Autumn 4994, 04 Aoimoth 

"Is that a pseudodragon?"

Whispers followed Shon down the long stone hall from the Temple chapel to the clerk's offices. The tiny dragon, about the size of a large barn cat, purred contentedly on his shoulder. Its sharp little talons digging into his flesh through his tunic -as if it sensed how much Shon wanted to pick it up and drop it on the ground.

"Do you really think that's what real dragons looked like?" 

"That's what the Mages say..."

"But how could they possibly know? They've been gone for thousands of years..." 

Five thousand. Shon tried to ignore the whispers. Even if they wanted to talk to him directly about the beast, with its long barbed tail wrapped tightly around his neck -further solidifying its seat- he wouldn't have answered them. Shon wasn't one for conversation at the best of times, and this certainly wasn't that. The unwanted attention drained what peace he'd managed to find in the chapel, leaving him nearly as restless as he'd been before going to pray.

Even after a quick shower before praying, he could still smell smoke. But if it was clinging to his clothes and skin or drifting in from outside, he couldn't tell. A warm orange glow streamed through the windows to his right. The wildfires from what had once been one of the oldest woods in the kingdom continued to burn. Though the storm of wild magic that had supposedly started the inferno was over, the sky was blacked out nonetheless with billowing smoke and ash visible from days away.

The little dragon whistled as they rounded a corner. Loosening its tail and leaning forward on its front claws, it wiggled its hindquarters and spread its wings wide enough to smack Shon in the face, digging in four sets of claws before it pushed off and leapt into the air. It glided down the passage, whistling again before alighting lightly on the shoulder of the man waiting by the door halfway down the hall. 

The Monk laughed, "Good evening to you, too, Ryuuko," Master Veon-Zih stroked the pseudodragon with one hand and waved at Shon with the other. "Do you feel better?" he called jovially to his companion as Shon drew closer. 

Master Veon-Zih was a man much much older than he appeared, though the lines about his eyes when he smiled showed his age at least a bit more accurately than his shaved head and wiry-muscled frame. Shon shrugged in response to the question, reaching for the Temple clerks' door and letting himself in. 

He would feel better if they would just give him another job rather than have him mill around for days waiting on orders. At the last Temple, they'd told Shon that he was needed here and bid him come right away. Not having the luxury of being able to choose, Shon had followed the orders without question only to find once he'd arrived that they were still drafting his orders.

The woman behind the desk was young enough to be freshly Oath Sworn, though her bearing was of a woman grown, as was often the case with Paladins. Her rank, Second Lieutenant, shone in sliver on her shoulders, and her hair was tied back in a tight regulation bun. Her Temple uniform, white with blue accents, was pressed with crisp, clean lines. The implication of a Paladin running the office and not the usual Cleric wasn't lost on Shon. It seemed all the Clerics had been sent to the disaster areas to assist with healing.

She looked up at their entrance, taking a moment to study both men and pseudodragon. Her polite smile didn't quite reach her eyes, until Master Veon-Zih raised his hand in a lazy wave. 

"Good evening Sir, my companion and I were told to report." Veon-Zih leaned on the long counter that separated the clerks' desks from the entrance, and Ryuuko climbed down his arm to sniff at the woman's logbook. Shon stayed a step back, letting his eyes scan over the room with all its filing cabinets and tidy, empty desks, while Veon-Zih continued, "We've come from Lirgues under orders from Sir Karvin,"

The woman blinked, her smile shifting to something more genuine as she looked Master Veon-Zih over again in a new light, "Ah yes, I was told to expect you. You must be Gra..."

"Just Veon-Zih is fine, Sir." Veon-Zih interrupted, shaking his head. 

Shon was surprised the Paladin didn't insist on addressing Veon-Zih by his earned rank, but as she turned chocolate brown eyes to Shon, he wished she had, "And you must be-"

"Yes, this is Shon, and technically the orders are for him. I'm just a tag-along," Veon-Zih interjected, clapping a hand on Shon's shoulder with a little shake, ignoring his student's flinch at the touch.

Shon nodded mutely to the knight, who tried, and failed, to repress a shiver. Her eyes flicked over his left shoulder, to the pommel of his bastard sword, currently swirling navy with streaks of robin's egg blue. 

