Lunsdie/Ckkkrt 17 (Patreon)

Well, I lost my job. I was afraid that was about to happen. Sucks. Job search begins tomorrow.

Oh well, lots of time to write now. Here's a double-length episode!

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Priestess Urbi peeked nervously out into the green expanse, her brow sweating, and her heart thumping hard in her chest. Ever since being summoned to the capital—and the cathedral therein—she’d been a nervous wreck.

She’d entered the seminary seven years earlier and had been a priestess for five, but her accomplishments had always seemed … insignificant. She did as she was told and seldom got in any trouble, but neither did she stand out. In fact—deep within her heart of hearts—she wondered if she was really cut out for this life.

Urbi was devout, and she loved to help people, but despite how her teachers had promised that the orthodoxy would free her from her mortal desires, they only seemed stronger with each passing year. Friends, duty, and the prospect of helping people who really needed it was great, but these days she felt so distracted that she found it hard to focus on what was expected of her.

Had her superiors noticed? Had they summoned her to see High Priest Arnalruk just for an official reprimand? They must have, but that seemed … excessive.

Perhaps this was a sign! For the past year, she’d been toying with the notion of leaving the church, finding a mate, and raising a family … but it was just a ridiculous fantasy.

Leaving the orthodoxy because you’d fallen in love and wished to take a mate? Sure, that was known to happen from time to time. But wanting to leave in hopes of falling in love? What sense was there in that? And besides, how could she ever hope to find someone who’d want to come within two meters of her? That was far too risky!

She should flee! Run from this place and disappear—

A heavy-set with a face she’d only seen in photographs walked by. He stopped and turned to face her, waiting for her to react. Priestess Urbi sank low and averted her eyes away from a face that was both kind and demanded respect. “You wished to see me, Your Eminence?” she managed to say without her voice catching.

“Urbi?” he said with a smile. He took three short steps and stopped exactly two meters from her. He stared at her lovely face and her pelt so fair that it was nearly a dark brown. “It’s so very nice to meet you. I’ve heard such wonderful things about you.”

She gasped, on the verge of choking. “Uh, you have?” she squeaked. “Well, I uh… I thought perhaps I was in trouble…”

The high priest said nothing, and so her words spilled out, babbling to fill the empty air between them, “But if others have been saying kind things, well that’s just great.”

Arnalruk smiled once more. With his span, he gestured for her to follow. Then, he turned and walked slowly out into the gardens.

Urbi followed, but his continued silence confused her. If he didn’t want to talk to her, then why did he have her ride two hours on a bus to get here? “Sir?” she finally asked. “Did you want to speak with me about something?”

“A lot of things, really,” he said, smiling placidly but not actually looking at her. He walked on, pausing occasionally to sniff the flowers. “Do you have time?”

She stared at the back of his head as he walked on, her ears splayed in utter confusion. What else precisely was she supposed to do? Surely, there would be no busses to bring her back to her convent until at least the next day. “Of course, sir,” she said at last, trying to keep the frustration from her voice, “as much time as you need from me.”

“Good,” he said with a smile. And then, as if in explanation, he added, “I’m not real sure where to start.”

He strolled casually along. The garden—although not quite a maze—seemed to be all branching and curving paths, leading them along to see different sorts of flowers and trees. They passed a small pond and some marble statues. “I really love this garden,” he sighed at last. “It reminds me of my mother’s garden when I was just a cub.”

“It’s lovely,” she agreed, taking a moment to absorb her settings instead of focusing only on the most powerful anup on the planet.

“My father thought it was a foolish thing to waste time and money on,” he explained, “but now that I’m older, I’m surprised how that garden occupies my thoughts. I continue to enjoy the thought of it, even to this day.”

He knelt down for a moment and moved a couple fallen leaves so he could see the tiny yellow flowers beneath them. He smiled up at her. “Perhaps my father would have been less annoyed had he only known what an investment it had been?”

When he didn’t stand back up, Urbi took a moment to sit in the grass. She crossed her legs and rested her rod across her lap. “When I was young, our neighbors used to grow indigo rye,” she shared. “Have you ever seen it, sir?”

He shook his head, taking a moment to make himself more comfortable. “I … don’t believe so.”

Priestess Urbi leaned her weight back on her paws and stared up at the clear, blue skies. “It was lovely, just endless fields of purple flowers,” she sighed. Then looking at him again, she explained, “They press the flowers for ink, but the rye grows so tall that my brother and I could disappear into it. We’d chase, try to find one another, try to hide from each other … get so lost that we’d completely miss dinner by the time we found our way home.”

“These are memories you too cherish?” he asked.

“I suppose so, sir,” she said with a little shrug. “Honestly, the clerics keep us so busy with chores and obligations that we don’t get much time to think about the past. These few minutes in your garden have been the most … unhurried I’ve felt since I left for seminary.”

“It is a wonderful garden,” he said. “Funny, isn’t it?”

