Maker of Fire

Tom, Cold season, 3rd rot., 7th to 9th day

The High Priestess Kamagishi left the Cracks Edge Chapel Shrine to attend a hand-in-hand ceremony in Aybhas, scheduled for the last day of the rotation. I snooped around and discovered that Emily would be there too. The healer getting hitched was a refugee from Impotu who befriended Emily. They shared some kind of harrowing escape together from an Impotuan fort in the mountains.

The next day, Priestess Inkoyno gave me a book to read on shrine etiquette and hierarchy so I would know where I fit after being blessed by Galt. It was a strange rotation for me. All the healers and all my friends started calling me Revered One. I couldn’t get them to stop.

Getting a blessing from Galt got me far more attention than I ever wanted from the Cosm. I was now a subject of study for the Convocation. I also saw the letters and the writ that would send me up to Is’syal to the Fated Shrine of Galt. There I would be examined by a panel of experts about my blessing. While the panel already included the Holy Kamagishi of Galt, it also included the Holy Fassex of Landa, the most frightening high priestess of them all. She was the king’s executioner. They said that even the other high priestesses were scared of Fassex.

I didn't much savor becoming a trapped research rat inside one of the big shrines. Who knew what they might do to me to study me? The shrines were also dangerous places. They were built not just on a Cosm scale, but on a silverhair scale. Any of the main shrines would be difficult to impossible to escape, with steps too high, door knobs out of reach, and doors too heavy to push. Once trapped in the shrine in Is'syal, I might not be able to meet up with Emily.

My hands and feet still itched and ached from the chilblains, but the worst of the damage was now healed up. The healers were keeping me in the chapel shrine because they didn't want to lose sight of me. The bars of my cage were starting to grow all around me. If I wanted to see my Emily, I needed to escape, immediately.

I got Tairi, with whom I shared a little cottage at home, to bring me clothes, packed food, cold weather gear, my guitar, and my pony. It was the night of the eighth day when I left through my bedroom window. I first took Tairi back to our house, then I took off down the road that led to the towpath along the Salt River.

The first bell of the ninth day was tolling from the belfry on the top of the dome of the Healing Shrine. I was one of the first people through the gate. Because I was on horseback, I rode up the main boulevard of the north market and then took the forbidden lane up to the forecourt in front of the north doors into the shrine. Before I passed the grilled meatball stand, I saw the cat that woke me up last rotation. He ran up to the side of my pony and then jumped up behind me. He was a strange cat.

He was also a big cat. In Earth's terms, he was as big as a German Shepherd dog. I was surprised that my mount didn't even react as the cat settled in. I stopped and tried to shoo him off my pony but he wouldn’t budge. I wasn’t too worried. He obviously had his home in the neighborhood and would probably jump off when I stopped in front of the shrine.

Yes, I had ridden all through the night. I was done sneaking around. The Cosm silverhairs were now after me and I had no time left for pursuing Emily. I would walk into the main shrine and ask for her. I had this blessing thing. I would use it to get their attention, and maybe even their cooperation. Either way, Emily would hear about my visit and would come and find me. I was now sure that she could leave the shrine when she needed to.

I would make a ruckus at the north doors and Emily would know who I was and where to find me. She would come to get me in Is’syal if we didn’t meet today. I had confidence in her. If she wanted to reach me, she would. She was stubborn when she set her mind to a task.

The few Cosm in the forecourt were mostly healers walking into the shrine to begin their work for the day. I was shocked when they all started eyeing me and then got on their knees and put their foreheads into the snow in the most abased of all obeisance postures. I didn’t understand what was happening.

Just as I was getting ready to dismount, the biggest owl I think I have ever seen landed on the frieze over the ceremonial main doors into the shrine. It focused on the cat. I realized that it might think the cat would make a nice dinner.

I pulled my eating knife out to defend against the owl, “I hope you have a good place to hide, kitty, because I think that owl wants to eat you. I’m going to back up the pony and we can ride into the neighborhood where we first met. You can run away there and I’ll keep the owl from chasing you. I have no idea how I’ll do that and I know you don’t understand a word I’m saying, but it’d be nice if you could get away.”

