Civility

The following day, Zaida was coming off a watch shift and was met with several hours of her afternoon unclaimed. She spoke to the officer in the barracks, but they claimed it was a logistical error that she was welcome to take advantage of. She had no issue with accepting an unforeseen break from standing sentry or being Marama's demonstration dummy.

With the sun delivering another hot summer day, the knight strolled Merridian in a sleeveless tunic and knee-length shorts. The only traces of her uniform were her boots, weapon, and token of her standing among the knights. The badge swayed from the hip of her belt. She was headed to a place on the other side of the town that she had heard to be a popular venue for knights in their down time. She was not wise to the exact nature of the establishment, but she had heard talk that suggested it was not simply another bar.

Might be some manner of sex club or other, she thought. She was mentally preparing herself for that possibility when her ears picked up whispers coming from ahead.

"... Do we have to? Surely we can find more siblings to help instead."

"But she's right there. Swallow your pride and just ask already. Stop being so petty."

"Excuse me? Miss knight?"

Ahead, three servants of Geod stood beside a stack of boxes. The containers themselves were unassuming; wooden and small. There was not a great many of them; four in total. The laypeople looked sweaty, a tad winded, and less than overjoyed as Zaida answered their call.

"Do you need something? I'm not technically on duty right now."

"Yes, though, not that sort of help," the monk among them said. He appeared to want to say more, but hesitated and looked to his companions.

The androgynous layperson continued on his behalf. "We need to deliver these boxes to the church, but we lack the, erm, vitality to do so on our own."

Looking from one to the next, Zaida understood. Each of the three before her looked like they would be in peril on an especially windy day. Why anyone would task these three with heavy lifting, she could only imagine. She moved to the boxes and gave one an investigative lift. It was undeniably heavy for its size, but absolutely manageable for one with her dimensions and fitness. More interesting though, was the sound of coins shuffling around when she moved it. She gave the laypeople an inquisitive look.

"I'm going to take a wild guess that there is money in here. Isn't that the sort of thing one summons an escort to move?" Zaida was growing somewhat suspicious of these three now.

"Normally, yes," the nun said. "However, this is not from conventional collections, if you catch my meaning." She gazed at the boxes with something of an overwhelmed look. "We did not expect such a generous bounty."

"We also thought that going without an escort would be less conspicuous," the layperson said flatly. "On top of that, asking you lot to protect our donations seemed like it had the potential to come off as unsporting; what with this rivalry going on and whatnot."

Zaida could tell they were holding something back. "That wasn't your only reason, was it?" She folded her arms. "You didn't trust us to accompany you without skimming some of your winnings."

None of them met her eyes for a moment.

"No matter," she sighed. "Just lead the way." She bent down and plucked two of the dense boxes, hoisting them onto each shoulder. She likely could have carried all four around the circumference of Merridian before getting tired, but she was not feeling generous to do quite that much for them.

Too sheepish to even utter thanks, the layperson and the monk picked up the other boxes with much more effort and began their trek to the church.

Yorresie took her seat in the teacher-administrator conference. Once a month, or in the case of a special arrangement, all the instructors from the church school held a meeting with their administrators to set goals, air grievances, and generally update them. The same was done with the other schools too; or at least Yorresie had been told as much. By the way she saw young knights and the intellectual faculties they demonstrated, she remained unconvinced that their own instructors were held to the same standard as the church's.

The meetings were often mundane, but proved worthwhile from time to time. This day's conference went quite regularly until the administrators made an announcement.

"Community members have reached out to us and requested an expansion to the current curriculum," Administrator Nsukula declared to all present. "Two, actually. Firstly, it has been requested that those teaching the later-years in the school refine their sexual education course. In light of the recent proclamations from the church and knight corps, some feel that those eligible in the community are lacking in their familiarity with some rather important fundamentals. They hope to equip your students with the appropriate knowledge before they come of age and risk suffering for their ignorance." A hand rose across the room. "Yes, Brother Titus?"

"I must protest. Our children needn't their minds soiled so early. The trouble brought on by the high priestess' decree has already endangered the innocence of our most ****. I insist that the administration reconsider this proposal."

There were a few sounds of agreement in the room, though not many.

"Brother Titus, as an educator yourself, I would expect you to understand the value in teaching a lesson before its comprehension is demanded," Nsukula responded. "You should not worry, the course revisions will only impact those already attending the class. Besides, the time for deliberation is past, and the administration's mind is made up. If you find it to be suitably problematic, you may petition for its abolition.

"Secondly, we were similarly requested to introduce a novel course to the curriculum; one on demonology."

Yorresie's head snapped up from the pen she had been inattentively twirling. "What?"

"The particulars are still being settled upon, but it appears that a general understanding of demonic typology and behaviors will be expected of your pupils." A hand rose. "Yes, Sister Yorresie?"

"What age group will this course be directed at, and - as a follow up - why?"

"That is one of the details being addressed, and to your second question, the reason cited by the community members was the frequency of assaults conducted on Merridian's defenses and outlying properties."

"Do they not already teach of demonology at the magic and knight schools?" Yorresie asked in an opposing tone.

"They do," Nsukula answered, "and that is exactly one of the reasons why we decided to proceed with the request. For any that do not yet understand as much, this administration strives to make curriculums as parallel to one another as possible; not complementary. Understanding of demonology is not exclusively useful to knights or sorcerers. I recommend that instructors find time to begin familiarizing themselves with the basics in anticipation of this course's addition."

