Father Hi stared at the Half Elf, who sipped the sweet tea which had been made. Jurot, who hadn’t made to drink the tea, did so when Adam sipped it.

  The Father let out a long sigh of relief, realising that the pair were now fortable enough to e the drinks. They could have refused the food and drink if they didn’t trust the temple and its people, and they would have been uo do anything about it.

  “We wished to ask you what you think of Jaghi,” Father Hi said, smiling warmly towards the Half Elf. His views on Jaghi would be important, after all, how else would they know of why the statues had awakened.

  Adam tio sip the tea, slurping it noisily, which broke the tension through the air. He pced the cup down oable and iwined his fiogether. His eyes met the Father’s, staring deep into them seriously.

  “That’s… it?” the Half Elf asked. ‘There was no way they just called me here for my opinion on Jaghi. The three of them are the most powerful spellcasters iire town, and they’re asking me my thoughts about this po, there’s something more to it. Why do you bastards have to be so damn vague!’

  Adam hated dealing with Nobles and the Clergy.

  Father Hi smiled politely, bowing his head slowly. He couldn’t just ask su important thing right away, not sihey had a lot of busio deal with. He o ease Adam into the discussion.

  “Well, I think…” Adam sighed, hating the fact they were taking the long way around to speak. “It’s certainly o me thaher pces I’ve visited. I was in Deadwood and Eagle Wing, and those two towns weren’t particurly kind to me. The people here don’t seem to mind me, which is nice.”

  Father Hi dabbed at his face with a handkerchief he had procured from one of the many folds within his clothing. His body, being quite full of blubber due to the life of a Head Priest, was the type which ofteed easily, especially under such pressure.

  “Is that all you think of Jaghi?” the Father asked, smiling nervously towards the Half Elf.

  Adam caught the eyes of the Father, which held knowledge which Adam didn’t, knowledge which made him so nervous when dealing with the Half Elf. ‘Seriously, it feels like I’m the one bullying you now. What the hell is going on?’

  Jurot pced down his tea cup, having fihe tea, and he reached for a snabsp;

  Adam’s eyes so Jurot, full of seriousness. “What are you doing?” he asked, his voice simmering with offence.

  “Eating the snacks,” Jurot replied, simply, biting into a hard biscuit, tasting the sugar. He uood just how amazing this snack was, since sugar wasn’t freely offered to guests typically.

  “You ’t just drink the tea in one go,” Adam said, revealing how his own tea cup was mostly full. “You sip it, slowly.”

  “It is a drink.”

  “It’s not a drink, it’s tea,” Adam corrected. “Show some respect.”

  Jurot stared at Adam. The Half Elf had never revealed any of his cultural practises before.

  “Sorry,” Jurot said.

  Adam pat the Iyrman’s back. “It’s alright. I thought you drank tea in the Iyr?”

  “We drink it slowly when it’s cold, but quickly when it’s warm.”

  “You drink tea cold?” Adam asked, w if they had iced tea in the Iyr. ‘Why did I have to leave in the summer?’

  “Sometimes,” Jurot said. “However, we drink tea differently depending on the weather.”

  “Oh,” Adam said. “I see.”

  ‘Why are you two talking about tea?’ the High Priests of Jaghi thought.

  Adam had switched to talking about tea partly to defuse the tension in the air, but he had learnt a little more about the Iyr by doing so.

  “Right, anyway,” Adam said, pg down his tea cup. “I think Jaghi is fihe Acolytes here were a little weird, though. Have they never seen a Half Elf before?”

  “Ah.” The chubby High Priest chuckled. “It’s just that they heard you curse, and we ’t accept that iemple,” the High Priest dared to say, dabbing his forehead quickly to stop all the sweat which poured down like a river. ‘My heart ’t hahis.’

  “Ah, right. I’m very sorry about that, I wasn’t filtering myself properly and cursed twice.” Adam slowly bowed his head in shame.

  “Oh, please don’t worry about it,” the Father said. ‘He apologised just like that?’

  “Is that what this is about? I didn’t mean to curse so much.” Adam tried not to sigh. ‘Seriously, you didn’t just bring me here to tell me off about me cursing, did you?’

