cracked open his eyes. “I’ve been better,” he croaked.

“Was it worth it? Can you do magic now?”

James gave her a weak thumbs up. “I guess.”

He tapped the ground to his side and Bel noticed a large leather scroll. “I’ll have to extract abilities before I can do anything. Ventas gave me this list of abilities and what creatures I should pull them from.”

He lowered his hand, clearly drained by even that little effort.

“So you can’t do anything now? Even after all this?”

“It’s not quite magic – or at least not the way I thought about it – but I can feel this thing in my chest. Ventas explained a bit about cores while he worked.”

Bel realized that they were speaking in English. She glanced to the door of the room, towards the part of the shrine where Ventas said that he would be cooking. She leaned closed to her brother and whispered, “did you mention that you’re from the Old World?”

“Nah,” he responded, “apparently he’s heard of cases where Paths and cores have gone wrong for people before. He thinks that I was cursed by Technis. I mean, he’s not wrong.”

“Ah.” Bel leaned back against the way. “Yeah, that makes sense. Actually, we should use that excuse for everything. Do you think it would work with my hair too?”

“I think that would be pushing it.”

They both chuckled, although James winced at the movement.

Ventas plopped a heavy pot of something halfway between a porridge and a stew on the table before taking his seat. “So you wanted to know more of Lempo, child?” he asked Bel. “Do you not speak to her often?”

“Uhh… well, I met her once. During some ritual.” Bel paused, trying to find the words to describe their brief interaction. “It was intense. I have a little bit of a vague memory of Kjar saying something about her being too overwhelming for mortals.”

Ventas nodded knowingly.

“What does Lempo do for you, Ventas? I mean, for people in general? People only talk about Technis, other than someone we know who follows Durak, but beyond them I don’t know much about the gods.”

Ventas frowned as he ladled the food into three bowls, serving Bel first. “That’s not right. You should have been raised somewhere proper, not by Technis’ followers. I shall do my best to make up for that.”

The priest stirred his food and steam rose towards the ceiling. He idly watched it curl and twist in the light breeze that moved through the shrine as he considered where to begin.

He ate a lump of potato, swallowed, and set down his bowl. After a sip of tea he was ready to talk.

“Imagine a person who lives in a valley. They walk around the valley every day, but they have never gone over the mountains; the peaks are simply too high. This person may pray to a deity so that they can run faster, or be a better hunter, or grow more crops, but they are still stuck in the valley.”

Ventas gestured through a window that faced some of the Spine mountains, just barely visible in the distance. “But if that person prayed to Lempo, she would find a way to get them to the other side. Perhaps she would give them just enough energy to ascend the peak, or mayhap she would guide them through cracks and tunnels in the stone.”

He waved his hand towards the sky. “Or maybe she would even find a flying beast to carry this person out.” Ventas flapped his hands, miming a large creature swooping over the table.

“It may not be easy, but Lempo will provide a way. For anyone who wishes to change their circumstances, or the circumstances of others, your mother is the ideal patron.” Ventas took another mouthful of soup and sip from his tea, nodding to himself.

Bel waited for the explanation to make sense, and Ventas chuckled at her expression.

“The people of Satrap are trapped in a valley, Bel, and Technis’ Barrier and his rules and institutions are the mountain that we cannot cross. Some people think nothing of their prison, but others want to leave, to experience a world unconstrained by Technis’ boundaries. I know not how, but Lempo must have found a way to free us.”

The priest pointed at her. “A way that somehow goes through you.”

Bel chewed on a large chunk of carrot to cover her embarrassment, unsure of how to respond. Ventas took another bite of his own food and they were silent for a few moments.

“Is that why you began following Lempo? To escape from Technis?” she eventually asked.

“Ah, alas, my initial desires were motivated by a more immediate need, something important at the time. Do you know about the bone-melting plague?” He looked at their blank faces. “Ah, well, I suppose the fact that you have never heard of it is only proof of Lempo’s blessings. I, along with some others, used her gifts to remove it from Satrap. It was during that time that I learned of the falseness of Technis and his priests.”

Ventas’ expression became heavy. Emotions clouded his face, easily adding years onto his looks. “Years ago,” he sighed, “there was a pox that dissolved its victims. The healers were overwhelmed, and my brother, his wife, and child – a girl no older than you – they all died while Technis’ priests did nothing. They claimed that their healers were sufficient to battle the outbreak, but while their healers could slow the disease and save some victims with a great deal of effort, they would never win the war.”

He sat heavily on his cushion, his eyes losing focus as his mind went to the past. “And they would only fight their hardest for the very richest among us,” he added bitterly.

Bel looked at James, surprised at what she was learning; not that there were even more reasons to hate Technis, but that those reasons went even farther back in time. For some reason, Beth’s stories always made it sound like the problem with Technis had started within their lifetimes, but she was guessing that Ventas was probably somewhere between forty and fifty, around twice Beth’s age.

As she looked at her brother, Bel noticed that he was having trouble lifting his arms. She silently grabbed his bowl and spoon and began helping him take small portions of his meal, just like she’d done after the priests beat him to punish her for some transgression.

