Sue walked behind the High Inquisitor as Doxan led them out into the chapel. She had not been listening to Doxan as well as she should have while the Head Inquisitor explained what had happened during the trip.   

   

Sue had felt so awful after everything that had happened here in town. Then on top of having to explain what had happened to her, Sue still felt so guilty that she could not help. It had left her drained emotionally.     

    

Gilda and Jefferson had told her repeatedly that there had been nothing she could have done. Nor that there had been anything she could have changed about what had happened. That the people who had been spreading the lies and misinformation were to blame.    

    

Sue knew how Gilda and Jefferson thought, but how could it be only those lying bastards fault? Why could the local people not trust them? They had been helping here for so long, but after a few lies, the problems only just got worse. Sue could not even get into parties because people thought she would charge for heals.     

    

She came out of her funk to see a purple-haired young woman, who could barely be older than herself, stand up and smile at them brightly.     

    

She was introduced as Iris, and she joked and laughed with the High Inquisitor and the Paladin Knight that was with him. She must be some sort of junior inquisitor or paladin herself. But no.     

    

Iris was a priestess like herself and one that was being put into basic training. Training that sounded like that all she needed to learn was control.      

    

The stab of jealousy was sharp and deep as she looked at the other woman. Then Doxan had mentioned that she was the reason for the lightning strikes people had been clamouring about earlier in the day. So not only was she close to the Head Inquisitor, but Iris was also so much more powerful than herself. Let us not forget pretty, she thought to herself. Iris seemed to be everything Sue felt she was not.     

    

Just as Sue felt she wanted to leave, as she desperately desired to hide in a corner and continue the cry she had been having earlier. Sue felt Iris’s eyes on herself.     

    

She quickly scrubbed her eyes with the back of her sleeve and schooled her emotions. Gathering herself, before Sue bowed to Iris in greeting and introduced herself. “I’m Sue, a priestess of the church here.” her eyes looking down at the floor as she avoided eye contact with the new priestess standing in front of her.    

    

Sue felt the pause that Iris took to respond was longer than when she had greeted the others. She wondered if Iris saw her as she saw herself. Useless and incapable of doing anything. Someone that couldn’t even solve the problem of people harassing the church.     

    

If Sue could call down lightning, she could have smitten the people trying to harm the church. She could have done something other than being a useless lump.    

    

After a few more seconds Sue wondered what kind of expression Iris had made as she looked at her. Lifting her eyes up, Sue was unprepared for what she saw.    

    

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~    

    

Iris had been looking at the other young woman in the room from the corner of her eye. She had waited for her to be introduced. She had taken in from observing the young priestess that the woman was human. As no other features of other fantasy races stood out to Iris.     

    

While Iris had watched her, she had recognized the emotions that passed over the other woman’s face. The look of jealousy was a bit incomprehensible to her as she wondered why the priestess would be jealous of her.    

   

Then just as she noticed Gilda turning toward the other priestess, the young woman stepped forward by herself, and introduced herself as Sue, and followed up by looking at the floor.   

   

Iris had glanced around at the others to see if there was something she missed. That maybe she had done something to scare her or offend her. What she saw was that the look on Gilda’s face was complicated and that the look on Jefferson's face seemed like he had been resigned for something like this.    

   

Iris shrugged a little and noticed her head coming back up, so she smiled and held out her hand, “Hello, Sue.” Her smile was genuine, as she wanted to make friends with the priestess. “I hope we can get along. I mean, you are my senior and all, I’ve only recently become a priestess, and any help I can get would be great.”   

   

Iris watched the look of what she could only describe as shock pass over Sue’s face. The priestess then seemed to gather herself up. Sue’s mood shifted out of whatever funk she had been in, and she put on a tentative smile as she nodded to Iris. “I-I hope so too. Maybe you can teach me how to be stronger with my magic?”   

   

Iris grinned back at Sue as she made the request and replied positively, “As long as you can teach me some of the basics. Though my side of the deal sounds like I’m the one getting the bargain out of this. Control is a lot harder than wanton destruction.”    

   

Milly let out a laugh, “Don’t worry about it! She can join you in the morning training with you. I’m sure you can teach her how to fight.” The tall paladin reached over and poked Iris’s shoulder. “Maybe you can show me the move you used to punt Mushmen around like children's toys. Doxan told me that you prefer to use blunt weapons?”    

   

Iris smiled as she replied, “Actually, I just like them because I think that they’re cool. I wanted to use something different. Well, that and I’d probably need some sort of special sword. I would hate to have to keep replacing them. At least with a big mace, I don’t have to worry about the edge going blunt, or about chipping it. I just have to worry about hitting things I don’t want to hit.”   

   

Milly nodded at Iris’s statement and patted the handle of the sword on her waist as she replied, “When you get stronger, you really do need to watch out for that. I’ve lost quite a few blades to accidentally hitting something too hard.”   