Ears puzzled. “Sir?”

“From the outside, the orthodoxy seems so serene—as if the priests and priestesses must spend all their days communing with the divine,” Arnalruk said, “but when viewed from within…”

His words tapered, so she offered, “There’s always more to do?”

“Yes, precisely.” His ears brightened. “You are very easy to talk to, Urbi. Perhaps you should come visit my gardens more often.”

She wasn’t quite certain how that would work. Was she supposed to hop a bus, ride for a couple hours, wander through his garden, and then hop another bus home? Instead, she simply said, “I would like that, sir.”

The high priest stood and took a moment brushing dust from his tail, then he wandered on. The priestess followed. Eventually, he stopped at a carved fence atop a small rise. He rested his palms on the stonework.

She took a spot two meters farther down and did the same. From here, she could see acres of breathtaking gardens below. Beyond that, a stream, then the land turned rocky and rose sharply up a high hill to some gigantic, nearly palatial homes peeked from between tall trees.

They listened to insects buzzing, frogs singing, birds calling. He turned to her. “May I ask you a question that is really none of my business?”

Her ears lifted in alarm. “Uh … sir?”

Waving his span, he said, “You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.”

She bit her lip, then lied to his face. “I … don’t keep any secrets.” She held her breath.

“Do you feel Total Awe often?” He asked. “Do you feel it long?”

Urbi hadn’t known what to expect, but the question took her by surprise. All the priests could attain Total Awe—most anup could, but the experience was the most spiritual an anup could feel. “Not as often as I’d like, sir,” she admitted, “but sometimes I can get a few minutes to myself…”

He looked back over the gardens below. “When I was your age, I was so foolish.” He chuckled and shook his head. “I’d squander the little time that the clerics left us for sleep just to have an hour of Total Awe.”

“An hour?” she gasped.

“Almost two, one time,” he admitted. “I needed that sleep, but I was headstrong, foolish.”

Urbi sighed, imagining a future where she wasn’t quite so hurried. “I would love to have so much someday…”

He sighed and strolled to a stone staircase that led down into the lower gardens. “Do you remember the vow we took when we joined the seminary?”

“Sir?” she asked, hurrying after him.

“The vow of service to the orthodoxy for the remainder of our days.”

She paused on the stairs a moment before proceeding. “Of course, sir.”

He turned, and she froze mid-step, careful not to get within a span’s length. “You know we wouldn’t really hold you to that, right?” he asked. “We wouldn’t drag you back here in chains if you left.”

Urbi gulped. He did know, somehow! He knew that she’d been considering leaving. She cleared her throat. “You’re not suggesting that I—”

He interrupted, explaining, “Like, if you were to come to me and say that your brother had died and that you needed to help raise his young cubs—” For a moment, her heart stopped. She did have a brother. Was this an elaborate way to break his death to her? Except that … no, he didn’t have any cubs! This had to be just an arbitrary example… He continued, “I would say that of course you need to. I’d find someone to drive you there.”

“Well, I’m glad—”

He turned, talking as he walked away. “I don’t know why we make everyone promise that. Perhaps, it’s just tradition? Or maybe they’re afraid the priests and priestesses will come and go like shoppers at the market?” The high priest sighed. “That would never do. The congregation craves stability.”

Urbi was getting fed up with how long it took Arnalruk to get to the point. “Is there something you’re trying to ask me?”

He turned and smiled. “I suppose there is,” he said, “but unfortunately it’s a question that can only be asked when I’m absolutely certain you’d say, ‘yes’.”

She rested her span across her shoulders, a paw draped over each end. “At which point there’s no reason to ask, right?”

“Of course.”

She growled in frustration. “Well, uh, what type of question is it?”

“Are you familiar with the off-worlders?” he asked. “Not the ambassador, but the furred ones? The sourang?”

Urbi nodded. “I’ve been to the capital twice before today,” she explained. “The last time I was here, I went to the market and saw a golden sourang helping sell produce.”

“Well, one of the sourang has a gift for us,”—he lowered his voice almost to a whisper—“but only five of us—specifically, myself and four others—and only those five will ever know about it.”

“I think I understand,” she said, finally getting a glimpse of where he was headed. “So, you can’t tell me unless you’ve already determined that I’d be one of the five.”

“More or less, yes,” he said. “And unlike the vow of service, this deal really would be for life.”

Her stomach tumbled. He knew she was considering leaving and was trying to lure her into something more … something she couldn’t walk away from! “And so, if I left to take care of orphans … you would drag me back in chains?”

To her surprise, he just smiled. “Oh, I don’t know if I’d do that,” he said, “but if you asked whether you should go, I would tell you not to. I would help you find someone else to take care of them.”

She frowned. “So, this gift must be a very special thing then—something I would want.”

“The most special thing possible, I think,” he said. He drew a deep breath and released it slowly before leading her away. “I wish he could give it to everyone—I begged him to—but five is all he can manage, and if others knew, there would be outrage that they couldn’t have it too.”

