A Concept of Apathy

Chapter 15

“Mind for thought, so we may have these words. Body for action, so we may say this. Soul for need, so that we can understand. Past for knowledge, to get these words. Present for desire, so we may want this. Future for want, so we would do this. Other for anything we missed.”
– Epaism prayer

Today was the day the clerics came in. I had asked if I could come with my father to meet them, but he denied me. He was on edge, which was fair. My mother tried to come, but as she was eight months pregnant she got denied by everyone. She was not happy about it, but there was not much she could do.
My father had gone out with Madam Lie and Mister Sharp, leaving everyone else to wait for them. One of the upsides to the situation at least was I did not have to take lessons from Mister Sharp today, which although always enlightening was always tiring. I had already finished my lessons with Mister Reclamation for the day, which had been the start of a new type of lesson.
Evidently in this world humans were still hunted by some animals. Sadly they were not any I was familiar with, but the lesson was more on what to avoid rather than what I should know about them specifically. Almost none of them were natural creatures, but rather creatures coming from ruins or great corpses. They had to both get out of the ruins or corpses and be able to have children to become one of these animals.
Of course, they were not lumped in with animals as sometimes they were biologically impossible without magic. Most people called them “monsters” but the scientific name would be Teraris. There was evidently an entire branch of both science and magic around them, although it seemed woefully underdeveloped. I figured that was mostly because there was no standardized type of monster. They did not have to follow normal biology by any stretch, which made standardization hard which in turn made all the foundations weak.
Evidently all monsters also had an innate hate for people, and would rather fight than flee. This did not apply to just people, but elves, dwarves, and gnomes were all included in this. Why was hard to tell, and seemed to have no real answer other than magic. I disliked how much was waved away by that term, but I supposed anything you did not understand could seem like magic.
My father had a book on the subject in his study with diagrams of the monsters. There were some that looked impossible, either from not even having mouths or any other way to get sustenance, or say having nothing but carapace and bones to move.
I was reading -more like flipping through and looking at the pictures- when I heard my father. I forced myself to not rush, putting in a book mark for my book, then limping my way down the stairs. I heard a new voice, which sounded feminine other than my fathers. My mother was also downstairs, although I had not heard her speak.
“-course, anything I can do to help those in need.” She sounded young, whoever it was.
“I’m glad to hear. Can we get you anything? Water, food, anything else?” My mother offered. I saw my father standing in the living room next to the chair my mother was sitting in.
“Let me see who I would be helping.”
I finished coming down the stairs to find a girl who could be no older than twelve. She was dressed in black, grey, and dark purples which made me think of smoke. It did not quite seem to suit her with her very short curly blonde hair. She stood with her hands clasped in front of her, and had a solemn smile with eyes that looked tired.
“Hello.” I said, giving a small wave and going to stand next to my father.
“Ah, yes, this is my son, Sylin.” My father said, gesturing to the side.
“It is nice to meet you, I’m Minna, Cleric of Xhaen.” If I remembered right, that was the god of Other. She gave a short bow after saying it. I noticed that her eyes lingered on my cane and my leg of bone.
“If you would follow me.” My father said, gesturing up the stairs.
“Of course Mister Duewoe.” My father had a slight smile, the one he wore in company. It was almost the same as his face of perfect neutrality, but this one was more polite. I turned to follow them but my mother put a hand on my shoulder.
I turned to look at her, and she gave her head a little shake, then gestured for me to take a seat. I complied, curious. I didn’t think I was in trouble, at least I couldn’t think of anything I had done recently. As the two finished going up the stairs and the door was opened and closed my mother started to speak.
“Has your father talked to you about clerics?”
“No, I don’t think so.”
“Okay, well, we should have done this before.” She was talking in a quiet voice, but not quite a whisper. “Don’t look at clerics with your Sight. Well, you can, but don’t dig.”
“Why?” I said in the same hushed tone.
“Their gods tend to get annoyed if you do.”
“Oh. I see. I will take care not to do that then.”
My father reappeared at the top of the stairs without Minna. “Sylin, come up here please.”
“Yes sir.” I started up the stairs, and he gestured for me to move into the room.
Minna stood over Kaeo, Madam Strength and Madam Weakness on the opposite side of the bed from her. Minna was taking Kaeo’s pulse, muttering quietly to herself. She pulled open one eye, looking closely at it. She continued this examination for a bit, but eventually turned back to me and my father who were quietly standing at the foot of the bed.
“Sylin, you have a connection with Kaeo here?” She spoke without turning to me, still looking at Kaeo.
“Yes.”
“Come stand here by me.” She made a slight waving motion with her left hand, and I moved to the indicated location. “Your hand please.”
She was already holding one of Kaeo’s hands, and I extended my own and she took it. It felt fine at first, but then like someone was pumping smoke into my hand. I did a slight gasp, which led to my father drawing on the Sight to look. When he took no action, I endured the discomfort that kept growing.
It was always just south of painful, and every time I thought I had gotten used to it it changed. It was cold, but warm where the sensation started. Minna said nothing, just had her eyes closed while holding Kaeo’s hand in her left and my hand in her right.
“She can be healed.” She eventually said, dropping my hand.
“I’m glad to hear. What will it take?” My father replied, watching this all play out. Minna still did not turn to face him, watching Kaeo.
“A month of me coming to work on her every day.” She eventually said. “Perhaps a bit less.”
“What will you need for it?”
“Nothing but for Sylin to be here.”
“Okay. When should we expect you?” My father was evidently having some problem in his head he was working through.
“Every morning, I think. It will only take an hour or so.”
“I thank you. Could we offer you to stay here?”
“No, I think I need to stay with the other Clerics.” She said “cleric” differently, like it had more force coming from here. “I need to be there to answer questions and help where I can. Although I will admit, this is a fairly serious injury. I doubt she could be healed by anything but miracle.”
“Then I am glad you came. We thank you once more.”
“Of course! Could I get some water? I’m parched.”
“Yes, let’s go to the kitchen.”
She finally turned away from Kaeo, walking out the door with my father. I gave a small wave to the two Madams who returned similar waves before following after my father and Minna. It seemed like there might finally be a cure.