I reined my pony so she started walking backward slowly. The owl didn’t make any moves but I had my knife ready just in case. I owed this cat, after all. If he hadn’t woken me on the night I escaped from the east garden, I might have died from the cold.

Come to think of it, I had no idea why I thought he was a tomcat. It’s not as if I had picked up his tail to look. I realized he might be a she.

A silverhair with the height to be a high holy muckety-muck came running out into the forecourt. She was as tall as the Holy Kamagishi, dressed in gray robes with gold embroidery everywhere. Her face was lined, telling me she had lived many years already.

She stopped and looked me over. Then she turned and looked up at the owl. She got on her knees and made obeisance to the ground to the owl. I had no idea what was going on. She rose and made another obeisance to the ground in my direction. I was gobsmacked. What was happening here?

*While I am touched that you would protect me from the owl, she is an old friend and she will not harm me.* The cat had stood up and now butted his head into my back. *My part in this is now done. I’ll catch up with you later, Tom. You have more important things to do today besides talk to gods.”

“I do?” I was floored.

*You do,* Galt oozed in front of me and butted me again with his head, this time in the stomach. Then he and the owl vanished. All the Cosm in the forecourt got up off their knees and looked relieved. The tall elderly silverhair in the magnificent robes walked up to me.

“So, you are Tom,” it wasn’t a question. “I recognize the coat from when you fled from me in the east garden last rotation. Why didn’t you come and talk to me that night? Emily has been frantic to find you. I could have taken you to her then if you had just spoken with me.”

“I...I…," my usual smooth-talking ability deserted me just then. Being this close to one of the monster ruling mages unnerved me.

The Queen came through the north doors and up to the high priestess, “You probably scared the poor man, dear heart. You need to…,” the Queen took one look at me and her jaw dropped.

She regained her composure. “Captain Tomas Martinez of the United State Army, I presume?” the Queen spoke in English while she gave me an appraising look. “I can’t believe it’s you.”

“You’re speaking English, with an accent like a Brit,” I looked up at the Queen. “How do you know English?” I asked in English.

“I lived in Coventry, in England, in my previous life,” she shook her head at me. “And here you’ve been all this time, right under my nose. The irony is a bit much.”

“Damn,” my head was spinning by now. “You’re from England? Unbelievable.”

“Tom,” the Queen smiled, “the griffin Asgotl is from Earth too. He used to be a whale. You’ll meet him later today.”

“Say what?!?”

“Trainee to the forecourt," the elderly silverhair shouted through the everyday door into the shrine, which was to the left of the big ceremonial doors. Then she walked back to me, "So, you are Emily's Tom." She circled Sweeper, my pony, looking me over with the sort of eyeball mothers give to their daughters' boyfriends. "Are you going to stay for the morning repast, Tom? Or stay for a day or two in one of my guestrooms around the corner from Emily's bedroom? If you want to move in, I'll need to remodel. That would take a while."

“I doubt I can,” I slumped. “The High Priestess of Galt wants my butt up in Is’syal so she can study how I got a blessing without knowing it.”

“Wait!” The old silverhair frowned, “Are you the Coyn who showed up in Cracks Edge with the blessing from Galt?”

“That's right," the Queen beat me to an answer. "He's one of mine, from the Villa, which is served by the Cracks Edge Chapel Shrine since the Villa is not a hereditary holding. He's my barn manager. He manages my delivery wagons too. He’s been with the Villa for almost twenty years. He was one of the first to have the special charm gems. Kamagishi’s been after me since yesterday to transfer his ownership to her. She’s not happy that I keep saying no. I didn’t know he was Tom until Galt woke me up right before he arrived.”

“Ah, finally,” the older silverhair pulled a bewildered trainee over to me. “Trainee, take this pony to the garrison for stabling. Make sure you tell them it belongs to the Queen.” Then she unbuckled my saddle bags and my divine case and handed them to the Queen. She put her big hand lightly on my shoulder, “I am going to carry you on my arm, Tom. It will help your balance if you grab my collar first,” she leaned over so I could.

