Even though I had had contact with humans before, lived among them even, it has never been like this, so into their society and costumes, always somewhat detached to them; and even my past memories seem so distant now, more like a book I"ve read than my own memories.It was a strange feeling of detachment to humankind, of being yet knowing you do not belong here...
What I"m trying to say is that… I"m a hound, a magical creature, and my humanoid form may… confuse some, but my soul, my mind is that of a hound, an animal.
A beast, a predator.
So it was against my nature to bow down and pretend to by a mere maid, a servant, which is bad enough to give me an itching sensation that makes me want to simply kick someone for no good reason.
To make things worse, I"m with Isaac, of all people, and we have just got ourselves into a pit of snakes.
Let just say that the eunuch was only the first one to…greet us so "kindly".
"Oh, Isa, long time no see, I bet you missed the palace, please "enjoy" to the fullest our warm meals, hot baths, you may even find some perfume if you ask nicely…" Says a propitious woman with a strong smell of flowers, not stronger though than the colorful impact her image gives to my eyes.
I want to sneeze so badly right now… s.h.i.+t.
"Thank you for such worries Sister, I"ll gladly enjoy the "hospitality" the palace gives to us wanderers." Isa answers with a smile that does not reach his eyes, emphasizing the hospitality word.
Oh, so that"s what he meant when he said about the difference between the inner sisters and out sisters; while the latter was the one that, according to him, really tried to help and went out to save people, the inner sisters, beyond having all the comfort of the palace and not having the distress of the travel and have to deal with the poor, had enough time on their hands to plot and conquer and drink tea.
Bureaucrats, to summarize.
Another, one of the followers of that woman, even said before leaving: "Is a pity, so out and about, must be hard to come back and be unaware of what happens inside the church… must be confusing to come back to it unaware like that..."
And a bunch of gibberish that I rather pretend to be deaf to.
Well, I"ve never been happier that servants don"t need to talk.
However, even though the inhabitants of the palace were that ugly, the temple itself was marvelous; beyond the statue at the entrance even the walls of this place where pieces of art, crafted not only on the wall, but shaping it as well, "making" the wall.
There are layers of flames crafted together on the white stone in a wild dance, their sharp edges bringing to life the beauty and danger that a flame contains.
There were smooth waves too, cras.h.i.+ng against each other and making foam form between; and bringing them all together was the wind and the earth, plants that reached the sky"s growing from the Earth, some real, some crafted, bringing it all together in a complex yet harmonic picture.
And as if that on itself wasn"t it enough the whole place was pure white, the type you only get with constant care and paint, fresh and pure, the blinding color of the snow.
However if it seems dull or uninteresting by the lack of colors it would soon be proven wrong for that was only the entrance, the real beauty was hidden in the central hall, an open s.p.a.ce embraced by the temple"s walls in all sides, forming a square right in the middle.
And if the rest was pure white that place was the total opposite; it was a winter garden with smooth grey and white stones covering the ground that only brought up even more the colorful flowers that swung with the wind; chrysanthemums, tulips, some bamboo and other plants I couldn"t recognize, going from red to yellow and purple, and that made me realize that"s something already so beautiful could be highlighted up even more by being framed in such way.
It was difficult to tear my eyes away, but curiosity won after all as I turn around to ask Isa about this place, even though I was so uninterested in it until now.
"Why is this place so white?"
"It is said that the Goodness of Magic would only use white, so it became a symbol of our church to use it as color base for everything."
"But I saw so many people using different colorful clothes…"
"Yes, it is the same reason that we have so many flowers; for the only thing that would change in her clothes is that colorful flowers would appear, and their colors would change with her mood, s.h.i.+ning against the white cloth."
I look at Isa, all white with only armor in place, and I don"t even need to ask him as he says:
"Mine is metal, silver, the blade color, the strong yet flexible elemental, and it represents when one is willing to fight, but not consumed by the wish to do so. Is the ones that have the patience and willingness to go out there and work to the bones for what they believe is right."
"Uhm…" High words coming from someone who wanted to beat me before for only being a magical creature.
He quickly explains to me some of the meanings, and that the color usually represents; red for the ones who a.s.sist in the war, tough women who are not scared to get a little dirty, even though usually they all stay only close to the n.o.bles and wealthy to heal them up, and not on the front lines.
Putting price and value on lives now uhm? But I guess we all to that… to some degree.
Then the golden-yellow were quite obvious; the ones responsible for the economics of the church, which was quite a lot since they bought and earned a lot of lands which they then lend to others to plant and use… for a price.
It is actually quite profitable to have a church, even more when you are mostly omnipotent in the continent; with some diversities up north apparently.
Purple was the ones that I would be looking for; the ones responsible for research, for the creation of new magic and for teaching new nuns as well, having a quite neutral yet respectable rank.
Then there were the green and turquoise-blue, the first took care of the plants and cleaning, and the other coping books or doc.u.ments, dealing with the more administrative part of it all.
And the eunuchs helped them all, mostly staying with the same person, almost like a personal servant, though were they worked and who they worked for was totally up to contacts and charisma.
We walk around for a while, me, for the first time, very content in following behind since I knew nothing of this place, but it wasn"t long before I saw how crowded and busy this place is, which makes me more.
And how, sooner than I thought, I would realize that my stay would be shorter than I believed at first.
And more… endangering.