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"Shit," Ursula breathed. "This is why you need to make sure Nari is trained enough to defend herself. He's not going to give up on her, Wraythe, and he's been making a lot of comments about women being the problem."
"Nari has nothing to do with Kinen not turning in his reports to the Baroness," I countered.
"No, and she has nothing to do with the cause of half the temple's issues," Ursula pointed out. "She's still the one bringing them to light. That will result in people being punished. How many of them do you think would rather hurt her than accept the repercussions of their actions? Do you honestly think Kinen's just going to say he's sorry for losing thousands of gold that belongs to the temple? No, he's going to make sure someone else is blamed. Ideally Nari!"
"Oh." Because I hadn't actually thought that far ahead.
No, I wasn't surprised, but I'd always assumed that people would know Nari was the one who called him out. Instead, Ursula was right. Kinen would try to make up some scandal where Nari had caused the whole thing. He'd say he was trying to hide it to keep the temple from being embarrassed - or something. He would find some way to have Nari thrown out and make his other problems vanish.
"Inspiration," Ursula went on, "is worried about other barons deciding not to tithe to the temples. There was a rant about destroying the traditions that keep the nation running, and something about how Kinen's friendships in the peerage aren't supposed to jeopardize the temples. Something big is happening, and it sounds like the High Priests are no longer blindly supporting each other."
"Did they ever?" I asked.
She slowly nodded. "Yeah, actually. It used to be that what happened in a temple was that temple's business. Temptation would not interfere with Ambition, Ambition wouldn't stick their nose into Compassion, and so on. If someone tried to get the temples to pick sides, the High Priests always stood together."
"And now they're walking into the front entrance, screaming," I said, thinking about that. "Maela won't give Kinen the annual tithe because Kinen won't give her the financial records. That's the real problem here."
"No," she corrected. "The real problem is that the other barons want to keep that tax money for themselves. The High Priests know it. If there's any reason why the barons can do the same thing as Maela, then they will. Maybe it will be some minor loophole that no one even remembers. Maybe it's something as blatant as what Kinen is doing. The end result is that a lot of citizens pay taxes, and that tax money will end up lining one man's pockets. Not feeding thousands of priests."
"Right," I agreed. "But I don't see how this has anything to do with Nari."
"Nari's the reason Maela stepped up," Ursula insisted. "Shit, Wraythe. It doesn't take a genius to see that. Tarben got sick and backed away from most of his duties. It makes sense, but for years, the man was a shadow that we knew about but never interacted with. Then Tath becomes the baron, and he stays just as hands-off. The system ran fine - at least on the outside."
"And?" I pressed. "Nari has nothing to do with the tithe. Maela is already the Primary Patron. Kinen's the one who isn't doing his job. Where is the threat to her, Ursula?"
"Kinen," she said. "Or that laceless girl. Maybe another priest he has following him around, begging for a chance to lick his shoes clean. It doesn't matter who. The problem is that Kinen's life is getting difficult because one initiate priestess made it that way. Get rid of the priestess and things will go back to normal, right? Maybe the priestess and a baroness. Who knows what he's planning - because I don't - but men like Kinen are always planning."
I bobbed my head because I could see her point. "Did you learn all this stuff in Kaznia?"
"Yeah," she admitted. "They have no gods, Wraythe. In Kaznia, they have power. Many kinds of power, and they will use it all without remorse. Killing people is merely messy, not abhorrent. Nari needs to be able to watch her own back, because someone will find a way to get around you boys. Make sure she comes to the Salle so we can keep training her."
"Ok," I relented. "I'm also going to tell Talin about this."
"I assumed so," she said, flicking a finger to the other side of the room where Talin was talking to another priest. "But I couldn't figure out how to get him alone. Tell all of them. Tell Nari. Something is brewing, and I like seeing my god in the halls. I have a feeling that without Nari, we won't have Zeal for very long."
Chapter 33
Nariana
When I walked out of my last class for the day, I was surprised to find Jamik and Amerlee waiting instead of one of my guys. The pair stood against the far wall, but Amerlee was pressed up against Jamik's side and his arm rested casually over her shoulder. They looked like lovers, which I wasn't used to seeing outside their suite, and I liked it.
"Hey, you two," I greeted them as I headed over.
From behind me my instructor's voice added, "I guess she is still around. Priestess Amerlee, it's a pleasure."
"Priest Farik," Amerlee greeted him. "I've been hearing great things about your class."
He chuckled as he moved to greet the pair. "Well, it's hard not to make it interesting when Nariana summons gods to heal my patients for me."
"Just one god," I corrected.
"She could probably summon others," Amerlee admitted. "But I'm glad you're pushing her, giving her the chance to learn the same way the others are."
"Because if she ever gets tired of talking to gods," Farik said, "I'm hoping she'll turn to medicine. There's no reason she can't practice it with the Path she's on. I'm also happy that I haven't seen either of you recently. Preparing for your transition to Word?"
Jamik's mouth opened, and the look on his face wasn't happy, but Amerlee shook her head, answering before he could. "No, Kinen denied my application for a reimmersion, and he has given me a minimum number of sessions each week. If I cannot meet the number on my own, I will be assigned to clients off the street in sessions under the dome."
"Fuck," Farik breathed. "I don't think you're the only one. I've had a lot of priests taking sessions they should've declined. They keep saying they have to."