Before I could catch my breath, I was lifted and settled on her arm. It made me a little nervous, sitting so high up as she walked with me into the shrine. The Queen held the door open for the older silverhair who was carrying me.

“I'm Lisaykos, by the way," she introduced herself. I had guessed right. She was the old Foskan princess who was the High Priestess of Mugash. "I see you already know Aylem. There are Coyn steps from the basement to the fourth floor in the south stair, but given your fatigue level, I thought that carrying you would save some time. You also could use some sleep, since I can tell you didn't sleep at all last night."

“Emily is still asleep,” the Queen remarked. “You have the option of waking her up, if you would like.”

“What?” I replied, alarmed and feeling nervous. “Do you have any idea just how grumpy that girl is first thing in the morning? It’s like taking your life in your hands just to wake her up!”

The Queen started laughing, deep hearty laughter from the gut. The high priestess chuckled, “Yes, we know. You are quite nervous, right now, Tom. I can offer you a charm of peace if you think that might help."

“I know what that is,” I replied. “Let me think about it.”

We got to the fourth floor, after climbing stairs that seemed like they went up and up and up forever. We walked on a railed walkway that circled the atrium. A sentry in the light blue tunic of the garrisons opened the door into the south wing. The Queen opened a set of double doors on the left that entered a large office space. There were four work tables along the east and north walls, plus three lounges and more armchairs than I could count.

I noticed that the sole lounge along the south wall had a portable set of Coyn-scale stairs. The pile of pillows and blankets told me that this was one of Emily's nests. She was always happy to dive into a heap of covers and cushions just to read some cheesy romance novel all day. Some things had not changed about her.

The high priestess put me down and draped my saddlebags and guitar case over the back of an armchair. I couldn’t reach them from where I was standing.

“I know the scale of the furniture can be a bit difficult to deal with,” the old lady said as she pulled up an armchair next to the lounge with the Coyn steps and sat down. “This is the lounge that Emily uses. I’d suggest you do the same since it’s already set up for those of shorter stature.”

“Is there somewhere I can hang my coat and shed my cold-season boots?" I asked, looking around.

“I’ll take them, Tom,” the Queen offered. “I’m the current scholar attendant until I get a new one trained. The official scholar attendant for the Blessed Lisaykos is on family leave.”

It felt so wrong in many different ways to hand the Queen my coat and boots, so she could hang them up in the office's coat closet. While the Queen did that, I looked around the huge room with its insanely high ceiling and its ceiling-to-floor windows, two of which were boarded up.

“Your eyes are as round as ball fish, Tom,” the high priestess stated in a friendly voice. Her words smiled more than her face did.

“No Coyn ever gets to see the insides of this shrine,” I explained. “The Healing Shrine is one of the biggest mysteries. No one knows what it’s like in here. When I’m down at the Surd Hall next, I’ll be interrogated at length to describe this place. People get incredibly curious about the shrines because we are not allowed inside most of them.”

The old high priestess looked surprised at my remark, “interesting.”

“How do you like your tea, Py’oask?” the Queen asked from where the study sideboard was arranged along the south wall.

“I don't know. I don't think I've ever had tea in this life," I said honestly. Coyn did not drink luxury food like tea.

The Queen sighed, “how did you drink your tea back on Earth?”

“I didn’t,” I took the steps up to the lounge. “I was a coffee drinker.”

“Do you want milk and sugar or bog berry syrup in your tea, Tom?” the Queen asked, rolling her eyes at me.

“There’s sugar?” I asked. “I’ll have sugar but I thought sugar was a rarity?”

“Emily introduced sugar made from beets last year,” the Queen handed me a beaker small enough for me to hold and drink out of. Then she took the armchair facing the high priestess, so I had one Cosm mage on my left and one on my right as I sat on the lounge.

Just then, the High Priestess of Galt entered the room wearing the stunning white and red robes of her office. She looked down at me in shock, “Revered One, I thought you were at Cracks Edge. What are you doing here?”

