The Two Religious Figures Settling In

After their meeting with Yuri and his Harem; Malza and Inoshana had a lot to think about. After gathering their attire and getting dressed, the two headed for the temple and the rooms that had been prepared for them; they still had to have a quick meeting with the local high priestess anyway. The two made their way through the town; since they hadn’t actually asked for directions or even all that familiar with the town’s layout, it took them a bit longer to get to the temple than it had when Yuri had visited the temple for the first time. They took a short time to admire the architecture; it was a glimmering white stone structure that seemed plain and boring out front; this was a welcome departure from the more ostentatious presentation that the two were used to seeing.

When they finished admiring the simplicity of the temple’s exterior, Inoshana and Malza entered the structure and were led by one of the younger priestesses, a human girl who looked to be around eighteen or nineteen with hazel hair, to meet the local high priestess. After the priestess led them to the high priestess’s office, she gave them a respectful dip before returning to her duties elsewhere in the temple.

After giving each other a quick look, Malza knocked on the door before opening it for Inoshana and followed in behind before closing the door. The two entered a room that had a homely feel to it with how things were arranged, and behind the desk was a voluptuous equine with white fur and H-Cup breasts. The equine woman greeted them as she got up.

“Greetings,” said the equine woman in a warm maternal voice as she rose from her desk; she showed clear signs of a developing pregnancy that was considerably far along but still a ways off from actually being ready to give birth. “I anticipated your arrival to be a bit earlier than this, so I was a little surprised when word of your arrival was imminent came around the time I was sure you would have already arrived.”

“Blame the internal politics of the main temple in the capital city,” said Inoshana with an annoyed tone before switching to a more respectful, formal tone, “I wasn’t expecting one of the nine stars to be present here. It is a pleasure to finally meet you, Lady Sacred Dancer.”

“I haven’t heard anyone refer to me that in quite some time,” said Dancer with a bit of a chuckle, “surely, the people that required knowledge of my whereabouts have known where I am for almost as long as I have been here myself.”

“Truth be told,” said Malza, “we were not informed on who it was that served as the high priestess of this temple, and are both a bit surprised that the goddess Inoshana follows had a servant as the primary caretaker of this temple.”

“Given who my predecessor was, goddesses bless her soul,” said Dancer, “I can understand your reasoning, but this area has always been in flux for the goddesses. Every time a new high priestess is ordained to this location, they have always been to a different deity; not once in the history of this very temple has a cleric of the same goddess as their immediate predecessor been ordained to this place.”

“Your mother’s family is still moaning about your direction in life," said Malza. "I suppose it was bound to happen when the oldest daughter of the head courtier of the royal family decided to remove herself from the family’s politics by choosing to follow the path of a priestess. That said, your younger sister is doing a splendid job in the role, from what I hear.”

“Good,” said Dancer. Now, onto why you are really here; you require lodging and a bit more intimate knowledge of Yuri. Or am I wrong?”

“No,” said Inoshana, “that is indeed accurate. I also require your assistance making sense of a vision the goddess gave me.”

“Lady Nocturia gave you a vision? Impressive,” said Dancer, “especially considering your apparent age.”

“More like she had a direct conversation with me,” said Inoshana, “I have heard my kin in ages past would occasionally have meetings with the goddesses in a variety of manners and means.”

“What are you allowed to share regarding that,” inquired Dancer.

“Not much,” said Inoshana, “she did instruct me to tell Yuri a few things when I met him, which I did before coming here.”

“Yes, our little miracle from on high,” said Dancer with a bit of amusement; she gestured to one of the seats by the desk, “Continue.”

Inoshana took the chair on the right of the desk, facing the desk and the door; Malza took the seat on the left and closest to the door, as Inoshana said, “I was informed that it was the Goddess Nocturia that summoned Yuri to this world, but a few different outside parties messed with the spell while he was in transit; some of which she suspects to be other goddesses, and she did confirm that the goddess our world is named for told her she had made a few tweaks to lady Nocturia’s summoning spell. Yuri was intended to end up in the city of the stars, Constellruna, but due to the different tampering with the magic from multiple sources while he was in transit, he arrived here by happenstance instead.”