  “Oh, no, that’s ly the issue,” Father Hi said, trying to approach the topic diplomatically.

  Mhi sighed, seeing just how much the High Priest was struggling.

  The two Fathers threw her a look full of arm. Father Jag had previously let slip something important, but even he knew his limits. Mhi oher hand…

  “Are you pnning oroying Jaghi?” Mhi asked, bluntly.

  The two Guards almost shook their heads upon hearing what the Mother had asked, before reag for their ons.

  Adam was half way through sipping his tea when she had asked the question, causing him to choke and gag oea, spraying it everywhere. He coughed, barely able to breath, wasting good tea as it spttered across the entire area, before he wiped his mouth with the back of his sleeve.

  “You fu-“ Adam’s peripheral vision caught the sight of the two heavily armuards, with their hands on their bdes. “Excuse me?”

  “We have received word that you awakehree statues, the bination of which is arming to us,” Mhi said, seriously.

  Adam blinked. “Awakeatues?” He had no idea what that meant. ‘Golems? No, no, something else?’ “Sorry, but what did I do exactly?”

  Mhi stared at the Half Elf, whose eyes were nearly f question marks at her. “You prayed to three statues, correct? To Lady Arya, Lady Eveil, and Lord Sozain?”

  “Yeah.”

  “They reacted to your prayers.”

  “They did?” Adam asked.

  Mhi blinked, stared at the Half Elf, who was still looking fused at her, and then closed her eyes shut.

  ‘Are you tellihat he had no idea what he had done?’

  Father Hi tilted his head, causing the sweat to follow the rolls of his s towards his Priestly garbs, his hand frozen as he clutched his handkerchief tight.

  Father Jag squinted his eyes. “You… didn’t know?” he asked.

  “No,” Adam said. “I didn’t.”

  “So…” the Man, “you weren’t pnning on causing any trouble for us in Jaghi?”

  “I never pn to cause trouble, but when you have ears like mi ’t help but find you,” Adam joked, only to see the seriousness in their eyes, causing him to clear his throat. “No, I wasn’t pnning on causing trouble.”

  “Why did you pray to those three statues in particur?” Father Hi asked, beginning to calm down, his heart having almost burst through his chest from all the stress.

  The air in the room began to lighten, the tension slowly oozing away as Adam slowly revealed that he had no idea what they were talking about.

  “Oh,” Adam said, smiling. “Because I like them.” His eyes were full htness and cheer.

  The tensiourned, as though readying itself for all out war.

  The Guards stood up straighter, their hands gripping the handles of their bdes tightly, ready to burst forward to cut the Half Elf down.

  They he Iyrman, whose lips were slowly twitg into a smile, his eyes eager for battle.

  ‘I bet they’re strong,’ Jurot thought, his fiwitg, readying for a fight.

  Father Hi’s sweat began to pour out suddenly, and the two h Priests were sitting up straighter again, at full attention.

  ‘I suppose I shouldn’t have said that,’ Adam thought, staring at the se before him.

  “Lady Arya has given me her favour before,” Adam said, clearing his throat, “and Dunes here is a member of our party,”

  ‘I o clear up any matters here so they don’t send assassins after me.’

  He had no faith iemple, and khat they probably didn’t care for him, so if he gave them a reason to deal with him, they’d happily accept to stop any future trouble.

  “Adam has been a wonderful follower of my good Lady iime that I have met him,” Dunes said, pg a hand on the Half Elf’s back. “He had charged head first to battle with a White Dragon not long ago.”

  “A White Dragon, you say?” Father Hi asked, clearing his throat from the nervousness which had built. “We heard of Vandra’s death, and that it was due to Iyrmen.”

  “I helped, a little.” Adam tapped his sword and puffed out his chest. “I got the st hit on it, and my baby, Lightsear, took good care of her neck. It was quite the death, for such a vile being.”

  “Oh my, how amazing,” Mhi said, g her hands together, her eyes sparkling towards the Half Elf. “You are such a strong warrior, aren’t you?”

  Adam’s lips twitched into a smile. “Yes, that’s right, I am a strong warrior.”