“That sounds very … delicate.”

“I’m afraid so,” he agreed, glancing back over his shoulder at her, “but if I can’t meet his price, then none of us will get it.”

“And his price?”

The high priest laughed. “He wishes to be pampered like a pet for the rest of his life!” Then, wiping at his eyes, “Can you imagine?”

Actually, she could well imagine such a desire. She liked staying active and helping others, but a life of leisure? That did sound awfully appealing. She frowned. “And who would be doing the pampering?”

He winked at her. “I suspect you’ve already guessed the answer to that.”

Urbi dashed ahead so that she could block his path, forcing him to look at her. “The five of us who receive this most special thing?” she asked, incredulous. “Sir, I didn’t become a priestess so I could wait on a spoiled off-worlder—”

“No, I realize that,” he said, “but I presume that you did want to serve others—at least, that’s what I signed up for. Yes, the scriptures talk only about serving anup, but they were written by scribes who had no idea that there were other people out in the galaxy.”

She stared at him for long moments with muzzle agape. “Respectfully, sir,” she said, straightening up tall, “I’m certain that seeing to all the needs of a single, pampered individual isn’t what they had in mind, regardless of race.”

“No, of course not,” he agreed. Then, he walked around her. “It’s very possible that this opportunity isn’t for you—that the cost wouldn’t be worth it—but keep in mind that there would be five of us sharing this burden.”

He looked back over his shoulder once more. “So yes, you would be focusing your efforts on a single individual for one fifth of your time, but you wouldn’t be giving up your efforts to help the masses. For the remaining four-fifths of your time, the rest of us would be doing our share, and your duties would be as they are now—except here in the cathedral instead of back home.”

She crossed her arms, not entirely sure that she wanted an answer to her next question, “So, what is this amazing thing he wants to give us?”

The high priest turned and stopped, a sincere expression on his ears. “At risk to our professional relationship … is it possible for me to tell you something personal about myself—something that I beg you never to repeat to another living soul?”

She blinked. “I … suppose?”

He covered his mouth with a paw for a moment. Then, explained, “As I moved up to my current position, I’ve somehow lost touch with the divine. I’m good at my job, and I serve the orthodoxy faithfully, but I’d gotten to a point where I could no longer achieve Total Awe … at all.”

She gulped, trying to imagine. He used to enjoy two hours of Total Awe, and now he had none? “I’m sorry, sir,” she said. She wanted to say more, but what? “Has that made you feel … forsaken?”

“That and worse!” he admitted. “If you can forgive a truly petulant admission, something that surely should be beneath the high priest—I felt like I was being punished.”

Arnalruk closed his eyes for a moment, lost in thought. When he opened them again, he said, “It seemed like giving so much of myself to the church should have been rewarded, but instead, it was slipping away from me.”

“That’s awful.”

“It’s certainly been a test of my faith!” He walked away and she followed. “But then this alien came along, and he did … something to me. He had me sit down and reach for Total Awe without ever trying to stop me once I’d reached it.”

“And it worked?”

“It did.”

She thought it was interesting that he specifically said that the alien hadn’t bothered to rouse him. “How long…?”

“It was over two days—”

“Two days—?” she shouted.

He waved his span desperately with both paws, begging her to lower her voice. Quietly now, “Almost three, actually. The clerics had actually ringed my quarters with guards so that they could arrest him for my murder when he finally emerged.” He grinned.

“That sounds … transformational.”

“It was!” He turned in place, his arms outstretched, eyes closed, and face turned up toward the sky. He stared at her once more. “And I can’t promise that he can do the same for you, but I believe he could give you experiences unlike anything you’ve ever felt.”

He placed his paws atop his span, one end resting on the grass. “I don’t know that this would be worth it to you, but it will be for me. In fact, I’ve rather enjoyed having to cook and clean for a few days every now and then after a decade of only paperwork and convincing the wealthy to support new projects.”

That was easy for him to say. Cooking and cleaning were a regular part of her life currently. “How … did he do it?”

His ears drooped. “We’re quickly getting to the limit of what I can tell you without knowing that you want this.”

“But I have to—”

“I understand, and I think that you should know this before you make your decision,” he said with a nod. “But what he did … it was extreme, and intense, and deeply sexual.”

She blinked, and her eyes opened wide, not sure she’d heard him correctly. In a tiny voice, she asked, “Sexual?”

High Priest Arnalruk puffed his cheeks for a moment as he searched for words. “It was like being tortured without the pain,” he said with a shrug. “But that’s all that I can say.”

He wandered off, and this time, she didn’t follow. “I’d like you to think on this, and I beg you to keep it a secret,” he called as he walked, “but if you wish to become one of the five … you could.”

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Reviewer's link: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1bnyC2UcB1bdmMNOOiYs9NI1Z8ZmgB8VKU0-8itgk5n0/edit?usp=sharing

Thoughts?