The temple, like all other temples I've seen, was built in a very different style from the rest of its village, full of sharp, foreboding angles. It had tall narrow windows of stained glass depicting scenes from Prandian mythology, although it wasn't easy to decipher the shadowy images. It was only once I went past the giant wooden doors, for the first time in my life, that I could see those images as they were meant to be seen: clear, vibrant, and majestic, and I realized that they were designed to be viewed with the sun illuminating them from behind.
I tried very hard not to stare at everything around me like it was my first time in a temple. Even the most secular humans would visit at least a few times a year and would thus be familiar with the interior. Still, it wasn't easy to feign disinterest.
The main hall had rows upon rows of wooden benches, enough to seat hundreds of people. Likely enough to fit the entire village, and maybe even more than that. The walls were lined with brass sconces, although they weren't lit. The ceiling seemed to be as high as the sky, too high for me to look at it without craning my neck. In the front there was a raised platform with an altar that was surrounded by the statues of gods, who were standing in a semi-circle that faced towards the congregation.
One by one each family approached the priests who were standing in front of the altar and made their offerings before turning around to find their seats. I followed along with William's family and made my offering as well: a few silver coins and a pigeon I had captured alive just for the occasion. The priest barely spared me a glance and a few mumbled platitudes about my service to the gods before turning to the next person in line.
I followed William to his family's bench and sat through the service. I watched with interest as the priests slaughtered a procession of animals and offered their blood on the altar to the gods while chanting prayers. The carcasses were then taken to a back room, and I could faintly smell their meat being roasted. When the prayers ended each of the congregants, myself included, was given a small portion of meat to eat in order to partake in the gods' meal and their blessing.
With the sacrificial part of the service over, the head priest came forward to give a long sermon. He droned on and on, and my interest soon gave way to drowsiness and I found myself leaning my head against William's shoulder and nodding off. However the little old man became fiery when the subject turned to beast-kin, raising me out of my sleep.
"...and so the demons called 'beast-kin' were born out of men's lusts. The men thought they could tame the demons, turn them to useful purposes. However, although the demons had at times appeared to have been tamed, they merely bide their time, waiting for their masters to lower their guards, so that they may slaughter the people of the gods in their sleep and visit unmentionable horrors upon their children and women-folk. Demons can't be tamed! The only way to be safe of them is to rid the world of this blight on the gods' creation, so that the world may return to being the paradise it once was!"
The priest then rambled on to other topics, but his words left me shaking in my seat. I had never heard such vile hatred being spoken against my kind by anyone, let alone a religious leader. Even Trevor only directed his hate against myself, my mother, and perhaps my mother's other children. He never showed any hate towards the rest of my kind, yet this priest, this man of the gods, was preaching that my kind, who were also the creation of the gods, needed to be exterminated. If I wasn't afraid of outing myself as one of those hated 'demons' then I would have immediately bolted, but I had to continue to play along all the way to the end, as much as I may have been itching to run.
Once the dreadful sermon was over everyone began mingling, and the crowd slowly shuffled over to a large side room, where a small but festive holiday buffet was being held. I followed along, but my mind was still reeling from the head priest's words, and I paid little attention to what I was doing as I shoved whatever William gave me into my mouth.
"Are you okay?" William asked, pulling me back into the present.
"No, I'm not", I replied. William frowned with obvious concern.
"Why? What is it?"
"It's what that priest said. I never of anyone talking about beast-kin being demons or exterminating them before. It really shocked me", I answered.
"Oh, that. I don't listen to those speeches. He's just saying what most people here are thinking. Either you already agree with him, or you do what I do and tune him out", he said while waving his hand dismissively, but then he looked at me again.
"It really bothers you, doesn't it?" William said, more delicately this time. I nodded. I tried to pretend I was Emma while I formulated my response.
"My father had beast-kin children, and he treated them like family. I'm used to thinking of them as my brothers and sisters. The mother that raised me like I was her own flesh-and-blood daughter was a beast-kin too. Yet here they call them demons and want to kill all of them. Of course it bothers me!"
The general din of hundreds of people talking all at once covered our conversation, so few if any of the people around us could hear what we were saying. I was glad for that, since I didn't want any special attention for "siding with the enemy", as the people here might have thought of it. Despite the privacy the noise already provided us, William stepped closer to whisper in my ear.
"We don't have to stay here if you don't want to. How about we go relax outside?"
I nodded and allowed him to take hold of my hand and lead me out the side door to the temple's courtyard, where he sat me down on a lonely bench and handed me a cup of water. I sipped it slowly and tried to calm myself. William was still holding my hand, and his warmth comforted me and thawed the frost off my face, which must have been as white as a sheet.
I put the cup, now empty, on the bench beside me. That seemed to signal to William that I was ready to talk. He quickly looked around before leaning in to whisper.
"When I first met you, you said your family was murdered. Now you're upset that the people here want to kill your family", he said. Was he interrogating me?
"My family that was murdered was human", I answered curtly, pulling my hand away. How could he be such a kind and sensitive soul one moment, and such an insensitive brute the next moment? My emotions, so recently stilled, were riled up once more, this time in indignation. Did he think me a liar? Although in truth, I was.
"So your beast-kin family is okay? What happened to them?" William continued with his questions.
"They're with my father".
"It's not that I don't want you here, there's nothing I would like better than for you to stay, but if our village is so awful for you, why don't you go back to him?" William asked.
My anger dissipated. I misjudged him. He was only concerned about my welfare, not about catching me in a lie or exposing my secrets.
"He was the reason for what I suffered. Although it wasn't entirely his fault, I can't bear the thought of seeing him again, at least not for the foreseeable future".
