Temple of the Celestials

 

Gwyn followed along behind Siveril and Taenya as they exited the carriage near the entrance of a vast plaza. Her guards were already moving to trail behind her. She looked to her right and saw Roslyn’s knight, Ser Roderick holding the door for Roslyn to come out of hers. 

Her friend waved and walked toward her. “Are you nervous, Your Highness?” she asked, acting properly now that they were in public.

Gwyn shook her head softly. “No, Lady Roslyn, not really. Maybe? Only a little bit,” she ended with a nervous chuckle. I was more nervous meeting you.

“Your Highness, My Lady. Welcome to the temple complex. Her Holiness is expecting you.” Evocati Khalan welcomed them from where he stood waiting. Gwyn mimicked Roslyn’s greetings absently as she looked around. The area was very built up and she squinted as it reminded her of some of the old parts of cities back in Italy. 

What stood out to her, literally, was the massive tree peeking over the building in front of her. It looked like a weeping willow tree, but as tall as the ones she remembered seeing in California. What was the name again? She mentally shrugged and kept taking in the sights. Everywhere she looked she saw large buildings with columns covered with vines and plants. The area was crowded, but it was as if people saw the group and deliberately moved away from them. Or likely the red armored paladin. The number of people seemed similar to popular tourist locations she remembered visiting like the Louvre and the Forum. 

They walked into the main plaza and Gwyn remembered exactly why everything looked familiar. She paused and gazed around. The group stopped and Roslyn turned toward her. “Princess?”

Gwyn felt a tear well up in her eyes. It–It’s… “It looks almost exactly like home,” she whispered. 

Roslyn stepped forward and grabbed her hand. “Your home has a place like this?”

Gwyn quickly wiped at her eye. “A place back home that I went to with my mom. St. Peter’s Square in Roma. This looks bigger, and–” she chuckled, gesturing at the tree where the obelisk would have been. “That is different. Ours has a big stone obelisk from a really old kingdom called Egypt. That tree is much bigger. The big pool around it is different too. Other than that? The columns, the shape. It’s the same.”

She stood there and just let the nostalgic feeling fill her up. It was so similar but also oh so different. There weren’t any humans around. Everything was covered in green and surprisingly, much larger. Why is it?

“Evocati Khalan?”

The paladin dipped his head slightly. “Yes, Your Highness?”

“Why is it so big?” She waved her hand around. “All of this. It can’t all be used… can it?”

He chuckled softly. “It is. This is the center of our religion. The main temple complex for the Celestials. There is a temple for each of the Family here and a temple for all of the minor gods. There, behind us. That is the Temple of the Stars.” 

Gwyn turned and looked back, seeing a large domed temple near a bunch of gardens. She almost laughed. Right there was another almost copy of a building from Roma, the Pantheon, just pristine white. This can’t be real. Why is it so similar?

“Are you ready, Your Highness?” she heard Taenya say.

She nodded and turned. “Yes. Please lead the way, Evocati.”

The group walked along the path along the pool in which the supersized willow resided. Roslyn leaned close. “This is the Tree of Life. It is said that Eona herself planted and cultivated it. That’s why it’s so big. No other tree of this type ever gets anywhere near as big. The entire temple was built around it.”

Gwyn’s eyes went wide. “That is so cool.”

Another thing surprised her when they rounded the pool and the tree. “That is different too.”

Khalan smiled. “That is the Temple of the Celestials.”

Centered in the rear of the plaza and the anchor point to the surrounding colonnades was a monumental building that was built of white stone with four columns that were nearly as wide as the tree they had just passed.

Roslyn spoke up. “Each column represents one of the four domains of the celestials: night, day, life, and death.” She pointed each one out, then at the enormous door centered between the columns dedicated to Day and Life. “That is the Door of the Celestials. It is to remain locked until Alos himself will open it and usher in a new age.” 

Roslyn started telling her all about the temple and about the four temples behind the colonnades that were dedicated to each of the major gods. She then went into all of the history and importance of the complex, how it was neutral in all affairs and people from all over the world would come to visit it. Gwyn smiled as she watched how excited Roslyn seemed to get explaining and pointing out the building and facts about it. She could tell it was something the girl really enjoyed. The way her eyes crinkled up as she thought of another interesting tidbit about the reason some facet of a building was made that way. 

Roslyn smiled and tipped her head down to cover her mouth. Gwyn chuckled and brushed a strand of hair that had fallen in front of Roslyn’s face out of the way and behind her ear. 

Gwyn nearly tripped but caught herself last second. “Oh. Sorry.” She felt her cheeks burning. I–I didn’t mean to do that.

Roslyn looked up at her, her fingertips touching where the strand had been before straightening her back and placing her hands together. Her friend smiled, but her eyes didn’t crinkle like when she was happy. “It is perfectly fine. Thank you, Your Highness,” she said, returning to her serious public self. 

Oh. 

Gwyn felt a lump in her throat. I shouldn’t have done that. 

