A'uro

During the service, the 80 servants of the Temple had gone about setting up a plethora of tables, each laden with a variety of small finger-foods. Additionally, the hotsprings were opened, though a handful of servants and some sentinels controlled access, only allowing the 75-ish person capacity to use the hot waters at a given time, so as to avoid overcrowding the pools. They also kept track of the duration of each visitor's stay, only allowing 30 minutes to enjoy the springs, as the hope was to allow everyone the chance to enjoy them.

After his announcement, Ahsch had retreated to his room and changed back into his regular clothes, a decision debated within the inner circle. On the one hand, being able to mingle easier with his prospective worshipers could allow him to gain valuable insights as to what they actually wanted. On the other hand, doffing his 'ceremonial' outfit left him bereft of a lot of the soft power he would otherwise have - even wearing the colors of House Odestag, he lacked the weight of divine authority being the Prophet of Enochiel granted him.

It was a decision that he could always reverse, he justified, and joined the festivities. Given he was only gone for a few minutes, he was somewhat surprised to exit into the atrium and discover that some brave few had taken to the spirit of the place, and no fewer than a dozen dozen people were fucking, either in pairs or small groups. Further, once he was aware of it, he was further shocked at the slight trickle of improved power he could sense coming from Object of Worship.

Thinking of the Boon, the Dominant Mage turned his attention inward for a moment, examining it. The System Description hadn't changed, but he knew something was different - a nagging sensation that he recalled had started when his twin had reaffirmed her servitude to him with her new outfit. He was concentrating so hard on the Boon itself that it took him a moment to detect the not-insignificant bond that extended from it to...

Sister, has anything... changed for you? In terms of our shared 'weirdness,' that is?

There was a sense of confusion from her, then nothing for a brief moment. That's... what the hells...?

What?

Rather than verbalize a response, she sent him a chunk of information - the System Description of a Boon:

Vassal of Divinity

Your intimate bond with a divinity grants you power and authority under that divinity's auspices. Worship dedicated to you is instead passed on to the divinity which you serve, and you will find it easier to grow within the domains of that divinity. Additionally, you may speak with the authority of your divinity, and will find it easier to develop magic within the domains of your divinity.
Once chosen, you may not change the divinity that you serve unless they are obliterated from existence.

Ahsch struggled to not stare dumbly into space. _Did... did making you Enochiel's Divine Submissive _actually grant you some kind of fucking boon?

That's insane...

But also clearly what happened, Mahat butted in. The evidence is right there.

How did we miss this? Ahsch wondered. For sure, he had been busy and when a cursory check of Object of Divinity hadn't revealed anything, he'd left well enough alone, but after the service - no, during the service, when talking about Ariin's role as the Divine Submissive... It's new, he stated. _It started when you, uh... well, made your choice to _really adhere to the tenth commandment, but I guess officially recognizing you pushed... something over the edge and made this happen.

Ariin sighed into the shared daydream. Well, that's a new thing to play with. But we have a crowd to win over, so it'll have to wait.

Ahsch reluctantly agreed, and quickly found his wife, a quick sending through Daydreamweave bringing her up-to-date on the new development. She arched an eyebrow, intrigued, but sipped from a goblet of... the hrafthi wasn't actually sure, but he knew it wasn't something being served for the festivities. Regardless, she declined to speculate, agreeing that Ariin had the right idea, and slipped her free arm through her husband's and started to guide him through the crowds.

A new flash of incoming power lit up in the Dominant Mage's awareness, but he quickly determined it to be Aena - with the supervision of some of the Odestag servants who Avery had loaned, the three angels were being used to both further prove Enochiel's divinity and generate excess Mana for Ahsch - less out of any need to produce Mana for the moment and more out of a curiosity of what differences existed when they did so compared to his normal Generation Methods.

And also in the interest of trying to develop their individualities.

Following his wife's lead, Ahsch met with several groups of people, most of them wealthy commoners of some flavor or another, but also a few nobles and even a young royal man and his retainers. Avery didn't shy away from approaching the poorer-looking visitors either, but most quickly found an excuse to flee from the royal pair, much to Ahsch's chagrin.

"Perhaps if we split up?" he suggested after the fourth incident.

Avery's gaze flicked down to his royal clothes, then quirked an eyebrow at him. "The Odestag colors and thread count are the cause, not our numbers," she said.

After a thought, Ahsch unlooped his arm from hers. "You continue with the upper-class folks; I'm going to quick change again."

His wife snorted. "That Prophet's outfit or whatever you call it would probably intimidate them further," she pointed out.

He grinned back. "That's why I'm using one of my old outfits I had brought over."

She frowned at him. "Why'd you have one of those brought over here?"

Ahsch shrugged, lips twitching into a smirk. "In case I wanted to go exploring the woods - royal clothes aren't exactly well-fit for that." His expression fell slightly. "Also... I suppose to some extent, this is more of my home than the Odestag suites. At least, more of a home to the me that isn't royal. So my old stuff is probably more appropriate to be here than R'sath, even if it's not used most of the time."

An inscrutable expression crossed Avery's face, but she nodded and took another sip of her drink. "Well, go change then. Hopefully not everyone knows your face by now."