The High Priestess of Mugash smiled just then, looking like a mass murderer in the middle of a killing spree, “Sister Kamagishi, allow me to introduce the missing mysterious Tom, who Emily has been looking for since last Growing Season. I think we now have an answer as to why Galt gave him a blessing.”

“Oh, my,” the younger high priestess exclaimed, looking at me with eyes full of questions.

Emily, Healing Shrine, Cold season, 3rd rot., 9th day, after the first day bell

I dreamed someone was playing the guitar and singing that old Carole King song: “You're so far away / Doesn't anybody stay in one place anymore? / It would be so fine to see your face at my door / Doesn't help to know you're so far away.”

It sounded strange with a deep male voice singing the lyrics. In many ways, it was nostalgic, reminding me of folk concerts in San Francisco. Then the singer started singing Gordon Lightfoot: “When you reach the part where the heartaches come / The hero would be me / But heroes often fail / And you won't read that book again / Because the ending's just too hard to take.”

“Sing something more cheerful,” I muttered, half awake. “That’s such a sad song.”

“And when I awoke and felt you warm and near, I kissed your honey hair with my grateful tears. Oh, I love you, girl.”

It was our song. My eyes flew open. I realized that this was not a dream.

“Tom?”

I heard the sound of a guitar being leaned against a wall. “I have hot tea for you," said a lovely baritone. "Do you want to eat morning repast in here, or out in the dining room where at least a hundred of your Cosm friends are waiting because they are just dying to know what's happening in here? Food choices this morning include cheesy egg and onion rolls, raspberries from the stasis room with cream, hot tea, smoked salmon on sourdough with farmer's cheese, and poached eggs on buttered sourdough toast."

I looked over the edge of the blankets at a 30-something guy with copper-red hair in a long braid down his black plus a neatly-trimmed ring beard. I think I could look at those lovely green eyes all day. I was annoyed that he got all the good hair and eye color and I got stuck with boring brown hair in the unenviable shade known as mouse.

“Wait a moment,” I sat up because I recognized him. “Py’oask? You’re Tom?”

“Yeppers, I sure am," a face that wasn't Tom's replied in English, but wearing Tom's lopsided smile.

I wrapped my arms around my legs and leaned my head on my knees, “I like the eyes. I could stare at them all day.”

“As bodies go, I have few complaints,” he grinned. “I like this one better than the old one.”

“Good to see that you’re just as vain as I remember,” I snipped.

“It is hard to be me," he suggestively brushed back his hair and then did a Charles Atlas pose. "I am always fighting off the women since they mob me."

“Yep, you're definitely Tom," I rolled my eyes. "Well, I guess the next thing that needs to be done is for you to take your clothes off."

“WHAT?!”

“I can’t tell if you have a cute butt unless you take at least your tunics off.”

The blush was amazing. He was so red I thought he might have a heart attack.

“Wow,” I was enjoying this, “I can still embarrass you. What a hoot! Do you still talk in your sleep?”

“I haven’t even had a chance to kiss you yet, and you’re already teasing me?” he assaulted my ears with his protests. He sounded just like himself, except in a baritone rather than a tenor. It was very nostalgic. I could have happily teased him all day just for the pleasure of listening to him complain that I was such an abusive wife.

“You could at least pretend to be romantic and burst into tears over being reunited,” he groused. “Sorry I couldn’t find any flowers.” He looked so put out. I couldn’t tell if it was an act or not.

“Tomas Martinez, there is only room for one romantic in this relationship,” I informed him in my best professor voice, “which is a relief for me that I don’t have to do all that gooey sweet stuff.”

“Yes, you might look like you’re still in junior high school, but you are definitely my Emily,” he raised an eyebrow at me. “I think I like you short,” he grinned. “It makes me feel very manly,” he stood up and wrapped me in his long strong arms. “I’ve been missing you every single moment since I regained my memories of Earth. That’s about twenty years. Do you still have ticklish feet?”

“No, not at all,” I said without even thinking.

“Ah, good,” he purred. “It’s nice to know I’ll be able to get some revenge for all the teasing I am about to endure. You know you can’t fool me.”

“Crap.”

We ended up hugging each other under the covers of my bed and falling asleep together. I woke up sometime after the second bell and got up.