   

Iris thought about that as she continued, “Then are you more likely to find good gear in a dungeon, or should you be looking to get an artisan to make you better equipment?”   

   

Sue squeaked as what Milly said finally sunk in, and she tried to make sure she heard it right, “Miss Milly? You want me to join in with paladin training?”   

   

Milly grinned back at Sue, reaching over to tussle the short soft brown hair on the young priestess’s head, “I won’t train you to be a Paladin, but I will train you to get you a bit more muscle. If you plan to keep earning some extra money by going into the dungeons, then we’ll want to make sure you can protect yourself."  

   

Doxan joined in on the conversation to reply to Iris's question, “Iris, to answer your question, there are many schools of thought on that. The church paladin groups generally try to have good equipment and supplement it with tools and items found in dungeons. It’s rare for young dungeons to have good equipment appear in treasure chests. But the deeper you go, the better equipment you’ll find.”   

   

Iris ohs and then nods, “That makes sense to me. I mean hypothetically if I was a dungeon, I’d put the better gear in the deeper you go. It would give adventurers a reason to go deeper. I mean, there’d be no reason to go into dungeons if there wasn’t a nice carrot to chase.”   

   

Doxan raises an eyebrow, “Ah, we have a philosopher here. Are you sure you want to go the Paladin path? There has been a long debate over the reality of Dungeons. Some claim they are living beings that are also sentient. Others say they are living beings in the same sense that worms are alive. That they just grow because they can. Others claim they are magical death traps built around the core that needs protection, like a plant growing thorns to stop animals just eating it.”   

   

Jefferson pipes up, “Oh that argument is due to go back up on the debate circle again sometime this decade. I hope the Inquisition have found some new information.”   

   

Iris, who was about to get full swing into a conversation about the possibilities of how dungeons worked, came to a sudden halt as she looked to Jefferson, “Inquisition? We have an inquisitorial arm of the church?”    

   

It was Gilda’s turn to join in on the conversation, “You didn’t know?” She motions to Doxan, “Doxan is the Head Inquisitor. He’s one of the churches best investigators.” she smiled as she continued. “Which is quite frankly why we’re so happy to see him. If anyone will find out what’s going on. It will be him.”   

   

Iris’s eyebrows had risen up as high as they would go. As she then moved her eyes over and looked at Doxan. She asked with a note of incredulity in her voice, “You're an inquisitor? Really?”    

   

Doxan coughed in embarrassment, “Priest sounds better, than Inquisitor. Inquisitors just ask all the questions and then find the answers. It’s not like we’re that important to the church. We may as well just be called investigators.”    

   

Iris nodded in response, then asked him in a very calm tone, “So you don’t go out and crush people that believe in other religions? Or torture them to make them confess to crimes? Or make people disappear?”   

   

If a pin had been dropped to the stone floor at that moment, the sound it made would have been heard echoing from the chapel walls. Everyone in the room other than Iris herself looked at her like she had grown another head.    

   

Doxan took a calm breath and responded to Iris in his best teacher’s voice. “No, the Inquisition only has the power to investigate into issues that affect churches when it is considered to be something untoward happening in the town. We have no right to cause harm to others. In fact, we often gather information from other places just to increase the knowledge we have of the things that interest us. What you described would be more of the realm of the royal spymasters or other such dark groups that would want to do more harm than help.”   

   

He then turned to the others in the room and explained, “Iris here has a very... Let us say 'strange' background. It isn’t my place to tell her story, just expect her to ask some equally strange questions now and then. It will be up to her to share her story. Just for now, trust me when I say that she is someone we can trust. As such, we should respond in the same.”    

   

Gilda and Jefferson both nodded sagely to Doxan’s explanation. The pair had met many a lost and wayward soul in their years of being priests of this town. They both smiled at Iris, and Gilda then spoke up, “Please don’t hesitate to ask us anything.”    

   

Jefferson nodded at his wife’s words, “Day or night, we’ll lend an ear.”   

   

Sue who had been worrying her lip as the others spoke, joined in “I-I’d be happy to help.” she nodded to Iris who had turned to face her.   

   

Iris smiled happily at the other's acceptance of her situation, “Thank you. I promise that I’ll explain what I can when I can. For now, I’m heeding Doxan’s advice on not spreading too much information about myself. You can’t put the milk back in the cow after you squeeze it out.”   

   

As they had been talking, Iris had felt the little Fae dragon in her hand stirring and moving about. While she was about to look down to see what it was up to. Iris felt the claws of the little dragon skitter up her arm and over her shoulder. It finally stopped as it got to the back of her neck and tried to hide under her hair that was down around her shoulders today.    

   

Iris let out a little squeak as the little Fae Dragon’s claws had been quite sharp. Which caused her to quickly check her arm for claw holes.    