Ventas chewed angrily on his food as his thoughts took him away, but soon came back to the present. “That,” he pronounced with a wave of his spoon, “was when Lempo appeared. She wasn’t on the list of approved deities, but what did I care? I, and many others, embraced her Path and we set out to eradicate the pox from all of Satrap.”

The priest spoke with a sudden fire in his belly. His eyes were piercing, like a lighthouse shining against the darkness. Bel was amazed by his sudden transformation.

“At first, Technis’ priests attempted to restrain us – the fools! – but eventually they were forced to relent. Had they persisted, they would have faced a backlash from all of the people who they had ignored. We walked the land, going from town to town until the pox was no more.”

He thumped the table with remembered triumph.

“And what did we ask in return? Merely to create shrines for our goddess and to welcome her daughter into the world.” He nodded at Bel, surprising her. She hadn’t realized that there was a personal connection between her and Ventas.

If the priest’s eyes had burned before, now they blazed. His voice turned deep and husky with anger. “And how did Technis uphold his part of the deal? By imprisoning you to use as leverage against us.”

He thumped the table again, rattling the bowls and spoons and sloshing some of his tea. “But only a fool would dare challenge our goddess! Technis may have held this land in his grip for thousands of years, but nothing, nothing is forever.”

Ventas scooped up another spoonful of food, but paused to pontificate once more. “It is ironic. Technis is a mere mortal who has walked his Path to godhood, but he has quickly forgotten the harsh realities that mortals face every day.” Ventas scowled. “Technis represents no enduring concept, unlike Lempo. He is a temporary nuisance, like a cloud that momentarily blocks the sun on an otherwise clear day.”

Then the priest angrily bit into a large, stew soaked dumpling.

“Wow,” James whispered.

“Yeah,” Bel agreed. “I didn’t realize – I didn’t know all about this.”

Ventas nodded, his lips twisting in a bitter expression. “Of course not. Ignorance is one of the best ways to forestall change, as Technis well knows. It’s often said that those who do not know the past are doomed to repeat it.”

“Damn,” James cursed. “And Lempo organized an entire war because of the shit he pulled?”

The priest tilted his head at James’ odd turns of phrase, but understood his meaning well enough. “Not just Lempo. Technis has angered too many to be ignored any longer. His time is at an end, and now he will fall.”

“But if Lempo is so great,” James asked, “then why doesn’t everyone follow her?”

Bel was afraid the question would upset Ventas, but he merely smiled. The old man was apparently eager for any excuse to speak more of his goddess. Bel wondered if he gave sermons, the same as Technis’ priests.

“Many people want change, James. Perhaps they’ve been stricken by ill-events, or maybe they were born into a poor family. Conversely, those who are already at the top are often scared of change. Unfortunately, it is those at the top who control things and those at the bottom who are left to fill their bellies with wishes and dreams.”

He lifted his spoon into the air like a baton. “But the wise know it is better to be a pauper in a kingdom of plenty than ruler in a kingdom of famine. It is only through continual change that we can better ourselves and our communities,” he proclaimed with vigor.

He clapped his hands suddenly and grinned. “And that is why you two must grow stronger!”

Bel laughed at his sudden enthusiasm. She felt embarrassed for her outburst a moment later and quickly covered her mouth. “Sorry,” she rushed, “it’s just that the person who rescued us is more, I don’t know… aggressive with her encouragement. Your kind of enthusiasm is nice.”

Ventas smiled warmly, clearly heartened by praise from his goddess’ daughter.

“If I may ask, who was your rescuer? Lempo has little reason to keep us apprised of her greater plans, but I have to admit to being rather curious.”

Bel leaned on her elbows and gazed into the distance as she pictured her sister. “Well, Beth – that’s her name – she’s like a bossy older sister. That’s what James says, at least. I don’t really have family, so I wouldn’t know.”

Ventas chuckled wistfully at her remarks. “Child, you are like family to all of us. Though Technis’ priests may have kept you isolated from us, you have never been alone.”

Her eyes widened and her snakes looked at him intently. “Then can I call you uncle?” Bel asked hopefully.

He laughed, instantly charmed by her earnest expression.

“Of course! I would be honored. I will be the best uncle a mortal can hope to be!”

Bel grinned from ear to ear.

“What happened to this Beth? The two of you arrived in quite a sorry state. You told me that you made it through the Labyrinthos, but was there a reason why she could not guide herself?”

“Oh! When we were underground, we were separated by an explosion and a bit of a cave collapse. We’re pretty sure that she’s okay, but we didn’t have a way to get back to her.” Bel frowned for a few seconds before smiling at Ventas. “We were quite lucky to stumble into you.”

Ventas happily refilled her bowl to cover some of his embarrassment. “Well, I suppose that the feeling is mutual. I love the people of Clearbrook of course, but I have longed to be in the heart of things once again, working to improve our world.”

“Well, the feeling is mutual! Right, James?”

She looked at her brother only to see that he had dozed off.

Ventas chuckled quietly at the sight.

“The core fusion is a very tiring process. Well, there’s no problem with that – the two of your should just rest up for a few days. Then, when he is feeling up to it, we can begin collecting abilities for his core.”