Her Sin Was Pride

XXIII

"Fortune is fate crafted by mortal palms."

Knucklebones was a surprisingly fun game, though Eve wouldn't call themself particularly good at it. It took a couple of games to fully understand how to play and they lost a couple of times before getting a win in. Ratau was a decent sport about it all, not boasting too much about his triumphs and accepting his losses rather gracefully. After handing over another set of ten coins, they made their way back to the Garden with Ratau kindly offering them a handful of berries as a gift. How soft of them to forgive him so easily, let go of the budding resentment after merely on conversation.

Eve ended up staying with in the Garden for another two months - it had been a while since they'd ventured into the lands of the Old Faith and while they'd been hiding, they knew encountering the Lord of Chaos was an inevitable fate for them. They didn't know how long they would be out there once they'd left, so they took some time to prepare a series of meals - mostly berry bowls and gruel given their current lack of sufficient meats. Their gardeners were pleased to report that they'd discovered the entrance to the stone mine and the molding, run-down refinery branching off from it.

They put Naliyen in charge of constructing a small collection of outhouses to lessen the number of times Eve would have to stop in their tracks to gather the waste left behind a bush or a tree. At least with their mostly vegetarian diets, the remains made for decent fertilizer but if they wanted the lands to be more suitable for expanding their little farm-plot, they would have to lessen the chance a farmer stepped paw-first into a steaming pile of poo.

Lulina - one of the sickly followers that had made a full recovery - had admitted to be trailblazers of a sort when the three of them had ventured out in search of medicine. Not many in the domain of the Worm were capable healers so the other members of their sickly enclave remained where they were, waiting for any of them to bring word of a place willing to treat them. Eve had of course added instructions for a sick bay to be constructed in the same slightly isolated corner of the Garden in preparation to receive an onslaught of sickly new gardeners.

Honestly, Eve had been impressed by how dedicated and determined everyone was, more than willing to get their hooves dirty and sink their fangs into a new sort of challenge all in the hopes of impressing them. They were always generous with their praise, making it clear that they were pleased with proactive efforts to encourage such good behavior. And in the end, the Red Crown had directed her to the Pillar of Command within he center of the Garden.

When she'd first received the Commandment stone from the strange, lone owl ( Haru, the crown whispered) the sheep had figured it was a one and done deal. They declared a bonfire burning of effigies and presumed they would somehow need to seek more if they wished to declare other rituals. Instead, Eve had felt a new flood of power that urged her to approach the stone they'd set up in the center of the Garden for all to read at will. It had initially been a head-height five faced pillar with a statue of the Crimson Eyed Crown sitting proudly atop.

At the Crimson Eye's urging, she raised her hooves in the light of the moon and pressed them flat against one of the blank sides of the stone and pushed the power through them. They stared up, face impassive even as they felt amazement watching the eye of the stone crown light up, drawing the attention of their gardeners as the scarlet energy crawled up the stone from their hooves and carved within it their first doctrine upon The Face of Worship, decrying that truth Faith was demonstrated through one's actions rather than merely their intent - an oath without effort was as meaningless as the false promises of failed prophets roaming the lands of the Old.

"The Silent One has made their first decree!" Lumor had screeched immediately, as if the others weren't already watching.

"Through toil of the body and sharpness of the mind, one hears most truly the word of the divine?" Amdusias recited, voice immediately taking on the announcer-tone that had clearly received a lot of use under The Worm.

"Oh!" said Valefar, turning to gesture towards the sky. "The Silent One must be speaking of the cold! Listener Naliyen, you must have Heard the word of the divine - our grass bedding would not have sufficed should it begin to rain."

"...I just thought the beds weren't what they could be," the vixen said gruffly.

"And you found our Blessed Lamb in enough time for your talents to be of use," the smaller worm insisted. "Perhaps there was a thread of fate, leading you to their holiness when it was needed most."

And the the vixen's eyes drifted across the clearing, landing upon her daughter as the kit laid on her back staring up at the slowly passing clouds above. After a long moment her gaze flicked back to Eve and for the first time since they'd saved Barbatos, the vixen offered them a slight smile.

"...perhaps indeed," she conceded.