She sighed and stared ahead, following the group as they made their way through the crowd and then some doors into the temple itself. Gwyn just focused on following the paladin, ignoring the sights around her. Nothing that would distract Roslyn. She didn’t want to mess up again. 

Gwyn struggled to hold back her tears. I am ten now. No crying. That’s for kids.

 

* * *

 

Roslyn could tell she had upset her friend. She did not mean to, but she just froze when Gwyn moved the hair out of her face. I let myself get too informal in public. That was my fault. She is not used to how politics are here. I will explain it later. 

The group moved through the halls that she had been through before, making their way to the private wing of the main administrative area of the temple. Contrary to the previous time she had been here, there were fewer paladins around. She remembered when she was here and Evocati Khalan was assigned by the Archpriestess personally to protect her.

As they walked, Roslyn kept glancing at Gwyn. She noticed Ser Taenya constantly sneaking peeks at Gwyn as well. The girl just stared straight ahead and followed Khalan and Ser Siveril without saying a word. She’s really upset. I hope she isn’t mad at me. 

Soon they came to the set of stairs that led up the hill to where the Archpriestess resided. She leaned closer to Gwyn as they walked up. “The building up here is called the inner sanctum. It is the residence of the Archpriestess, and her offices. It is beautiful,” she whispered.

Gwyn just nodded, not even looking at her, but she saw the girl’s breath catch slightly before steadying. Oh no. I really messed up, didn’t I?

 

* * *

 

The building on top of the hill was indeed beautiful. A building of white and red with green vines and plants surrounding it. Gold accents and trim were everywhere. It was almost a palace all by itself. Such a massive place for a single person.  I would be so bored all of the time. Gwyn couldn’t imagine having a home so large, just for herself. 

She also couldn’t figure out what was going on with Roslyn. Is she mad? Is she not? 

That wasn’t something she could focus on now. The group moved into the building after a pair of paladins opened the door and let them in. Her guards were required to stay outside, which they did without question or word. That left her with Siveril and Taenya from her House and Roslyn with her two knights and Evocati Khalan. Gwyn still wasn’t exactly sure of his connection to Roslyn, but she knew that it was important. He seemed to listen to her, but rarely ever left her side. The only times she could recall him doing so, had to do with Gwyn somehow.

Inside the building were more paladins. These were holding big polearms with large curved blades under a sharp point. Their armor was the same red tint with gold trim that the rest had along with the white tabard with a golden sun on it that they had as an emblem. The Paladins of Alos are what Evocati Khalan had called his people. They looked really neat, unfortunately for them, Taenya looked one hundred times cooler in her dragon armor. 

She looked back at Roslyn’s knights and felt a pang of sympathy for them. They looked professional and well-dressed, but they just lacked that cool factor that was definitely the most important part of being a knight.

Looking at armor is the perfect distraction.

One of the paladins stepped forward and bowed before speaking with Khalan. Once he was done, he stepped back next to the door that was ahead of them.

Khalan turned toward them. “Her Holiness would like to see the Princess alone, first.”

Gwyn jerked back in surprise. “Without Ser Siveril and Taenya?”

Khalan nodded. “Yes.”

Taenya narrowed her eyes. “But, we have pressing–”

“That can be done after Her Holiness speaks with your charge, Ser Taenya. The Archpriestess has spoken. Please, you may wait with me over here,” Evocati Khalan stated.

Siveril looked surprised at that. “You are not entering either?”

Khalan shook his head. “This conversation is just between the two of them.” He looked at Gwyn. “Please, Your Highness. She is waiting for you.”

Gwyn nodded and placed a hand on Taenya’s arm, pulling gently. “It’s okay. We’ll all talk to her after. I’ll tell her how important it is.”

Taenya smiled and bowed her head. “We will remain out here, Your Highness.”

Gwyn took a deep breath and walked toward the doors. The guards opened them just in time for her to walk through them.

 

* * *

 

The doors shut behind her and Gwyn jumped slightly at the sound. She walked in, seeing an old sun elf woman sitting in a chair in front of a fireplace. She was calmly sipping from a cup, and a teapot sat on a table next to her, with another chair on the other side of that. The woman didn’t even turn to look at her as she sat holding a saucer and the cup. 

“Well? Are you going to sit, dear?” 

Gwyn jerked slightly in surprise. “Oh, uh. Sure,” she said quietly and moved to sit down next to the woman. The woman glanced at her and then smirked, setting her cup down next to her. “Would you like some tea?” 

She really didn’t, if she were to be honest. However, she wanted to be polite. Would she be offended if I say no? Can I say no?

Gwyn heard a chuckle from next to her. “Typically, in these situations, you would get the tea, even if you do not want it. Yet, that oftentimes leads to waste since those who do not want it simply take small sips until the conversation is completed. Leaving the remainder.”

“That is good to know. Thank you.”

The elf woman winked and leaned in. “We can keep it our secret though if you do not wish to drink any. Here, we will just do… this.” The woman poured the tiniest amount of tea into the cup and swirled it around, making it seem as though Gwyn had indeed drank an entire cup full.

