“You may come to Aeon with me; that way, you may rest and recover until a way to Zon is open.” High Priestess Karin gave a deep nod that was just shy of a bow; Rissa had learned from Ekari that that was the most respect any non-believer was supposed to get from a follower of Lykandeon.

Rissa didn’t know why she was getting that much respect, but it was completely in line with the fact that Karin had arrived at the new hotel so quickly after they found out they couldn’t travel to Zon; with the travel time from the nearest Aeon portal Ekari knew of, she must have left immediately after she found out.

“I’m not sure we should,” Rissa protested. “Not only are we not followers of your god, but we don’t need to go to Aeon.” It was out of the way; on top of that, something about the entire situation gave Rissa the creeps.

Really, it wasn’t even “something”; it was Lykandeon himself and what he seemed to value. The cities they’d passed through on Lyka were supposed to be some of the oldest of Lykandeon’s holdings on the planet and they were dreary and depressing at best; to her standards, they were little more than slums where everyone was kept in line by force.

On top of that, his High Priestess was clearly suffering from some sort of manipulation that affected her emotions. Rissa strongly suspected it was part of what kept her devoted to Lykandeon, given where it seemed to activate, which didn’t help Rissa’s opinion of the god.

Quite simply, Lykandeon seemed like a self-centered asshole who didn’t think other people mattered, and she hadn’t even met him yet. She didn’t want to; it would be unpleasant and she wasn’t certain she could hide her dislike well enough to not get in trouble. Openly disliking powerful people could cause problems. It was better to simply beg off because it wasn’t appropriate to go.

“Oh, but you would be welcome! We can show you the Grand Church, where Lykandeon Himself resides! And the Waterfall Grotto, so long as He is not there. You would enjoy it!” High Priestess Karin’s emotions didn’t quite match her words and delivery. Outwardly she seemed bright and cheerful, offering a tremendous treat. Inwardly, Karin’s emotions were more complex. There was a skin of cheer that surrounded an ocean of mixed feelings. The primary inner emotions were anxiety and worry, though there was a thread that felt like hope.

Rissa couldn’t tell why Karin felt each emotion, which made her want to test them a little. More than that, it made her wonder if perhaps she could learn something. She didn’t want to go to Aeon, but there was something she could use from the Eternal Church. Something Ekari hadn’t been able to figure out. “That all sounds nice, but we’re not here to relax or see the sights. We’d planned to look into it after we finished on Zon, but maybe you can help?”

“Oh?” Curiosity flashed through High Priestess Karin’s emotions, along with wariness and, once again, hope. “Why are you here? What do you need?”

Rissa knew she had to phrase this correctly. She didn’t dare cast any blame on the Eternal Church or Lykandeon even though she very well knew the Eternal Church was involved. “Some people from Earth have been kidnapped - stolen across worlds. They were sent to Zon originally, but many traveled to Lyka after that. We don’t know why they were taken, but we need to find them and figure out what’s going on. We plan to send them home if they want to go.”

“If they want to go,” High Priestess Karin muttered. Her eyes didn’t meet Rissa’s; instead, they were fixed on Rissa’s chest. Rissa could feel the thin thread of hope strengthen for a moment.

Rissa followed Karin’s gaze, but only saw the same long-sleeved T-shirt she’d been wearing all day. The chest simply had Serenity’s symbol on it. It clearly meant something to the hidden part of the High Priestess. Rissa hoped that was a good thing, but she thought she was right to hope. Using the symbol instead of simply Serenity’s colors was the right choice, especially since it seemed to be opening doors that would otherwise have stayed closed.

High Priestess Karin took a delicate sip of her tea and seemed to think for a moment before she set the teacup down gently. “How do you know they came to Lyka?”

Rissa picked her way carefully around the minefield of the Eternal Church’s involvement. Not mentioning who on Lyka took the slaves was important. “Two ways. The victims were all sent to Zon. Serenity was able to track them to a particular slave dealer. Many of them were sold there, but the slave dealer’s records showed that many of them were sent to Lyka. These were his actual records, too, not the fake set. Serenity didn’t give details on how he got them, so all I can tell you is that he believes they’re real.”

High Priestess Karin nodded but didn’t say anything. She was clearly still listening.

The next piece of information required extending a little more trust than Rissa was entirely confident with, but at the same time concealing the fact wouldn’t help. She simply had to be careful with her wording to keep the source of the information intact while not giving too much else away. “While that’s fairly convincing, it’s not as reliable as the other factor. The Voice gave Serenity a Quest to stop what was happening. Recovering people is optional, but obviously we want to help anyone who wants to return home. I don’t have the Quest, but I do know what the Voice said.”

Rissa pulled a piece of paper out of her pocket. Her memory was good, but for this she wanted the exact words. The fact that Serenity literally recorded everything he saw or heard, even if it was only stored temporarily, was both convenient and annoying. In this case, it was convenient; Aide had even permanently saved the Voice’s messages.

Serenity had had to transcribe it to paper, but Rissa knew the words were accurate as she read them to High Priestess Karin.

