[Jean] Chapter 8: The Wind Temple Priest's Decision

[pringerbeam]

     Jean looked at Ren.  "I will not command you to make this promise Ren.  This is part of life in this world.  It's up to you to make these kinds of decisions."  Jean looked then at Dalina before turning back to Ren with a smile.  "Besides, maybe if you make good enough friends here they'll let you embrace them too.  The first step to that is letting people know they can depend on you."

[Throndir]

"I..." Ren started to say, but she didn't continue. Her eyes flicked back between you and Dalina, and eventually Ren decided to hide behind you, her eyes downcast.

The slimeling who was still propped up on Ren's head began poking Ren's cheek in an attempt to cheer her up, but Ren continued to hide away from Dalina. As for Dalina, watching the scene unfold, she only sighed.

"Well, you don't have to make that promise now Ren, whenever you think you're able to, okay?" Dalina said trying to peek at her. Though Ren continued to use you as a shield, ensuring you were between her and Dalina.

Dalina pouted, and her eyes moved towards you instead.

"I'm sorry about that, I'm not sure if she likes me that much... But I spent a couple hours arguing and defending the two of you from the head priests, so it's still a bit sensitive... Anyways..." She seemed to look away sheepishly. She looked back towards you a moment later, then placed her hand out in a handshaking gesture.

"Since we started off on the wrong foot... I figured I should do this, since you'll be living with my sister and I now, too..." She said with a slight hint of pink on her cheeks.

[pringerbeam]

     "Don't worry, it's hard to do these kinds of things for the first time.  You'll get the hang of it eventually."  Jean said to Ren, putting his hand on her shoulder.  They walked into the home and he took Dalina's hand.  "And I'm sorry about that earlier.  How did the meeting go?  You make it sound like it was a lot of trouble caused for you."

[Throndir]

The three of you eventually went into Dalina's home. Anja was already inside, pouring herself some of the stew that she prepared. Looking at it, it looked as normal as a stew full of meats and vegetables would look.

"I've never had that before..."  Ren said looking curiously at it.

"The council meeting was a pain... I'm the youngest on the council, since my mother decided to go down to the countries of the land-dwellers, but even though they don't mean to, I sometimes feel they don't show as much respect as they should... It was draining for everyone really. I'm just glad it's over, and that they've decided to accept you. Well... more the fact that we've been planning this for a couple of years now, and you are still sent by the Goddess."

"You might not know this Jean, but what you are is a beacon of hope for the land-dwellers, and for us too. Even most of the new countries that suddenly found themselves here had similar stories of summoned heroes. It's a weird coincidence..."

Let me know if there are other things you plan to do for the evening, just call out when you finish RPing/asking questions for the scene.

[pringerbeam]

   

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     The words echoed through Jean's head in their incomprehensible tongue.  "Yeah uh...  Unless there is some really weird stuff about your goddess, I don't think she's the reason I got here.  The being that sent me here wasn't much of a loving goddess.  It was more of a...  Well I'm not sure.  But if there is anything that you need me to do in the capacity of your hero, I can try.  Maybe the elders could be cowed by my presence.  I'm not sure if my position as hero can be used in that way, but maybe my reputation can be."  Jena took in a spoonful of the stew.  "Hey this isn't too bad.  What do you think Ren?  How's your first time eating?"  Jean asked before looking up to see how Ren was faring with this new experience.

[Throndir]

She narrowed her eyes.

"It's said that the hero would meet with the goddess... Our writings tell us that the Goddess of Air would be the one to send you forth to us. But... either way you're the hero, because you came from the summoning ritual. And you have the powers and abilities that aren't normal compared to the rest of us.

The head priests do know of your standing, which is why they were in such a conflict. But it's resolved now anyways. But... some of them could be a little too strict in their views though. That thing you mentioned about not coming from the goddess? It might be best to leave that detail out. I'm the Priestess of the Hero so I'm familiar with all the legends and stories that we have on them."

Ren had first copied the three of you when it came to eating, but after the first bite her eyes lighted up, and she kept stuffing more food down her throat, and continually getting refills of the stew.

She had just finished stuffing her mouth with as many potatoes and meat and vegetables as she could.

"Mmf-aster, this is good!" She said in between her chews, not really knowing proper table manners. Anja took it as a compliment, and the little girl was beaming.

The slimeling seemed to understand the situation, and had dipped one of its tendrils into the bowl of stew Ren had, but quickly pulled back out in disgust.