Py’oask, a.k.a. Tom, was dead asleep in my bed with the overgrown cat monster Eskurt on top of him. They looked cute together. I put on something presentable, otherwise known as a kirtle and gown, piled the morn repast dishes outside my door, and strolled to where Asgotl was napping, in a patch of sunlight coming through the balcony door window.

“Psst, Blubber Brain," I nudged his beak with my foot, "I need some help escaping tomorrow after the hand-in-hand ceremony before the party gets started."

“Count me in,” he didn’t even open his eyes. “Where are we going, and are we taking that guy you just installed in your bed?”

“The hot spring, and yes, we’re taking him.”

Asgotl got around to lifting his head and looking at me, "Aylem already warned me not to help you with any more of your schemes, so of course, I'll help. Does Tom have flying clothes? That’s the one problem I can see. You also should ask someone with weather sense about the storm situation for the next few days.”

“Why don’t you want to attend the party after the hand-in-hand?” Usruldes’ voice asked me from somewhere above me.

“Let’s see, it’s a big person ceremony, filled with many big persons. Then there’s the big person party afterward, with lots of big persons getting drunk and rowdy, in a big person dining room, filled with big person furniture and big person food served on big person dishes. Of course, there will be big person party games and other big person wedding traditions, most of which will probably be dangerous for any little persons who might be present.

“As a little person, I will sit in my allotted chair and not move for safety’s sake until the party is over. Big person affairs are bad enough for just me, but now I’ve got Tom around and he has no idea of what it’s like being trapped in a room with too many silverhairs, nothing to do, and no way to get out safely. I won’t do it to him, not if I have any say. He’s not ready yet.”

Usruldes appeared, leaning against the wall with his arms crossed. “Why not slip out and head back here to your quarters?”

“That gets me a little privacy for a short time, but I want some big privacy for a day or two. We have a lot we need to talk about and I don’t want to share any of it with all those well-meaning old birds lurking in Lisaykos’ study. I know that every single one of them wants to take out their clairvoyance and peek, especially Kamagishi and Lyappis. Sooner or later, none of them will resist the temptation. I can’t have a long talk with a former and maybe future lover with that hanging over my head. Would you?”

Usruldes slid down the wall to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of me and Asgotl, "You have a valid argument there. Do you need to talk at the hot spring? How about some other private place with better shelter from the cold season storms? Why not that little house in Omexkel at the Building Shrine?”

“Well, masked man,” said Asgotl, “that doesn’t sound like a bad idea. I don’t like storms on the north side of the Great Cracks.”

“Huh. It does get me what I want right now, which is some time alone with Tom,” I couldn’t see a downside, except missing out on a nice soak in my hot spring.

“So, the two of you will sneak off to Omexkel after the hand-in-hand?” Usruldes prodded.

“Alright, Omexkel it is,” I capitulated.

Usruldes relaxed his shoulders and sighed, “That’s one less thing to worry about.”

“There’s more?” I was curious.

“Yes, what are you going to wear to the ceremony tomorrow? Blue or yellow?”

“Yellow," I gave him a look. "I thought it would be obvious that I'll be on the bride's side of the room. I hardly know Oysumi."

“Do you have anything for Tom to wear?” Usruldes asked. “Great fish face, by the way. Regardless, the clothes he brought are too shabby. I suspect Twessera could get something made overnight, but you would need to find her now so she has enough time.”

“Any idea where she is?” I asked.

“In the study, embroidering something. She’s on Emily duty today, patiently waiting for you to wake up so she can charm the hot water for the shower.”

“How do you know that Tom has no suitable clothes?”

“I peeked,” he frowned. “He knew he was coming to the shrine, but I don’t know why he didn’t bring some nicer clothes than the threadbare stuff he packed.”

“He probably doesn’t have anything nice, by your standards,” I said, unamused. “Coyn don’t have nice clothes in Foskos. There’s no need for slaves to dress up.”

“Ouch!” he shook his head. “Just when I think I understand life as a Coyn, you come along again and show me that I don’t understand after all.”