[All of the people of the Human Path have remained within the region. Every single person with a Path that wasn’t a Mage Path or the Human Path has left Zon; they are noted in the standard planetary teleport records. The vast majority went to Lyka]

“I don’t know how many people there are from the Voice’s information, but from the slavemaster’s records there should be at least a couple thousand. Serenity has the records, but he can’t exactly send me a copy easily.” More than that, there hadn’t been any reason for him to. They planned to meet up and pursue the issues on Zon then figure out how to tackle Lyka. “Obviously the plan is messed up. I don’t know where they came in, but surely there aren’t that many portals from Zon to Lyka?”

High Priestess Karin sat stiffly. Her emotions showed the same hollow joy as Rissa had seen before, with a tiny thread of anger running below it. Her face showed a broad grin, violently at odds with her normal well-controlled expressions. “If they came to Lyka, even in transit, then they are not slaves. Slavery is not permitted on Lyka; all who come as slaves are freed for the glory of Lykandeon.”

Rissa didn’t want to touch that at all, but she didn’t have much of a choice if she wanted to get High Priestess Karin’s help and having help was probably key to finding the lost. It might be key to finding out what was actually going on as well. It was too bad that she wasn’t skilled enough with mental magic to free Karin of whatever was affecting her; it would make things so much easier. “Yes, I’ve heard that.”

High Priestess Karin relaxed her stiff posture into something more natural to herself and her overbroad grin became a slight smile. “Ekari mentioned it? That’s good.”

It had actually been in one of Serenity’s letters, but Ekari had confirmed both the truth and the implications when Rissa asked. “Indeed. The thing is, we still need to find them. I want to talk to them and help them get home if they want to go.”

Karin shook her head. “They won’t. No one would want to leave the Light of Lykandeon shown in one of His churches.”

Rissa was suddenly doubtful that she ever wanted to enter one of Lykandeon’s churches. “I should still ask. They may not want to leave, but they may have something or someone at home. I don’t want to make that choice for them.”

Rissa watched high Priestess Karin. She didn’t seem entirely convinced but also didn’t object, so Rissa pulled out the other argument she had. “They may also help us find who’s behind this. Even if they don’t want to go home, they may know something about what happened to them that will turn out to be important.”

High Priestess Karin closed her eyes and took a deep breath. Rissa felt determination threaded with that same glimmer of hope as before. “I will help you look. Finding your people should not be difficult; at least, not finding some of them. Visitors to Lyka are controlled, so a group that is highly similar should be simple enough to locate. Especially ones like you, you do not look much like someone from Zon or Lyka.”

Rissa didn’t realize the mistake the High Priestess made until her last sentence. She shook her head. “You can’t expect everyone from Earth to look like me. People from Earth vary a lot, especially if all you’re looking at is skin and hair color.”

That was before she took into account hair dye, contacts, and changes caused by following certain Paths or even the nonhuman heritages Serenity insisted were common on Earth. A glance at Rissa’s status screen reminded her that she, like Serenity himself, fell into the category of people who were no longer particularly human even if she could hide the differences. “Serenity found the ones he found on Zon by looking for people who don’t speak Bridge.”

High Priestess Karin seemed confused by that. “You don’t speak Bridge? I assumed you must, since you’re speaking fluent Aeon.”

Rissa felt the corners of her mouth tip up slightly as she shook her head. She tapped the bracelet she was wearing; it was far less intrusive than Raz’s, but served the same purpose. “I’m not speaking Aeon. I’m wearing a translation device. I’m trying to learn Bridge, but it takes time.”

She was actually learning Bridge fairly quickly, but as usual her comprehension of another speaker was far ahead of her ability to read or communicate herself. That always happened and was simply normal.

“With that said, I’m not sure how many people will still not know any Aeon or Bridge. This started about seven months ago; anyone who’s been here that long will surely have picked up at least a few words. We may have to find a better way.” Rissa wasn’t certain what that would be; it depended on how much information the Eternal Church kept. It would be so much easier if she could just admit that they were taken by the Church.

High Priestess Karin frowned. “Can you not simply recognize them, then? They are your subjects as the wife of the Planetary Lord.”

Maybe she shouldn’t have shown off Serenity's sigil after all. Was that why the High Priestess was paying so much attention to her?

Actually, that was kind of reassuring. There were much worse reasons than just kissing up to someone who might be able to do something for you later.

On the question of whether or not she could recognize other Earthlings, she had no idea how to do it through Planetary Lord powers, whatever that meant. On the other hand, she did have her empathy and almost anyone who was from Earth would likely recognize at least one of the languages she spoke. “I probably can, but only if they’re in front of me. That’s not helpful for finding them in the first place.”

“I can have the records searched. We simply need to know what to look for. Once we find some, it should be easy enough to find the others. Now, what do your people look like? That will be the easiest thing, as names and descriptions are always kept.”

Rissa grinned and pulled her phone out of her pack and turned it on; it was convenient that it would travel with her, instead of being left behind the way it had been for the Tutorial. “Why don’t I show you some pictures instead? You’ll know what’s written down better than I will.”

It was a good thing she’d taken so many pictures while they were traveling to close the invasion portals.

Lillene

This chapter is kind of in an interesting spot. It's here because this is when it happens, but it really "belongs" to the next arc. I'm debating moving it to the beginning of the next arc as a "XX time ago..." flashback or something.