  Adam almost felt like he was a six year old boy being plimented by his mother. It was a strange feeling for a man his age, but seeing how much praise Iyrmen received from their elders, he didn’t mind it.

  “What of Lady Eveil and Lord Sozain? Why do you like them?” Mhi asked, quickly leading him dowh to answer her questions.

  Father Hi and Father Jag threw her a gnodding their heads approvingly. She had seemingly disarmed the young man, so she would be best to speak with him.

  This was the strength of Mhi.

  “When it es to the God of Death, well, I have spent quite some time in the Iyr, and he’s a favourite of theirs.” Adam shrugged his shoulders. He couldn’t tell them why he really liked all three, so needed a det reason for each.

  The three High Priests nodded, for it was a well known fact that Lord Sozain, or Baktu as he was known in the Iyr, was the Iyr’s greatest deity. There were even rumours of a special retionship, though the Iyrmen hadn’t overtly firmed the matter.

  “I also personally like him because we’ve had some dealings with one another,” Adam said, putting his fht into his mouth.

  The three High Priests blinked simultaneously.

  ‘Excuse me?’

  “Lady Eveil and I, well, our history is a little plicated, but I’ve assisted her before and I have a vested i in making sure the good Lady is well.” Adam spoke about Lady Eveil as though he were her uncle.

  The three High Priests gnced between one another, w if they were to allow him to talk in such a casual manner about the Gods.

  The Guards started to pull out their bdes, but the trio of High Priests gred at them, causing them to pause.

  ‘Right, they haven’t asked for us to draw our bdes yet,’ the Guards thought, keeping their bdes gripped tightly in hand. It was only if Adam made a motion to attack that they could draw their bdes to retaliate, otherwise they would have to wait.

  “What does a statue awakening mealy?” Adam asked, noting how eager the Guards were to fight. ‘If the statues awakening is a good thing, that should make them pause for a bit.’

  “It means that the Gods have heard your prayers, and are giving you permission to do what you need in order to make that e true,” Mhi said. “That they agree and firm your wishes.”

  “Oh, really?” Adam smiled. “That’s good then.”

  He had no clue that the bination of the three Gods awakening was something terrifying to the people of Jaghi.

  “What exactly did you wish for?” Mhi asked, finally ing to the meat of the matter.

  “They say that if you talk about your wishes they won’t e true,” Adam retorted lightly, chug.

  Mhi smiled, hiding her nervousness. “Who is it that says that?”

  “My mother every time I blew out my birthday dles,” Adam said, fidently.

  Jurot’s ears perked up, as this was one of the few times Adam had mentioned his mother. Even Dunes, who was mostly fused about the topioted the way the Iyrmaed, which caused him to lean in slightly to listen.

  “What?” Mhi asked, unsure of what he was talking about.

  “Nothing.” Adam cleared his throat. “I just wished for their good health and to make sure they were alright.”

  Mhi threw a look to Father Jag and Hi, before her eyes fell bato Adam. “Whose good health?”

  “The Gods’.”

  “You wished for the good health of the Gods?” Mhi asked, trying to prehend what he said.

  “Yeah, you know, Lady Arya and the others.” Adam said, shrugging his shoulders. “I told them to take good care of themselves, and to be healthy and safe, and all that.”

  The High Priests stared at the Half Elf, blinking their eyes rapidly at him.

  They had never heard of anyone praying for the good health of the Gods.

  Even Dunes had leaned forward to look at Adam, his torted into fusion.

  “What?” Adam asked.

  “You wished for the good health of the Gods?” Dunes asked to firm, having already heard it a few times.

  “Yeah,” Adam replied, casually. “I want to make sure they are fine so they tinue providing people with magic. If they aren’t fihen that would make how many thousands of people lose their powers? That would affect the entire region, no, the entire world.”

  The Priests weren’t sure what Adam was talking about, but sidering his ridiculous words, they decided against asking for more.

  “And that’s all you wished for?” Mhi asked, finally calming down again. If that was all that he had wished for, then that meant they had nothing to worry about. It would have been an issue if-

  “Well, no,” Adam said, recalling one of his more crete wishes. “I also wished for something else from Lord Sozain.”

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  Oh yeah, he also wished for something from the God of Death.

  :)