Yorresie slumped in her seat. She did not agree with the standardization of lessons on demonology. For one thing, many of the children she worked with were young enough that learning about the horrors lurking in the world would primarily serve to keep them up at night. Beyond that, she was of the opinion that familiarity with the beasts would inadvertently drive more citizens toward the Order of Dyna, and belligerent mindsets. There were some truly horrid creatures out there, and she predicted that understanding the severity and capability of them would instill a belief that the most important thing in life - or even the only important thing - was the resistance and destruction of those under the Demon Lord. Make no mistake, Yorresie felt no affection nor pity for that worst of villains, but she understood that focusing too deeply on what one was fighting against could make them forget what they were fighting for.

It was not up to her, though. The administration had not yet mandated it, but Nsukula spoke of it as though it was an inevitability. She considered petitioning against the curriculum addition, at least for earlier-years, but there had been less disapproval in the crowd than when the first change was announced.

If Yorresie could not stop it, then the best thing she could do was teach it in the most responsible way. The more she knew on the topic, the easier that would be. She resolved that she would begin researching demonology the first chance she had.

"Just... up ahead here..." the nun huffed. She had taken one of the boxes off the monk's hands when he grew weary on the way to the church. Nearing their destination, she too was already displaying signs of strain under the coffer's weight. She could not help but direct her irritation at the knight that aided them. Though she had not said nor done anything on the entire walk, the way the knight effortlessly toted those burdensome boxes felt somehow pretentious in the face of the laypeople's strain.

Contemplating some way to undermine the warrior's moral high ground, the nun considered offering some small reimbursement for the knight's 'troubles'. It would not have to be much, just enough to dash any perceptions that the knight would act out of selflessness. Then again, if the knight turned the compensation down, then that was another step higher in her moral elevation.

The party arrived before the nun could emerge from her petty overthinking. They had not been walking to the church itself, but rather one of the neighboring buildings that served additional needs. It was a sizeable structure, but far from the imposing splendor of the church itself. A number of citizens not dressed in spiritual garb filed out of a pair of wooden doors. Some lingered beside the exit, chatting to one another.

"There we are," the layperson said as they set down their box at the feet of a mustached monk who had been in the midst of an exchange with some nobles and commoners. The layperson did their best to pretend they were not reduced to wheezing from the trip.

The nun and Zaida followed suit, though the latter recognized that this was no place to leave collections about. Depositing the boxes here was just dumping the responsibility to move them on someone else. She figured that was something for these holy types to sort out.

It was yet another sizzling day, but the discomfort Zaida felt was not coming from the sun nor the air. She scanned for the source of the burning sensation before placing it in the church. The building they stood outside of was a good hundred paces from the house of Geod, but still Zaida felt a heat radiating from it. It was like standing too close to a bonfire; not quite hot enough to burn yet, but an unmistakable sense that drawing closer would have consequences.

"What is this?" the man with the moustache asked with candid ignorance.

"The fruits of our day drive," the nun from Zaida's group answered. Her resentment for the knights had been pushed aside in favour of the pride she felt for the bounty.

"Then why is she here?" moustache pointed to Zaida. His tone was not as harsh as his words, and the confusion was understandable. Ever since the initiation of Merridian's competition, the church and the knights had gone from disconnected to borderline-hostile.

"We needed to borrow some muscle to deliver the collections," the un-mustached monk said. There was a hint of shame in his voice, as though explaining their association with the knight was something to make excuses for.

"Then I'd say you went looking in exactly the right place." A new person joined the exchange; one of those that the mustached monk had been speaking with.

Zaida assumed that she was a noble woman by the way she dressed in fineries rather than church apparel or something more mundane. She had green hair and matching eyes. Behind her was another woman with several features in common. Mother and daughter, if Zaida had to guess.

"After all, what is the Order of Dyna, if not Merridian's brawn?" the presumed-mother said. It sounded exactly like a compliment, yet Zaida could not shake the feeling that it was not.

"Then who does that leave as the brains, I wonder," a nobleman laughed. Most of the others joined in, but Zaida remained silent and indifferent. Curiously, the trio she had arrived with did not seem to share the amusement of the others present.

Coming out of the building, someone else joined the group. "How typical of me; it seems I just missed the punchline."

Zaida was somewhat surprised to find that it was Eposi that now stood at her side.

"I swear, one of these days I'll finish with business soon enough to make it to the lollygagging," Eposi said gaily. "Ah, Lady Saint Vendigeld, I did not see you in the spectators loft today. Did you oversleep again?"

It was not an especially subtle jab at the noblewoman, and though she may have tried to appear otherwise, it could be seen that the remark got under her skin. "No Administrator Nsukula, I was preoccupied with business of my own. Pity me not though, for as I understand it, I did not miss anything of consequence in today's conference. I was told that you spoke for much of the meeting?"

Understanding that this not-so-passive-aggressive chat was not heading in a good direction, the daughter spoke up. "Mother, I don't mean to interrupt, but recall that we have an arrangement with the Devereuxs later. It would be rude to make them wait."

"Quite right, Guyld." The noblewoman made a half-turn away from Eposi and Zaida. "Take care to you all. Administrator Nsukula, say hello to your family for me when you get home; all eight of them." Again, Zaida got the feeling that there was some backhanded meaning to the mother's words. The green-haired duo strolled away.

"Farewell to you too," Eposi bid to the departing women. "I look forward to your next performance." The elder noblewoman's shoulders crept up at that. The administrator turned to Zaida and hooked her arm around the knight's. "I'm ready for you to take me home now," she said, as if the two of them had planned such a thing.

Zaida drew breath to protest before recognizing that there was no real reason to do so. Following the administrator would give her an excuse to get away from the church, and an opportunity to further win over the lady. Hence, she allowed Eposi to inconspicuously guide her by the arm on the path to her home.