Ryuuko whistled loudly to confirm in its own animalistic way, and the Paladin cleared her throat, "Yes, well... We are quite short-staffed at the moment, but we should have your orders soon. If you would wait here just a moment?"

She made to turn back to her desk, but Shon stepped forward, tapping the counter. When she looked back, he asked, "Do I have mail, Sir?"

The Paladin took a moment to answer, and Veon-Zih leaned over to Shon, whispering loud enough for her to hear as well, "It might help if you blink." The woman blushed, and Shon turned to arch one black eyebrow at the Monk. It was true that blue eyes were rare in Lenare Provence, and also true Shon's eyes were a blue so striking and pure they looked like the reflection of a clear sky on a frozen lake in the depths of winter. But still... that didn't explain why she and so many others should be so entranced or -more often- intimidated. 

With a sigh, Shon ran his hand through his hair, blacker than night and just long enough to frame his face but not to tie back. He turned his attention back to the Paladin, alternating his arched eyebrow to the other side, letting her know his question still stood.

"We haven't received any mail for at least a month..." she started,

But Veon-Zih shook his head, still smiling his disarming smile, and explained, "It could be many months old. We haven't been here since... When was it, Shon?"

The Monk knew perfectly well when they'd been here last, but was trying to get his antisocial companion to more actively participate in the conversation. Shon just nodded, but as Veon-Zih gave his shoulder another subtle squeeze, he answered, "Doumoth before last." 

She blinked at the pair of them again but answered, "Oh... Well... Just a moment..." 

Shon turned his back on the Paladin while she went to rifle through her files. Veon-Zih just sighed, turning as well and leaning his back on the counter, "Do you think they're going to have us help with the rescue efforts?" His eyes flicked to the sword on Shon's back for only an instant, but Shon noticed. He tried to resist glowering as he shrugged in response.

But just as Shon had noticed the glance, Veon-Zih read Shon's expression like an open book, "You could do a lot to assist in this, you know..." Shon shook his head, though not to deny the Monk his point. If they ordered him to assist, he would -he didn't have a choice- but he knew they wouldn't.

"Oh!" the surprised exclamation had both men looking back at the Paladin who was pulling a sealed letter from the rear of a dusty file cabinet while Ryuuko tried to climb into the drawer, crinkling papers in an effort to reach the letter.

Shon whistled, jerking his head and glaring at the little dragon until it took flight, further scattering papers, to return and land on the top of Veon-Zih's head.

The Paladin laughed at the dragon's antics despite the mess. Returning to the counter, she slid the envelope towards Shon, "It's at least five months old and doesn't say who sent it." 

Shon knew exactly who'd left it here but didn't explain, waiting for the woman to draw her hand away before reaching for the letter. At his side, Master Veon-Zih was speaking, probably explaining the origin of the letter. Shon blocked it out, running his fingers over his scrawled name and the blot of sealing wax stamped with a six-petaled lily. 

The click of an opening door pulled him from his reverie, and Shon looked up to see a second Paladin, this one much older and with Lieutenant General knots on his shoulders. "Good, you're here," Deep lines born of more than just age, etched furrows into the man's face. Still, he stood proud, walking around the counter to stand before Shon. "Your orders." he held out a thick sheaf of paper. 

Shon saluted sharply, taking the orders and remaining at attention until the Paladin returned the gesture. He could feel the Paladin's eyes scanning him as he read through his orders in silence. He'd probably read Shon's file, and Shon wasn't keen on talking about anything the Lieutenant General might have to say concerning what had been found there if it didn't pertain to the mission at hand. 

"Are we to help with the fire effort?" Veon-Zih asked, pulling the Paladin's attention away from Shon. 

Shon had gotten far enough into the orders that he already knew the answer. Still, he kept his ears open for the plain language explanation as the Paladin answered, "I'm afraid not, Gr-"

"Veon-Zih, please, Lieutenant General." Veon-Zih interrupted.