He nodded and made his way back to his room, changing quickly again before rejoining the crowd. Approaching some of the poorer-looking of the visitors, he managed to make conversation, tactfully asking their opinion on the service and what they thought of everything. Disappointingly - though unsurprisingly - they didn't hold much hope in Enochiel being of much help to them, and some even admitted they had mostly shown up hoping for free food, casting guilty looks at the selection on display throughout the Temple. Those who could afford decent clothes were of somewhat better minds regarding the new religion, though a few were doubtful that any real progress could be made, considering the chokehold the major religions held, and their significantly more conservative views of sex.

Overall, a similar outlook to what the Dominant Mage had already heard from the wealthier of the visitors, who generally were interested, but often in a more passing way, expecting the Irztonites or Orrorists to bring the weight of their authority down on the fledgling 'cult' at some point in the not-too-distant future.

Still, as the night wore on, Ahsch was somewhat reassured as more and more, he felt the influx of power from Object of Worship. It came in tiny, undetectable trickles, each new worshiper all but invisible to his awareness. But, as time went by, he could compare and contrast with what he felt earlier and determine that, oh-so-slowly, he was gaining power.

That hopeful feeling vanished in a moment when he saw, through the crowd, a robed figure approaching. The grass-green and wheat-gold colors of the garment gave the individual away as a priest of Utsus, the harvest and food god. Priestess, he corrected himself as the woman got closer and he could make out the mouse ears, bare tail, and occasional flash of small paws of a mouse-girl.

"Lord Ahsch Odestag," she greeted with a tiny bow before looking up at him - she barely reached his lower ribs, compounding Ahsch's absurd height with her own shortness. "Or should I address you as the 'Prophet of Enochiel?'"

Ahsch gave her a small smile. "High Priestess A'uro," he greeted in response, giving her a small bow in return and secretly enjoying her surprise.

"You know me?"

Straightening, he gave her a small smirk. "I made it a point to research the key members of the six major religions," he explained simply.

"I see. Though I don't see why my name would be among that list of honored personages."

Ahsch's eyes narrowed slightly, not sure if she was being sly, or if she truly was as humble as she appeared. "As the most prominent voice for providing even more for the poorest of the Kingdom, I'd disagree with that self-assessment," he responded. "But your politics don't suggest you would come here, at least not tonight. I was expecting to face an Irztonite or Orrorist, not someone who serves Utsus."

A'uro inclined her head. "Tonight, here, I am not a High Priestess of Utsus, merely a... curious citizen of the Capital." She pulled at the sides of her robe. "This merely helps to assure my safety - Enochiel's Temple is quite far, and not all travelers on the road are kind. However, few hold interest in harming a devout servant of Utsus, who feeds all, regardless of their standing, creed, or deeds."

The Dominant Mage nodded. It was a concern he was aware of, and he was considering expanding the sentinel **** to patrol at least a fair distance along the road. "Understandable. Then I suppose I should ask why you sought me out." He gave a slight smirk. "Or how you recognized me in my current, admittedly quite drab, clothing."

She raised an amused eyebrow. "There's only one male hrafthi that I'm aware of," she said, a hint of laughter in her voice.

Ahsch blinked, then chuckled at himself. Even after almost two decades, he still wasn't used to be quite as... unique as he was. To be fair, most of that time was spent in Sarvas, where he was a curiosity, but most of the people he saw daily hadn't really comment or react to the impossibility of his existence by the time he was old enough to be out and about regularly. And in R'sath, he was more of a curiosity as the new Lord Odestag. "A very fair point. Though it doesn't answer my first question."

"I was interested in seeing what the Prophet of Enochiel was like in person," she said simply. "Your tale is quite an intriguing one, after all."

His smile widened. "So I can't interest you in hearing more about Enochiel?" He held a wink as he continued, "Or convince you to change your colors?"

A'uro blushed slightly, her eyes darting in the direction of a rather vocal woman who was rather enjoying herself not far away. "I'm afraid not. At least, not to the latter offer."

"Shame," Ahsch said, "it would have been a boon to have an experienced priestess around to help guide our growth."

"You seem... rather confident about the future of Enochiel's religion."

Ahsch shrugged. "I have it on good authority that a good number of those you see here are... strongly considering worshiping Enochiel. The turnout was good for the first service, and we can provide what the others cannot."

The mouse-girl arched an unconvinced eyebrow. "Such as?"

The Dominant Mage grinned. "What if I told you that Enochiel has the knowledge to not only make sex pleasurable, but also safe? Or that he has the knowledge to help reduce the severity of plagues, and overall increase the health of everyone."

A'uro's eyes widened in disbelief, but also interest, and Ahsch resisted the urge to cheer. Despite the insane capabilities of magic, science on Euphoria - or at least, in the Kingdom of Starlight - was rather primitive. As such, people still weren't sure why women had menstrual cycles, what bacteria or viruses were, or about the benefits of simply washing one's hands regularly.

Knowledge that Ahsch - and therefore, Enochiel - were privy to, if only generally. He didn't know how to make a microscope powerful enough to see microbes, or a lot of other, specific scientific knowledge, but coming from 21st-century Earth certainly gave him a decent foundation, possibly enough to point smarter minds in the right direction.

However, it was something he knew he'd have to be careful of. Give too much away, and people were bound to start asking questions. Some things he could be fairly safe informing others about as information that fell under Enochiel's domains - especially those of sex and bodies. But some he might have to find unaffiliated third parties to disseminate the information to secretly.

Still, the way that A'uro looked at him gave him hope that those with a true interest in helping people would outnumber those more interested in taking down a rival. "What kind of information are you claiming to have?" she asked carefully.