Reconnecting with the Temple

After some deliberation, it was decided that Ahsch's return would be a Temple-only event - meaning that only members of the Temple, not the population at large, would be allowed in. Few among the inner circle with an opinion on the matter had a particularly strong stance one way or the other, and it mainly came down to a matter of priorities. Rumors of Ahsch's reincarnation had already spread like wildfire through the Capital, thanks to the elimination of the assassin organization and visit to the Irztonites. But given no official statement had been provided by any affiliated parties, they remained as rumors, and were subsequently expanded upon and new theories were being thought up every day. Some thought he was an imposter; others believed him to be a relative; a few even suggested he was a specter or revenant, some kind of ghost that had come back to fulfill his vengeance upon his murderers.

And in the end, as long as the public eventually learned that it was, in fact, Ahsch himself that was back, it didn't much matter. As good as the visuals would be to show that Ahsch had reincarnated, there would always be doubts and suspicions of conspiracy - resurrection magic was extremely rare, and always occurred within minutes, at most hours after death. On the off chance that Ahsch had access to traditional resurrection magic, he would have been revived shortly after he was killed, and therefore would have been in hiding for months, which was unlikely. On the other hand, there would be many who would suggest - and now were suggesting - that he had never been killed, and it was all a ploy, some kind of trick on his part to increase interest in the Order of Enochiel.

And it was that latter conspiracy that made Ahsch decided to not make his official return any sort of big, public event. All but dismantling the Irztonites and gaining ground over the Orrorists was already interesting enough. Quietly stepping back into the world's awareness - and only really focusing on the Temple - was preferable, Ahsch thought, as it was less likely to blow up in his face.

Still, that didn't mean that the event was going to be small. A lot had changed in the months he'd been gone, and the Temple was now home to several dozen priests. Services were being held every half-week, a small addition had been constructed just outside the walls of the Temple for a clinic, and two more had been built in the Capital. While the total attendance for Ahsch's return wouldn't be nearly as large as the first few services and their several hundred attendees, including the priests and the staff, there would easily be around 150 people.

While they decided to schedule the event for early evening, Ahsch and his inner circle arrived around mid-morning. Preparations were already underway for mini-festival for after the event itself; it was more of a feast than anything else, but some activities were also being set up. As the group arrived, Ahsch kept to the middle and wore a hooded cloak - autumn was officially underway, and the light misting of rain made it far from unusual for him to conceal his face somewhat. The goal wasn't truly secrecy, but he didn't want to cause a stir and disrupt the daily rhythms of the Temple.

The same was not to be said for a few key members, namely the head servants and the first of Enochiel's Priests, all of whom were somewhat disturbed to be summoned to Ahsch's old office, which had gone unused during his absence. But once they had all arrived and been allowed in, an air of shocked joy swept them up when they saw that the Prophet was back.

The meeting was fairly short, as the goal was simply to have a few members of the Temple beyond Ariin and Elui be already aware of what was going to happen so that the Temple's leadership could help maintain order after Ahsch's return was announced. Not that there were any great concerns, but when a large group of people were brought together, even for good things, anything could happen, and it paid to be ready.

After a few minutes, Dhina, Tyrn, Head Cook Balit, and Chief Custodian Oln were politely dismissed to resume their duties - and to give time for Ahsch to talk to the most senior of Enochiel's Priests. Which was somewhat ironic, as Naemui, Maera, and Wen were likely the youngest of the priesthood.

Once the four secular leaders had left, the three Priests - as they had been promoted only a few weeks after Ahsch's death, and now bore the red bloodiron seals of Enochiel - bowed to the Prophet. "It is truly wonderful to have you back with us, My Lord Prophet," Naemui said as she straightened, her voice warm. "Though I... may I ask how? We were allowed to attend your funeral and memorial ceremony, and we..." She swallowed heavily.

Ahsch knew they had seen his body - Ariin had talked to him briefly about his funeral and memorial, the former of which had been 'open-casket,' though only after a great deal of work had gone into restoring his body. The fall had done a number on his... well, everything. "What I tell you here is more than I will explain this evening," he said. "It touches on some things that are better left secret, at least for now. As such, I need you all to give your bonded word."

The trio each looked startled, but gave their word without question, and Ahsch was rather satisfied to sense the bonds lock in tightly as they swore to keep what he was about to tell secret. It wouldn't truly prevent them from breaking their word, but the consequences of Fate - and the punishment that Fate would allow Enochiel to freely bring upon them - would be dire. "Simply put, I did die - pushed off a balcony high up R'sath, by an assassin hired by some treasonous royals. But part of what makes me the Prophet of Enochiel is an ability to reincarnate. There are some... limitations, as controlling where I will reincarnate is not innately within my control, and I've required aid to bind that where I wish. I also forget almost three quarters of my memories, though thankfully most of the forgotten things are irrelevant, like 'what did I eat for dinner on a given night,' and the more important a memory is, the higher its priority to be remembered seems to be."