The Paladin looked for a moment as if he wanted to argue but apparently thought better of it because he continued, "As you wish. You are aware, I'm sure, of the scope of the fires?" Shon glanced up long enough to arch a disbelieving eyebrow at the man. How could anyone not be aware of the fires' magnitude while smoke still blocked the sun and night was turned to dawn with the constant glow on the horizon? Veon-Zih just nodded solemnly, and the knight continued, "All the Temples and Churches in range are working with a skeleton crew. Nearly everyone able to heal has been sent to the front lines. Even the Mages Guild has turned out in droves to fight the fires, and we finally seem to have it underhand. Miles upon miles of ancient wood... lost..."

And lives. At least six small forest villages were utterly destroyed, two of which had no survivors yet found. The Paladin took a moment to further square his shoulders before he continued, "But there was also a discovery in the destruction..." 

Shon alternated his arched brow to the other side. However, the Paladin was still focused on Veon-Zih as he spoke, "A ruin, possibly a cathedral, lost by time in the wood." Master Veon-Zih hummed, rubbing his chin in thought, but didn't interrupt, "We need to determine which god lays claim to that land. If it's a lost Temple to Hengist or a Church of Soleil or Lune, then we have a duty to restore it. If it was Horsa's..." 

"Then they'll wish to claim the territory and redraw their borders," Veon-Zih nodded, finishing the Paladin's explanation after the man had paused to sneer at the name of Horsa.

Hengist and Horsa were brother gods and bitter rivals, their Temples each governing half of the ten provinces. The only thing keeping the two factions from constant war was the Temple of Saint Giorgos, which ruled over the kingdom as a whole.

Veon-Zih continued, musing,  "Any Grove of Cathbad would've burned," they were all built of living trees, "and if it's of Saint Giorgos or any of the other Saints, then the kingdom will want to get involved."

"Even with our limited reports, we're fairly confident it wasn't a Saint Giorgos Temple." the Hengist Paladin explained, "It seems to be much older than the young gods. And though we feel it's important, we haven't gotten any clear signs one way or the other if it's Hengist or Horsa land." He emphasized the 'feel' in his explanation. Though Paladins and Clerics were the closest to their gods -holding a small piece of the divine in their souls- the gods couldn't communicate directly with their servants. Forcing them to interpret flashes of intuition and esoteric symbols from dreams.

Older than Saint Giorgos? Shon stayed silent while something hummed in the back of his mind, like someone whispering just out of hearing range. The 'young gods' were still nearly five thousand years old. Once mortal men and women, they'd been elevated to the heavenly plane after defeating the evil that had plagued humans and kept them subjugated since the beginning of time. Or at least that's what the Temple of Saint Giorgos and the kingdom taught.

Shon pulled his attention back to the men in front of him, listening as the Paladin finished his abbreviated instructions to Shon. "You will be heading a small team, including a Mage, who will set up a gate at the location in question. Once that's done, we will send other Temple and Guild representatives to excavate and investigate. Any questions?" 

With a slight shake of his head, Shon saluted the Paladin again. The man returned the salute reflexively though he didn't dismiss him. Instead, the officer looked Shon over again. They were nearly the same height, Shon having a few more inches at just over six feet tall, though he was at least half again as broad in the shoulders as the knight. The Paladin's gaze drifted over Shon's sword, whose pommel had lightened and grown nearly transparent, before settling on Shon's eyes.

Shon should've known it would be too much to pray it be left at that...

"I know you may be able to help in other ways, and I understand that you may be driven to do so in the name of honor. But I remind you that the laws pertaining to-"

"I understand, Sir." Shon interrupted, stung that the Lieutenant General thought he needed to be reminded.

Ryuuko chittered, hopping from Veon-Zih's head to Shon's shoulder and perching on his sword hilt with a little hiss. Master Veon-Zih cleared his throat and held out his hand, drawing the Paladin's attention away again, "Well, we should turn in for the night then, Sir. We will head out bright and early tomorrow morning."

Shon nodded his agreement and assurance that that would be the case, while the Paladin took Veon-Zih's hand and shook it. "Your team will meet with you outside the west gate." Already having saluted the man, Shon took the final order as a dismissal and moved for the door without another word.

Once in the hall, he took a moment to look at both the orders and the letter, before slipping the unopened letter into his belt pouch. It was already half a year old, it could wait another night while he studied the details of his orders. His thumb ran over the embossed lily one more time before he dropped it and continued towards the barracks, Ryuuko whistling sadly on his shoulder.

***