“And I suppose Lady Nocturia is dealing with that particular set of issues among the deities,” said Dancer with an exasperated sigh.

“Yes,” said Inoshana, “she even told me she would help them prepare for their own Alpharian summonings as a means of helping to placate their more frenzied state. There’s no telling when the next Alpharian will be summoned, or even whatever is called next time, is truly an Alpharian at all. Hopefully, we won’t be dealing with that sort of problem in the foreseeable future. It took a considerable amount of time for Lady Nocturia to just find whom she considered the best possible candidate and confirm they were what she was looking for; there is a very good chance the other deities will be doing something similar.”

“Understandable,” said Dancer, “I made sure to have your rooms prepared; they are in close proximity to my own sleeping chambers; if you wish, I can call one of the acolytes to guide you to your rooms.”

“That should work out just fine for us,” said Malza politely, “and I must say it is a pleasant surprise to see a beastkin in a position such as your own; it’s sadly not all too often to see; especially with how church politics have be trying to restrain my ward a bit too frequently.”

“Given the history of the faiths of our world passed down for generations,” said Dancer, “I find it disheartening to see the main temple having fallen so low myself.” She moved her hand over a palm-sized crystal ball at the right center of her desk in a few small eccentric motions, “the acolyte I’ve assigned to guide you to your accommodations will meet outside the door to this office shortly.”

“We thank you for your hospitality,” said Inoshana as she and Malza rose from their seats, “and I will likely turn to you for assistance when I am unsure of the guidance our deity gives me.” She gave another courteous dip.

After getting some word on the usual whereabouts of Yuri, Inoshana and Malza made their way out of the chamber. They were greeted by a busty cat priestess with tawny fur and short ears bearing Nocturia’s holy symbol, a moon dial with a scythe overlaying atop it; Inoshana had her own version of the holy symbol at the back of her waist, which she found doing it this way kept the other members of the temple from messing with her, it almost like hazing her was a right of passage for the temple she was always residing, but this place looked like she wouldn’t have to worry about that and she could restructure her habits around her holy symbol. The cat priestess led the two to their rooms, leading them through the temple; they passed a series of statues of the goddesses around the size of some of the larger races as they moved through the temple; when they came to a passage between the primary goddess and Nocturia, ironically enough, they were led down the passage for almost a minute before stopping near the end of the short hallway.

The cat priestess gestured to the door on the right as she said in a respectful voice, “This room was prepared for Priestess Inoshana,” she then shifted her gesturing to the door on the left side and said, “This one was prepared for Paladin Malza; the high priestess is in this same hall, the rooms between you both and her room at the end of the hall is for the paladin’s assigned to the temple’s high priestess.”

“We thank you,” said Inoshana with a slight bow, “may the night guide you to where you are meant to be.” The cat priestess gave a respectful bow before making her way out of the hallway. Malza decided to open the door to Inoshana’s room to inspect it first; the room was a little above basic, the sheets looked like they were decent quality, and there was a desk to double as a table near the door, a closet at the other side of the bed, and it looked like there was even a mirror on the wall the door opened away from on the same side of the room as the door.

After looking around the room for a moment, Malza gave a brief nod of approval before moving out of Inoshana’s way and saying, “It looks acceptable; I’ll make my way into the other room.”

“Thank you, my friend,” said Inoshana as she made her way into the room, smoothly taking her bag from where Malza was holding it, and gently closed the door behind her to begin her resting ritual.

After staring at the door for a few seconds, Malza pivoted her body to face the other room and made her way inside it, and closed the door. A quick look around the room showed that it was practically a mirror of the room across the hall from it, right down to how the doors opened and the placement of the mirrors. She gave a slight chuckle to herself as she began to undress and place her bag on the floor to begin her own resting ritual.