Pantheon

Market

Thess sits on a girder, alone.

The marketplace is quiet. There are no flags. It's a festival season again, but two days ago, a section of piping fell and killed a family of three. Barely any of the merchant-travelers are out. Thess can't blame them.

They're sheltered, out here in the temple, but Thess has become adept at soaking in things they aren't meant to learn. This isn't just a problem on the Into the Unknown. Nobody trusts the magic holding the temples together anymore. Nobody should.

The divine magic holding together the temples, the same magic that carries them to the Realms and connects the universe itself, is failing. Has been failing. And it feels like Thess's life (everyone's life) has been going with it.

And – goddess – there must be a reason! High Priestess Radiya tries, Thess knows that! She's got everyone's safety at heart, and she's of course doing anything she thinks is in her power to do. But at the same time – it's like she doesn't even want to know! Sometimes, just sometimes, like right now, blind faith in the goddesses isn't enough!

Especially goddesses that haven't told you anything in months.

Thess sniffs and wipes at their eyes angrily. It's like she doesn't even – doesn't even care, which they know isn't true. But the Blight, the rash of catastrophes striking all over the Realms, is happening for a reason. It must be happening for a reason, everything happens for a reason – but what thoughts are those for one of Auricant's own? Does it mean something's wrong with them, that they're so focused on this sentiment? Of course they're allowed to wonder, but never to expect answers! Of course the rest of the temple doesn't truly care enough to actually help the Blight when they could stay all wrapped up in their divine mystery!

The girder creaks under them, and they nearly lose their balance. It could probably fall any minute. They don't really care. They can fly, and could probably catch it or hold it in midair, depending on which of their random abilities decides to show up this time.

To go down in the marketplace, to find someone from their home realm, Shyrn, the forefront of the union of magic and science, to lose themself in the orderliness and meaningful inquisition of what they long for like homesickness, is too tempting. They hop off the girder, and float down over the marketplace, scanning the stalls and lanes until their heart skips a beat.

Below them is a man with coppery skin and their long black hair, drawing diagrams and symbols on a blank wall with a piece of charcoal. A teacher-traveler! They drop and land on their toes behind the tiny crowd around him. He stumbles over his words and stares at them, but they give him a shy smile and he quickly recovers. It looks like he's explaining something about the propulsion system of Shyrn's floating cities, with words like "hydronautics" and "carbon intake".

Wow. If they hadn't been Called...

They listen for a long time, letting the flow of learning wash over all their worries.