***

Minna had left to go be with the other clerics after finishing her water. My father had wanted to talk, so we went back to the living room. My father sat next to my mother on the love seat, and I took one of the arm chairs facing towards them.
“We should have covered this earlier, but I kept forgetting.” My father said with a sigh. “I am sorry for not warning you in advance.”
“Apology accepted, what is it?” I asked, shifting in my seat to get more comfortable.
“First, don’t look at any clerics with your Sight. It is… not always welcome. Unless they ask you to, presume something very powerful will take offence.”
“So mom told me.”
“Ah, good.” He squeezed my mom’s hand for a second. “The second thing is that clerics are made for conflict. Either as an answer to it or a conclusion to help along the pain. Either way, they are made to help. All clerics except the clerics of Other wear full plate mail, and carry around shields and maces.”
“I feel like that would make people feel threatened.”
“For some, but that is why they work so hard for a good reputation. There is little that can make people feel safer than a cleric. The plate is a show of force, and it is impressive. They heal as well, and do a lot of community work wherever they are.”
“You should get to the point, love.” My mother told him.
“Yes. Clerics are… not our friends. I am glad Minna is so young, as she won’t remember the war. Most clerics do not take kindly to our last name, and for… if not a good reason a reasonable one. Clerics are a tight knit group, and they have not forgotten the war.”
“What did you guys do?” I quietly asked.
“There was once an army that fielded only clerics. It was about twenty thousand strong. Your mother and I were sent as an opposing force, and of those twenty thousand seventy clerics walked away.”
“Oh.” I said, even quieter than my question.
“Your father did most of the work in that battle. It is where he earned the name of Ruin.”
“I will be careful.”
“You need to be. I don’t have another amulet for you to wear to capture your soul. There is only so much your mother can fix, so if you feel unsafe in that room at all call us.”
“Will do.”
“Good. That’s all.” He told me, and I headed up to Kaeo’s room.
The two Madam’s gave me a nod as I entered, and made to leave. I had done this a few times, and they were willing to give me privacy which I was thankful for. I had no doubt that the two Madams were loyal to the family, but it felt awkward to talk with them in the room. I took the chair that was set up next to Kaeo’s bed side with a grunt, leaning back and looking at the ceiling.
“We might have an answer for your slumber. It’s taken too long in my opinion, but soon is better than never, right?” I sighed, thinking back on that strange feeling that had spread up my arm. “I’m not sure how to feel about Minna. She seems kind, but somewhat strange. I am not sure if that is just her, or if it is her god. Does it really matter, if she has a piece of the god in her? I don’t think it does, but who knows. Maybe she could be severed if she does something the god does not like. Not that that matters. I’m somewhat nervous about the entire thing. The way my parents put it makes me feel like she could just decide to kill me, if not worse. I remember that one history that Mister Reclamation read of Yedos. You weren’t there for that though.
He was a cleric of Other as well, and an interrogator for the army. He was also a field medic, one of their best ones from what I understand. That would make sense. He would torture people to near death, then fix them up. He was brutal, but I don’t think Minna is the same. I really hope not. She was… kind. She wants to help, and I really think she can. You’ll be up soon, and I have some stuff to show you. I might even be good enough to give you a reasonable match, instead of just getting my head stomped in…”
I trailed off, looking at the ceiling. Soon. I stayed there for a while longer. Eventually the Madams came back in to take care of her, and I headed out. There was just too much to do, too much to read. I was just getting to understand magic, and the more I learned the more I wanted to know.
Perhaps if I knew enough I would never have to deal with another friend falling unconscious for months.

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