   

Luckily, she found none. Two outcomes had formed in her head. The first was that her skin was either tougher than she thought. The second was that the claws of the Fae dragon were less sharp than she had imagined. After Iris let out a sigh of relief, she reached up and tried to retrieve the little dragon from her shoulder.   

  

Sue gasped as she saw the small dragon trying to hide unsuccessfully in Iris’s hair. “Is that a Fae Dragon? Is it your pet?” her hands lifted up in an obvious sign of someone that wanted to hold the cute little animal they saw.  

  

Iris laughed softly and decided that pulling a little clawed beasty out of her hair would be both detrimental to her health, and her hair. So, she decided to make an executive decision to leave it up there. “I don’t know about a pet. I saved it this morning when it almost made itself a smear on the pavement as it tumbled out of the sky.”  

  

Milly hems as she looks at the little Fae Dragon as well, “Well it’s definitely attached to you. I’ve never seen a Fae Dragon cling to someone if they didn’t plan on hanging about.” She then lifted her hand and cast a light spell that was barely more than a soft glow, “Looks like the healing it got took hold. And she’s not looking to have any other diseases. She’s also pretty young.”   

  

Jefferson stepped over to look closely. “Ah. A white one. You see them now and then. Poor things get chased out of the little flocks. Their lack of colour is probably thought to be a sign of weakness among the other Fae dragons.” he smiled sadly, “She’s not even an albino. She’s actually leucitic [1]. See how her eyes are actually not pink, and the claws and other parts of the flesh are actually dark like normal?”  

  

Gilda rolled her eyes and tugged on Jefferson’s shoulder, “Yes. Yes. We know it’s your hobby, let the girl loose or she’s going to wonder if you’re crazy.”   

  

Iris chuckled, “Actually, I found that very interesting. Jefferson, at a later date, I would more than welcome sitting down with you to talk shop on this subject.” she then reached up and ran her fingers over the little dragon’s scales, “So, I’m guessing I might be stuck with the girl for a while then?”   

  

Milly had been smirking as Jefferson had beaten her to the punch on the information before. Milly spoke up before Jefferson this time. “I’ve seen a few of them get clingy like this. If you feed her a few times and don’t try and chase her or hurt her, you’ll have yourself a great little pet.”   

  

Sue nodded with Milly’s words, “It’s hard to get one away from their little flocks, but a lot of people in this town will keep them as pets.” her hands were still moving like she wanted to feel the scales of the little dragon.  

  

Iris smiles, “Well I don’t mind picking up a pet.” she looked to Sue, “I’m going to need your help, Sue. I don’t know what they like to eat, and once she’s used to people, I’ll be more than happy to pass her over for petting. But right now, I think she might be a bit scared.”   

  

Iris could feel the little dragon trembling on her shoulder. “Milly, you said it was a She? Did that spell tell you that?”   

  

Milly barked a laugh and nodded, “Yes it did, have Doxan teach it to you. It is a very handy spell when you need to quickly check something’s information.”  

  

Iris grinned at Doxan, “We have a list of spells, that one just got added to the top.” she then thought for a bit, “Well if she’s a girl, I’ll have to think up a name for her then.” Iris could not hold the joy she felt inside, knowing she just got herself a dragon for a pet, as the little poem she had loved forever slipped out of her mouth.   

  

“In a magical world with a magic café, there's a tiny dragon that makes creme brulee.” Iris then blinked as a thought hit her, little sparkles shone in her eyes as she looks between Milly and Jefferson in her excited state, “Do Fae Dragons have a flame breath? Are they able to breathe fire?”   

  

Jefferson nodded, “They have a small magical breath that most Fae Dragons use as a flame to scorch their prey to help them catch food. They rarely use it outside of capturing prey or territorial fights.”  

  

Iris's grin spread so far on her face she thought her face was going to ache for days if she didn’t calm down soon. She also didn’t want to calm down. “Then I know what I’m going to call her. Brulee.”   

  

Sue looked a little confused, “What is a crème brulee?”   

  

Iris made a little oh, and looked embarrassed as she responded. “It’s a custard-like dessert that then has sugar melted and caramelized on top of it. The process of turning the sugar into the caramelized topping is called Brulee. If she can breathe fire and is as cute as she is. So, her name will be Brulee.”  

  

It was Sue’s eyes turn to sparkle, “You know how to make desserts?”   

  

Iris felt more than just Sue’s eyes on her as she was asked that question Milly, and Gilda were also taking an interest in where the conversation was going. “Um yes, if I can get the right ingredients, and if one of us is versed in ice magic, I think we can cover the rest. As long as we can get sugar.”   

  

Milly spoke up quickly, “I can get sugar, don’t worry about that. What else do you need?”  

  

Iris couldn’t help laughing inside as she started to get a list put together. “It’s a pretty simple recipe, but I always liked making them.” she couldn’t help feeling the Isekai Trope hitting like a hammer. On the other hand, at least she wasn’t craving some stupid sauces.   

  

[1 - Leucism - Wikipedia ]