Gwyn smiled. “Thank you. I am just not really thirsty right now if I am being honest.” She sighed. 

“We tend to have a plethora of confusing rules, don’t we?” 

“There are so many!”

The woman laughed. “True, indeed there are. Now, I suspect that you are quite curious as to why I asked you to meet with me alone.”

Gwyn nodded. She couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous. Siveril and Taenya had told her that this lady was really important not only in Avira but the entire world.

“Perhaps we should introduce ourselves first? I am Vania, Archpriestess of the Church of the Celestials. I have heard much about you, young Princess Gwyneth of House Reinhart.”

“You have?”

Archpriestess Vania’s eyes crinkled as she smiled. Her greying hair was neatly done up into a bun and Gwyn really got to examine the elf’s headpiece. It was shaped to look like the rays of the sun with its many spikes and gold color. It was decorated with gold-painted flowers and sprigs of greenery, then accented with yellow gems at the end of the spikes and orange ones at the base of them. 

“Indeed I have, Your Highness. It seems that you are in a spot of bother as well. I do believe I can be of some assistance. Has young Lady Roslyn spoken of why she has a paladin protecting her?”

Gwyn squinted, trying to remember everything Roslyn had talked about before, but the why of Evocati Khalan’s presence hadn’t come up. 

“No, Archpriestess. She hasn’t.”

The head of the religion for the entire world smiled. “You see, your magic is quite amazing. Yet, it isn’t entirely unique.” Gwyn’s eyes widened at that.

Archpriestess Vania continued, “The church has members that have shown abilities as well. Luckily, as members of the church, they are not–will not–abide by the order of the Crown Prince. One of these members, a Priestess of Eona, was blessed with a Seeing. Unlike their cousins, a Prophecy, a Seeing is just that; a vision of an important event, in this case, small flashes of various events. No words accompany them, nor great portents. The flashes followed two young ladies, yet the events themselves were not quite decipherable yet. One of the two women was undoubtedly Lady Roslyn, just older. The other, at least Evocati Khalan believes, could be you.”

Gwyn gasped. “Me?”

The woman nodded. “It is not certain. We have described you to the priestess, and she was unsure. Your ability to conjure fire certainly lends to it being you. However, recently, a Priest of Alos was also able to manipulate fire to an extent. His ability was not even close to what you could accomplish, but it does mean that you are not unique in capability, just in capacity.

“Now, onto your current predicament. The Church remains neutral in the affairs of nations. However, as the potential subject of a Seeing, your magic use is of interest to the Church. I can assign a paladin to your protection as well. This would cause political issues for you. As a foreign princess, aligning yourself with the church would actually push you further away from any influence you may have in Aviran politics. I would hesitate to request anything of the Duke as well. The order came from the Crown, and the Duke helping you could hurt his own standing.”

Gwyn closed her eyes and gripped the armrests of her chair. That was exactly why Siveril and Taenya had come here. They sought to get help from the Church to stop the Marquess from having control over Gwyn. “So, we came here for nothing?”

Vania placed a hand on Gwyn’s. “Not for nothing. I offer a last resort. If all else fails, you can lean on us. Just as Alos would have it. Just know, there are repercussions that you, as an outsider, would face. There is no way around that, and it is something that perhaps your knights cannot see because they do not see you as an outsider.”

Gwyn sighed. “I don’t think this is going to end well.”

Vania patted Gwyn’s hand before standing up. “These things never do. If you find that your House cannot solve this on its own, send one of your knights to me. Perhaps the one that likes to protect you from the dark,” Vania said with a wink. “Just remind her that Alos casts a great shadow, she need not drift too far from the light to find it.”

Gwyn nodded mutely and stood up. She needed to speak to Sabina, especially if the church might be aware of her magic. It’s time Sabina and I talked about her magic. She seems almost scared to do so.

“Remember. I will have a paladin standing by. You need not call for her if you do not wish it, but I pray that you will before things go beyond your control.”

“Thank you, Archpriestess.”

“You are welcome, young princess.”

Gwyn walked out of the office and a paladin stepped forward, taking off their helmet as they did, showing a beautiful sun elf woman underneath. Her hair was shaved on the sides, and the dark, tight curls on the top of her head were also short. Her eyes were orange, and she had a scar that went from under her nose, through her lip, and almost down to her chin. The woman leaned forward and spoke quietly so that only Gwyn could hear her. “I am Evocati Amari. I will be here, should you need protection, Your Highness.”

“Thank you.”

The woman nodded once before turning and walking away. Siveril and Taenya took that moment to come forward. 

“Your Highness, is everything alright?” Taenya asked.

She looked over at Roslyn and smiled at her friend. Her smile widened slightly when she received one in return.

Gwyn shook her head. “Not really, but let’s go home. We will have to figure this out on our own.”

Siveril glanced at Taenya, who caught his eye and nodded. Siveril bent forward.

“Do not worry, Your Highness. Taenya and I will handle this,” he said.

One look at Taenya and Gwyn was sure that whatever happened next, the Marquess would not like the result.