Nina's Observations 16 - the Temple Priest

Journal Entry 62

A stranger breezed into town today. He’s not the average traveller that passes through Willowdale. He’s not got a set destination in mind; I can tell from looking at him. He is like what I was; a wanderer, just following the road. I imagine he’ll be staying a little while.

I’ve been visiting the Temple more often recently, now that I know I’m welcome there - so long as I keep my arms covered, anyway. I don’t want to think about what will happen if someone sees what lies beneath my sleeves.

Those at the Temple are a strange bunch. The local Priest, Priest Nicolas, is a kindly grandfather kind of person, as I’ve said before. The Head Priestess, Priestess Shannah, is much the same, though she is more motherly than grandmotherly. The other two Priestesses, Celissa and Coris, are wards of the Temple, and Nicolas’ adopted daughters.

They’re like a family.

I’ve never been to a Temple like this one before. All the other Temples functioned differently. The Priest and Head Priestess were the most important people there. All the others were... underlings? I suppose? They did as they were told, they didn’t question the authority of the Priest or Head Priestess, even when what they were told to do was foolish or dangerous.

I think the way this Temple works is why Archcurate Felian doesn’t seem to like it much. Despite his much higher status than even the local Priest, none of them, particularly the younger Priestesses, seem to listen to him much. They have their own way of working, and no matter his protests, they’re not about to change them.

He’s too different to them - too different from the people here in Willowdale. The Archcurate stands out amongst the others in the Temple; a tall, thin, darkly robed shadow that lurks in the background as the people come and go.

Villager Observation 16 - The Temple Priest

The Temple’s Priest - the local one - is Priest Nicolas. He’s a friendly man, dedicated to not one, but all three of the Gods. I was surprised that he worshipped Taris, the Goddess of Magic, but he says he believes that all three of the Gods should be worshipped equally. Most Temples depict her, alongside the other two, but few of them worship her, due to her affiliation with Mages.

Nicolas talks of tolerance and acceptance, and seems willing to welcome even magic users into the Temple - I have seen a few of the travellers passing through Willowdale, some of them known magic users, allowed entrance without question. It still makes me hesitant to admit my magic, especially with the Archcurate around, but it comforts me to see.

Nicolas is the kind of person I wish I’d met earlier in my life - everything would have been so much easier for me. He speaks kindly - I’ve only ever seen him become frustrated with the Archcurate. He allows unrestricted access to the Temple’s library and lower chambers - something I’ve not encountered at any Temple in the past. To be allowed into such places was considered a great privilege, not a right.

I have learned that he adopted Celissa and Coris when they were still quite young, shortly after they became the Temple’s wards. He raised them as his own daughters, gave them a new family so soon after they’d lost theirs. It is not incredibly common for Priests to have children, even adopted children, so it is an interesting change.

The only thing that seems to get Nicolas riled up is Archcurate Felian. They have severely different opinions on how things in the Temple should be run, and the Archcurate’s disagreements seem to annoy him. However, in the end, the Willowdale Temple is Nicolas’ responsiblity; the Archcurate is only present to observe, or so I’ve been told. It is not his duty, nor his place, to interfere if things aren’t in need of fixing.

I will not tell Priest Nicolas about my magic, I have decided. With the Archcurate seemingly around every corner, I cannot afford to risk it, as accepting as Nicolas is. I shall, however, continue to visit the Temple - both to worship as I like, and because the library’s doors are almost always open.

And I know where to find the key if they aren’t.

Nina's Observations, Entry 15 - Maxixe the Goblin

This is a little later than I intended, I will admit. I meant to have it out on the 19th, but at the time I'm publishing this, it's the 21st (though only by about an hour).

Anyway, updates will be back to normal next week, so enjoy this chapter!

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Journal Entry 59

When I went down into the basement workroom today, I found that the door down into the Goblin Tribe’s Cave had been opened a little. It wasn’t much, because of the bookshelf, but it had been opened. One of them, or some of them, must know about the stairs. I’m afraid they’ll try and swarm the Tower one day, so I've increased my studies about Sealing spells, and have been practising them in town on the unsuspecting townsfolk.

Thus far, only a few of them have held past the initial attempt to open the door, but none of them has held for very long.

As a precaution, I’ve moved any important or dangerous experiments that I could risk moving up into the second level workroom, and keep the trap door down to the basement workroom locked and covered over when I’m not down there. I don’t want the Tower blowing up, or something equally bad, to happen because the Goblins knocked over or damaged things better left alone.

I’ve noticed the Archcurate around town a lot recently. I know he has the right to walk around town, same as anyone, but I wish that he would stop glaring at me whenever he notices me. It is incredibly disconcerting to look up and see him glaring at me from afar, and even more so when I look up and see him storming towards me, dark robes billowing, with the darkest expression I’ve ever seen on his face. I have had to retreat to the safety of my Master’s Tower more than once in the last few weeks because of him.

I can’t let him find out about my magic. I just can’t.