“You understand better than most, so don’t be so rough on yourself,” I started walking to the doors into the study. “Come on. We need to chat with Twessera and my accountant.”

“Your accountant?”

“My accountant, better known as Lisaykos," I stated. "She keeps my financial records and pays my bills. She also negotiates all my percentages for the stuff I introduce. Paper alone made me enough money to do nothing for the rest of my life. I don't want to know how bad it's gotten since the introduction of glass, steel, rubber, showers, and the flush necessary."

“So why do you need to worry about money?” He sounded confused.

“Who else is going to pay for the fabric to put Tom into a decent-looking wool overtunic and trews? Damn, do we know what his footwear looks like?"

“If his riding boots are any indication, he needs new boots and shoes. I wonder if we should send down to the market for someone with a stock of ready-made Coyn shoes?” Usruldes held open the door for me.

“If the hand-in-hand is tomorrow, it’s either that or showing up in stocking feet,” I remarked, mapping out my path to my spot on the south wall lounge.

“What’s this?” Lisaykos looked up from her pile of work, sitting in the armchair she liked as an office chair.

“Tom has no decent clothes to wear tomorrow,” Usruldes beat me to speaking. “No decent shoes either. Let’s just say that his cloth isn’t very good.”

“I was thinking we could ask the right sort of merchants from the north market to pay us a visit right away with shoes and cloth," I explained. "If I could coerce Twessera and her amazing needle to whip together something not too shoddy?"

“I can do that," Twessera looked up from her embroidery. She was sitting on Senlyosart's lounge, next to the High Priestess of Sassoo who was reading. Mieth, Losnana, Kamagishi, and Lyappis were sitting together on or next to the lounge that used to be along the north wall. It was now between the two walls and facing Lisaykos' work table along the east wall. It was a new arrangement for the study that increased the number of seats in the room without looking too crowded.

“Maybe you don’t need to, Twessera,” Senlyosart motioned with a hand for emphasis. “Since my Coyn are mostly professional musicians, we send them to certain affairs to provide music. Some of those affairs are hand-in-hand ceremonies, so my Coyn all have access to both yellow and blue attire made with very good cloth. There should be something in our shrine’s stores in either yellow or blue to fit your young man, Great One.”

“That sounds wonderful, Holy One,” I meant every word.

“What size is your young man?” Senlyosart asked.

“About nine hands tall, maybe taller. Broad shoulders. Long back. Thin waist. Thick thighs. He’s big for a Coyn.”

"I'll mindcast my Coyn manager, Oytwee, and have him bring over hand-in-hand clothes and shoes in large sizes," she stated and then she tranced. It was several moments before she returned to the present. "Oytwee will come after the mid repast."

“Thank you,” I looked around from my usual perch, thinking some hot tea would be nice but Aylem was nowhere to be seen. “Where’s the Queen?”

“Talking to the King about Mattamukmuk,” Lisaykos replied. “Gaining them as a vassal state is, well, a mess. We don’t have the people needed to supervise them right now, not at that distance.”

"It makes me wonder what the gods are thinking when they want such things, like making Mattamukmuk a vassal country," I remarked, shocking everyone in the room again with my attitude toward the gods.

Tom, Healing Shrine Cold season, 3rd rot., 9th day, afternoon

I opened my eyes to discover that the weight sprawled across me wasn’t Emily. It was a giant cat – a very affectionate and playful giant cat. I heard the fourth bell so I escaped the cat and Emily’s bed for the necessary next door.

I was astounded to see the Cosm-sized flushing toilet, with the old-fashioned elevated tank mounted far above. Behind a small door was another flushing toilet, this time on a Coyn-scale. There was also a Coyn-scale sink with running water. The weird thing is that the hot water didn’t appear to work.

The hot water also didn’t work for the swimming pool of a tub and the shower. Having used the necessary, I wanted to try that incredible-looking shower. The shower nozzle had to be at least five yards up. I knew I could use it since there was a set of faucets for the shower at Coyn height.

