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"Which he has the power to do," Irila said.
I just ducked my head and groaned. "Which is why he's not giving Maela the financial reports, right?"
"Right," Amerlee agreed. "And Maela is standing her ground and refusing to give the temple the annual tithe. With no budget, there is no request for any money, so she is within her rights."
"Just one problem," Talin said. "If the temple runs out of money, who do you think will suffer?"
"Not the ones at the top," I realized. "Kinen will keep his luxuries, and the Priests of Obligation will starve."
"Fuck!" Amerlee grunted, twisting so she could reach her notepad.
Once that was back in her lap, she started writing. Jamik leaned a little to see what she was worried about, then nodded his head. I just waited patiently, glancing at Talin to see if he was as worried about this as I was. Unfortunately, the expression on his face was calm and controlled. Years of growing up in high society had taught him how to hide his fears easily.
"So, if Maela holding her ground and refusing to give the temple the annual tithe ends up making Kinen look better," I asked, unable to help myself, "then should she just pay the tithe?"
"No," Shalsa assured me. "We simply need to make it known that it's Kinen who is blocking this, not Maela."
"But how am I supposed to convince people that Kinen is the problem? That he needs to go?" I demanded. "Won't they simply assume that I want his position?"
Amerlee lifted her head, her grey eyes landing right on me. "No, that's for me to worry about, Nari. Kinen doesn't like women in power? He's about to beveryunhappy. You see, we're currently trying to get a group of well-placed priests together to help Maela even more. The problem is that Kinen is abusing his control, and giving in to that will do nothing but make sure he gets worse."
"Who's we?" Talin asked.
Jamik laughed once. "'We' means Amerlee and everyone she drags along with her. So, the four of us, Saval, Roek, and a few others."
"Farik?" I asked, remembering how my First Aid instructor still was infatuated with her.
"Oh, that's a good one," Amerlee said, making a note of his name. "Anyone else?"
"Vernie, my instructor for the Words of Zeal," I said. "She's basically letting our god teach the class."
"So she can see him," Amerlee realized.
"Drandir," Talin suggested. "He's a Priest of Obligation, but he seems to be well-connected."
"The one who did their rooms," Jamik clarified. "He's the priest assigned to monitor the needs of the priests in this section. I also think he might be a little sweet on Nari."
"Not unrealistically so," Talin assured him. "I think Drandir flirts because it works for him. He's very good at Obligation, even if it's not a Path that gets a lot of attention."
Amerlee nodded, her pen moving quickly on her pad of paper. "Ok. I'm sure Saval will have a few ideas as well."
"And what are you doing with these people?" I asked, trying to make sure I was keeping up.
Amerlee just smiled. "We're starting a rebellion, Nari. I'm trying to collect priests with good standing in this temple who all believe in Zeal. Together, we can support Maela's demands for those records, refute any unfair grading you get, and hopefully convince enough people that Kinen needs to be reimmersed."
"Because no one knows his lace is fake," Shalsa explained. "You saw that, but only you. You've also never mentioned it in public. Kinen came up the stairs carrying your wet robe. That was enough to hide his lack of lace. The next day, his hands were covered again."
"Henna, most likely," Jamik said. "It's easy to get in Calseth, and would work until he could get tattoos and let them heal."
Irila reclaimed her chair, set her own tea on the table beside her, and then leaned over her knees. "The harder Maela pushes, the more Kinen will take it out on Nari, though," she said. "But Maela can't stop pushing. The problem here is that Tath has a valid complaint. If Ela took over a session, then that's a punishable offense."
"Not necessarily," Shalsa countered. "The kids are initiates. Ela was cleared for pain play sessions with and only with Nari present. It's no secret that his talents have been difficult to get control of." She looked between all of us. "That's why initiate priests aren't allowed outside sessions. It's the entire reason for the rule! Kinen waived that, so it makes sense that two partially trained priests made mistakes. Those same priests also didn't ask for the exemption themselves. It was forced on them."
"That was mentioned last night. Plus," Amerlee added, starting to sound excited about this, "Oryll's lesson plan is already known to have been insufficient. I think we have our way out of that problem."
"You just need to make sure it doesn't come from you," Irila told her. "Roek is no longer assumed to be unbiased either."
"Jola," Jamik realized. "Harlin's desire is a Priestess of the Body, in good standing, and she has already cited concerns about this year of students." He smiled. "She can also see Zeal."