I like it here. I don’t want to leave.

Villager Observation 15 - Maxixe the Goblin

I’ve decided to nickname the skinny little goblin I’ve noticed when I’m observing them Maxixe. It’s likely a better name than whatever his tribe has given him - if he has a name at all. In some races, the “runt of the litter” don’t have names. Some don’t even have genders, in the eyes of their race.

If Goblins are anything like I think they are, then Maxixe is exactly that. A nameless, genderless thing that only takes up space. That he is even alive is a testament to something amongst the Goblins, I’m sure - whether it’s because he’s good at avoiding the ones trying to harm or kill him or, despite his apparent uselessness, he does indeed have some use that I’ve simply not seen, I do not know.

Maxixe spends most of his time hiding in his little hole in the cavern wall. If I can perfect the invisibility spell I found amongst my Master’s notes, then I’m intending to take the risk and investigate further into the Tribe’s land, and I’ll likely take a look at Maxixe’s home at the same time. I’m curious to see if it’s really just a small hole in the wall, or if there’s more room in there than even his Tribe has realised. It’s more likely the former than the latter, but I’ll simply have to wait and see to be sure.

Maxixe makes the occasional trip outside of his hole. Usually, it is when the main centre of the cavern isn’t too crowded. He makes darts for food, for water, and retreats back to his hole before anyone can catch him, stop him, take it away from him.

I know the feeling of having to steal and run away, find somewhere to hide before I could eat. I wish there was something I could do to help, but I cannot risk interfering before I perfect my Master’s invisibility spell.

From time to time, Maxixe is unlucky. From time to time, he is caught by the bigger Goblins, attacked and beaten while others watch, and I never stay to watch myself. I cannot bear it, and if I tried, I’d likely interfere. He always survives; I assume they let him go, or he manages to wriggle free and escape, but the state of him in slowly deteriorating. He looks worse every time I venture down.

I’ve noticed that he’s a curious one, despite the dangers that threaten him every moment. The tribe’s shaman doesn’t seem to mind his presence, at least not as much as the others, because I’ve seen him poking around her tent while she’s working on something in a big cauldron outside her tent that, honestly, looks poisonous. She occasionally chases him away, but not often. Mostly, he runs away himself when some other Goblin gets too close.

I wonder if they are related in some way. It’s hard to tell, with Goblins, but it might account for her tolerance of him.

I do not think I will be able to perfect the invisibility spell in time to be of any help to Maxixe, but I shall try my best. He reminds me of myself when I was a child, struggling to get by while everyone around me condemned me or ignored me. I do not even know if he will accept my help if I offer it to him, but there is no way for me to be certain if I don’t try.

Nina's Observations, Entry 14 - Ruth Shepard

I missed last week's post, so this week there's going to be two chapters! One will be released today, the other will be released tomorrow. That'll make me up to date with my entries for Nina's Observations.

Enjoy!

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Journal Entry 55

My first visit to the Temple went surprisingly well. I guess I’m a little known around town if only because people don’t really know me, and I just sort of...turned up one day, because the Local Priest of the Temple greeted me warmly, and told me he’d been waiting for the day I’d arrive at the Temple’s door.

There was no mention of magic at all, which I found a little unusual. All the Temples I’ve been to in the past have rambled on and on about the “evils” of magic, despite the fact that the healing rituals they perform from time to time are technically a form of magic.

I kept my arms covered, in any case, just to be sure that nothing would go wrong. I’m too cautious to risk it. Not after the life, I’ve had.

The Priest is a grandfatherly kind of person. Not that I personally know what a grandfather is like - one of mine died before I was born, and the other was amongst the mob that chased me from my village when I was a little girl, so I don’t have much experience in that regard. I’ve seen other people interacting with their grandfathers, though. They can range from strict but fair, to downright kindly.

The Priest reminded me of a Kindly Grandfather.

He wasn’t the only person I met there, of course; I met some of the Priestesses and the Groundskeeper - who turned out to be the woman I’ve seen wandering around in the Temple’s direction a lot. None of them had anything bad to say about Magic. None of them even mentioned it at all.

It’s a first for me. I’m not used to being welcomed with open arms, by people who are actually as kind and friendly as you’d expect from a Temple. So long as I make no mention of my magic, so long as I keep it more of a secret than I did as a child, then I should be fine. I should be welcome at the Temple.

I wouldn’t mind that. It’s been years since I’ve been able to worship safely and properly.

The only person I’m a little more cautious about is the Archcurate. Where the Priest welcomed me warmly, the Archcurate was not so friendly. I’m not even sure what the Archcurate is doing in Willowdale - the Temple is small, not particularly notable or significant. The Archcurate is better off - and of better use - in a place like Fernsworth, or even better, Religren. The capital city was in some sort of turmoil, from what I’ve heard in the Hog and Heifer; surely the Archcurate would be of more value to the people there, than to the people in Willowdale?