[pringerbeam]

     Jean watched his companions eat. "See?  There's more to this world than you might have thought.  A whole new realm of enjoyments awaits you.  Though..."  He watched the slimeling recoil from the stew.  "We'll need to figure out something for you.  Did she consume all of the clothing earlier?  There has to be some kind of alternative food source to consuming everyone's clothes...  If her appetite continues to be this voracious I don't know if this island can sustain her.  We'll all be wearing loincloths within weeks." 
     He finished his bowel of food and stood up from the table.  "I don't suppose you could help me with shaving?  I'll be honest, in my world the devices we used for this kind of grooming were probably beyond the technology of this world so I'll need some help.  You can also tell me something about what exactly my responsibilities as the hero are supposed to be.  Could you also tell me something of your goddess?  If I'm going to need to keep up the appearance of being sent here by them, then I will need to get some idea of what they're like."

[Throndir]

Ren nodded.

"Eat... everything... clothes! Yummy!" The slimeling made plopping noises that only you could understand. The rest of the people seemed to look strangely at the slimeling. Though Ren seemed to nod as if understanding what the slimeling was saying.

"Eat... anything! But... icky!"

"Mmf-aster..." Ren said, still stuffing her face. "Loincloths.. are good too... None for girls."

"Shaving? I haven't helped shave a beard before... But I think I can do it." Dalina said, as a slight pink shaded her cheeks.

"For your responsibilities... It would be to train and become more powerful. From the stories we have, heroes aren't always strong when they first arrive here. But they show true remarkable growth in a short amount of time. We call it the Blessings of the Goddess. Sometimes there are cases when a hero is summoned from another world that is already powerful... When you created those tentacles, I thought that you might be one of those.

As for our Goddess, I can tell you of the teachings we have of her, and stories of her time here on this world. She is one of the 6 goddesses of our world. The Goddess of Light, the Goddess of Darkness, the Goddess of Water, The Goddess of Earth, The Goddess of Fire, and finally the Goddess of Air. Those 6 Goddesses are who created our world. All six are said to be sisters, helping guide this world through their divine magic, and even granting magic to everyone else down here. The incantations that each of us use... They're personal. Sometimes they're weird, sometimes they're the same, but those words that come into our mind are said to be with the guidance of the Goddesses. The words that appear in your mind, is there way of looking into your being... Your soul, and guiding you on your own magic within.

The land-dwellers below primarily worship the Goddess of Light. Many of the new countries that appeared down there too worship the same goddess, or... at least, that is what the people believe. Though, sometimes some gods are omitted, and sometimes it's a bit more blasphemous, like claiming other gods exist."

As Dalina helped you shave, while the rest cleaned up, she started to tell you about the teachings and stories from the goddess. From that you learned that there were a few heroes that had been summoned since the war began over a 100 years ago. A total of 6 heroes that had been summoned. There was talk that more heroes were being summoned, but Dalina is waiting til the island reaches Mount Velothia to get the latest news from the past year of the heroes and the war effort.

She told you the teachings of the goddess, but to your ears, it sounded like a mix of the predominant religions back on Earth, combined with some mysticism about birds, wind, and nature.

Assume you can recall this information she tells you, if you want specific questions let me know

[pringerbeam]

     Jean ran his hand across his freshly shaven face.  "Hmm...  Interesting...  I don't suppose that your gods have an origin story themselves?  Like if they were made by some event or special act?"

Trying to get the origin stories for the goddesses as part of the deification research.  Ready to move on after this.

[Throndir]

"The origin of the goddesses themselves? They've been there since the beginning. When time began they began. Though... there is a story that doesn't quite match sometimes. You know the species of bird that Gust is? It is said that the Goddess of Air herself took care of one such bird, and from that lineage spawned the birth of its entire race. There was more to it too, like how she grew up with the bird. It almost implies that she was physically here herself at one time in the past."

"It was always an interesting story to me... but the other priests tell us that it's simply an allegory about choosing an egg, growing up with that companion, and bonding for life... A teaching that all priests here follow."

Do you have any other plans for the rest of the evening? Current time is evening so around 6 PM- 8 PM.

[pringerbeam]

     "Hmmm...  Interesting."  Jean pondered as Dalina finished her explanation.

If there is a reasonable amount of time for it, this could be the period that one of the experiments written up earlier takes place.  If not then Jean just heads to bed to retire for the evening.

[Throndir]

We'll insert your experiments here then. It's still about 6 PM, so there's enough time in the day to do the tentacle testing. You could still probably fit in more if you want, just keep extending that thread, but I'll go ahead and start Ch 9 on the new day.