The hot water situation was bothersome. I was looking forward to that shower. I put my overtunic back on and belted it. I figured out the Coyn door built into the Cosm door between Emily's bedroom and the one next door used by the high priestess. I crossed the bedroom to a door that led to a dining chamber. There was a door weight preventing the door from closing all the way. I guessed that was to help Emily since those huge doors would be a chore to move.

The door between the dining room and the high priestess’ study was also kept open with another door weight. The study had more silverhairs in it now and every one of them was a monster. Was the dreaded Convocation about to meet? I had no idea what was happening around me.

A young healer in an out-of-the-way spot put her embroidery down and walked through the study to where I was peering into the room. She stepped around me to get into the dining room.

She knelt to talk to me, “Revered One, you look a bit lost. I’m the healer on Emily duty today, which also includes helping you. My name is Twessera, by the way. Can I help you reach something or find something?”

I had nothing to lose by asking, "The hot water in the washroom doesn't work. When I turn on the hot water faucet for the shower and for the sink, it never even gets warm. How can I get this fixed? I wanted to get clean."

Kneeling in front of me, the young healer started laughing quietly. She found what I said to be funny since it took her several moments to regain her composure. Then she explained that the hot water was heated by magic. That was one of the reasons Emily received help every morning at the shrine: so a resident mage could heat the water for the bathing chamber.

After Twessera heated the water in the hot water tank, I discovered that the shower was amazing. It was like taking a shower under a small waterfall.

When I was clean and dressed, I girded up my mental courage and ventured into the high priestess’ study. I counted 10 silverhairs and to my great surprise, two Coyn. The first was Emily and the other was a middle-aged guy in the gray and rust-red livery of the Shrine of Sassoo. I recognized the man as the manager of the shrine’s Coyn. He was Oytwee, who I had met two or three times at the Surd Hall.

The two of them were sitting on Emily’s lounge, as everyone called it. The Queen was also seated next to them in an armchair along with another silverhaired woman of high priestess size. The second silverhair appeared disabled since she needed a walker to move around.

Emily spotted me and waved me over. “Tom, we need to find you some clothes before tomorrow. Oytwee here brought some yellow tunics and trews that should fit you and we got a room set up across the hall that you can use as a fitting room.”

“Py’oask?” Oytwee sat up straight and made a fish face at me. “You’re the mysterious Tom, the Coyn who got blessed by Galt?”

“Yeah,” I shrugged, a bit embarrassed. “Go figure. I didn’t know it had happened to me until a healer told me.”

“Well, let's get you some clothes for the hand-in-hand tomorrow," Oytwee slid off the lounge. "I got the tunics and pants laid out and waiting already," he gestured out the double doors into the hallway.

As we strolled out of the room, Emily asked whomever: "Isn't it risky to send them out into the main corridor without an escort to handle the traffic?"

“I’ll take care of it,” a musical bass responded and then there was a presence following us. I turned and looked up at what had to be one of the kingdom’s legendary wraiths. He was tall for a Cosm male. I could tell from his white eyebrows that he was certainly a silverhair, though none of his hair showed. He wore a long black overtunic over black leggings and boots. He had a face mask over his nose and mouth and a black headscarf over his hair. Topping the outfit off was a black hooded mantle, worn with the hood up.

Maybe I was imagining things, but I had the feeling that he was looking at me in the same way that fathers used to look me over when I picked up a girl for a date in high school. It was strange.

Later on, during dinner, I was gobsmacked when there was ice cream for dessert. Emily had introduced ice cream to Foskos high society. It differed from Earth ice cream since it was made in an ice bath created with temperature magic, Emily explained, and not with rock salt and ice.

My first day with Emily was surreal. I hardly had any time to just talk with her. The Cosm all around us were too curious about me to leave us in peace. Em kept giving me these heartfelt looks of apology, as if she could have stopped the small mob of friendly giant mages, mostly high priestesses, from peppering me with questions all afternoon.

We didn’t get any time alone together until after dinner, and only then because the after-dinner crowd in Lisaykos' study went out of their way to ignore us. That was when Emily filled me in about the wedding and that the two of us would escape to Omexkel with Asgotl the Griffin right after the ceremony was done.