I didn’t bother to ask him, though. He was watching me with narrowed, suspicious eyes, so I was only too happy to get away from him after the Priest had introduced me to him. If anyone is going to be a problem regarding my magic, it would be the Archcurate.

I can only hope I can avoid him when I next visit the Temple to worship.

Villager Observation 14 - Ruth Shepard

The Groundskeeper is a woman named Ruth Shepard. She is the younger sister of Alicia Shepard, a woman who lives in town and runs the General Store. I’ve seen Ruth a few times, during my trips into town to visit the General Store, visiting her sister and her nephew, Nial Shepard. I’ve never spoken to her, though, despite the fact that she seems very friendly.

At most of the Temples I’ve been to, the Groundskeeper is usually a man, and he usually has two or three people working under him to keep the Temple looking nice. Ruth works alone, and even though the Temple is small, it’s hardly an easy job to keep it nice. Yet, she seems to be doing a decent job on her own, because the Temple hasn’t employed anyone to help her.

Well, except the Gravekeeper, of course, but he tends to the graveyard behind the Temple, not the Temple itself. I think Ruth helps him out from time to time, but they mostly do their own tasks on their own sections of the Temple Grounds.

Ruth, I noticed during my first visit to the Temple, seems to be rather fearless. As I was entering the Temple, she was clambering up the wall like a spider, ignoring the ladder the Gravekeeper was carrying over to the Temple at that time. When I left, she was on the roof, scrubbing away at the tiles with a brush and bucket of water, while the Gravekeeper followed her down the length of the roof from the ground, dragging the ladder with him as he went.

I don’t think she used it to get down, though I wasn’t there to see.

Ruth seems cheerful, carefree, and apparently oblivious to danger. I saw the Archcurate glaring at her when he came outside as I was being shown around by the Priest. I don’t think he likes her, or her attitude, very much. I imagine the way things are done in Willowdale is not the way things are done in Religren or Fernsworth.

Because she works for the Temple, I’m against the idea of Ruth finding out about my magic. That doesn’t mean to say I’m not interested in talking to her, and getting to know her a little better, but I’m going to keep my magic from anyone related to the Temple - for as long as I can, at the very least.

Nina's Observations 13 - Andrea Wood

Journal Entry 51

I realised recently that I’ve never visited the Town’s Temple. I don’t know why; it’s quite hard to miss.

Perhaps it was because no Temple has ever offered me sanctuary from the dangers I faced, once they found out what I was. It never mattered that I’d been a child; once someone found out about my magic, I was either thrown out the door, or chased away.

Thus far, though, no one in town has noticed my magic - or, at least, they seem like they haven’t. Discomfort or not, I feel I should go over there at some point, and see what it’s like. I don’t have to stay long, after all; I no longer need the sanctuary of a Temple to survive. I have Master’s Tower, and the little house nearby, now.

I’ve noticed a woman going to the Temple lately, though. She goes that way almost every day, and I wonder if she’s the caretaker of the place. There’s a graveyard next to it, as well, though, so it’s possible that she’s simply visiting a deceased loved one.

I suppose I’ll find out when I go that way.

Andrea Wood has been hanging around on the road near the tower again. She actually left the town recently, disappeared for almost an entire day. But as the sun was going down, I noticed her returning.

Villager Observation 13 - Andrea Wood

Andrea wants to leave Willowdale. Judging from the direction she keeps wandering in, it seems she has an interest in the Arena. But she doesn’t seem like she possesses the willpower to actually leave.

And even on the occasions that she does leave, she always comes back before the day is out.

Perhaps it has something to do with her family. I do not know what happens, what is said, behind the closed doors of the Wood Family’s house. My task is to observe the townsfolk, and decide who I want to interact with, and whom I don’t - though I have already interacted with a few of them.

It is not my task, nor my right, to pry into the private matters of the people who have caught my attention.

Still, she has intrigued me, enough so that I followed her out of town on one of her recent wanders, simply to observe what she did when she went off on her own.

For most of the day, she just walked. She stopped briefly for a rest and to eat something from her pack, but mostly, she just walked along the road - careful to stay at the edge, so she didn’t get trampled by anything or anyone coming up the middle of the road.

At about mid-afternoon, she stopped and was silent for a long time. Then she yelled obscenities at the trees, before turning on her heel and sprinting back the way she’d come. I did not quite understand what I’d seen, but I followed her, all the way back to the Arrow-Wood Farm.

It appeared that none of her family ever knew she’d be gone. I guess they assumed she’d been with the sheep all day. Nothing was ever said about it - at least, not where I could hear it.

Andrea seems to have a bit of a short temper, though, so I can’t say i’d be too surprised if she started yelling or arguing once inside the house. There’s no need to make a scene in front of the Farm hands and her other relatives. In front of direct family, however, is another story.

I have continued to maintain distance from her, but I cannot help but feel like she might be someone I want to interact with. More so than the rest of her family, at the very least. However, I’m not sure if she’s someone I want to tell about my magic - i still don’t know her opinions on the matter.