After a few moments of thought, Wen's eyes lit up. "Ariin's baby!" he exclaimed, then blushed furiously and looked away when everyone focused on him. "I-I mean, the timing makes sense, g-given all the... rumors..." he muttered.

Chuckling, Ahsch nodded. "Ariin's baby indeed. It took some work, but that is 'where' I reincarnated. With some divine help, I was able to use a spell to age myself back to an adult, and, well..." he spread his arms slightly in a 'here I am' gesture.

Naemui looked thoughtful. "But... who is the father?" she asked.

Ahsch smirked mischievously. "That I'll be keeping secret for now," he said. "Though perhaps some day I'll be willing to reveal it. As it stands, the exact mechanisms by which my reincarnative capabilities work are... let's say 'vulnerable.' If the wrong people got wind of how things worked, things could go horribly wrong very quickly. And with those traitorous bastards still alive and free..." He forced himself to stop and take a deep breath. "Suffice to say, it's for everyone's safety that I don't reveal more."

Naemui nodded, bowing her head. "I understand, My Lord Prophet."

Ahsch nodded his appreciation, then glanced over the trio. "Now, my sister has told me a bit about what you've been up to, but I'm curious to hear from you yourselves: how are the first of Enochiel's Priests?"

They were quiet eager to share, though Wen was predictably bashful. The boy had focused on the health care service, though he had ended up not taking the lead on it, as he simply lacked the confidence and drive to oversee and dictate such a project. He was, however, thoroughly dedicated to the task, and had apparently mastered all of the requisite spells within a few days, and had further been instrumental in teaching them to other priests. He had also come up with the suggestion that all priests should be required to learn the spells, and should rotate through at least one 'shift' a month, but that a secondary subsection of the priesthood should be dedicated to the service, and should further take on the responsibility of either learning or contracting with the few scholars who learned about medicine of the mundane variety and truly expand the limits of what they could provide. It was, in fact, one of those mundane scholars who had taken a liking to the boy, become engrossed in the goals that the Temple had set out, and had actually joined and now headed up the health care initiative - a cervitaur named Aluine. From the way Wen talked about her, and the looks he and Maera shared, Ahsch wondered if there was maybe something going on between the deer-woman and the two humans.

For her part, Maera had ended up falling into cahoots with Tyrn, to various results. While not a fighter herself, the girl had become worried after Ahsch's death - and the subsequent pressuring from the Irztonites and Orrorists - about the safety of the Enochiist faithful, priesthood, and temple at large. As such, she had suggested to Ariin that some form of official militant subgroup of the temple be created, potentially several. Though things were still only in the earliest stages, Maera and Tyrn had decided on two specific 'sub-orders:' a largely mundane, secular, militia-like order, and an order of warrior-priests drawn from the Priesthood. After some deliberation, the approval of Ariin, and the unanimous agreement of Tyrn and his 39 guards, they formally joined the Temple to be the first of the Sentinels of Enochiel - fighters drawn from the faithful, yet not part of the Priesthood itself. Since their inception, the Sentinels had grown from 40 to 60 as the Temple's population had increased.

On the other hand, the warrior-priests weren't a proper organization as of yet, mainly due to the lack of militant-minded priests. Maera had taken on the task of pulling together those who did know how to fight and was still trying to put together some sort of official organization, but with only three other priests involved (of which two of whom had other aspects of the Temple they were formally dedicated to), the going was slow.

Finally, Naemui had focused the most on Enochiel's domains of dominance and sex. In particular, she had made the proposition of a sort of formalized system of teaching sexual skills, as well as proper methods of offering submission and asserting dominance within relationships, including various forms of 'additional tools' in the form of bondage, discipline, punishment, and reward. Ahsch almost laughed when he realized that the harpy had basically invented BDSM for Euphoria, and was trying to make an official organization for it within the Order. Quizzing her some, he discovered that her hope was to attract both dominants and submissives and teach them how to engage in their dynamics in a safe and consensual way, including formal schools for both that would teach not only those skills, but other life skills as well, to be used within their relationship or supplementary to it. She also had the idea for a matchmaking system, to help the dominants and submissives meet and foster relationships between them, with the oversight of the Order to make sure no abuse or coercion was involved.

Ahsch did catch that she almost went on to talk about something different, but after a shared glance with Ariin, she quickly went quiet and brushed it off as a side-project that she wasn't sure would go anywhere. Based on his sister's mischievous smirk, the Dominant Mage was pretty sure they had been at least talking about the 'group of handmaidens' for him. An idea he tried to ignore despite how appealing the thought was.

After they had all talked some, the Priests were also dismissed to continue with their duties, and Ahsch's inner circle went about their own tasks for their stay. Ahsch himself reviewed the speech he was going to give, which was mostly a (highly edited) summation of the events surrounding his death and after his reincarnation, as well as his hopes for the Order going forward. Plus a lot of praise for the work that had already been done during his absence.