Fic: Andrea's story, (5/02, part 2)

[jeriendhal]

425

Tea raised a handkerchief to his mouth, as marble dust rose up from the cluster of artisan’s workshops that lined the edges of the rising temple, the craftsmen working their trade outside in the light of the pleasant spring day. He trotted dutifully after Maria and Andrea, for once fully dressed and free of restraints. Well, except for the leash, the free end of which Maria kept idly looped over her wrist as she led his former slave on a tour of the foundations of the temple.

“And here,” Maria said, smiling in architectural enthusiasm and pacing off the marble flooring, “is where the worshippers’ pews will be. They’ll be set in a raised semicircle around the altar, which will be immediately in front of Thanato’s statue.”

Andrea coughed and flapped her ponytail, trying to wave some of the white dust out of her steel grey hair. “Aren’t pews usually flat on the floor?”

“Well, normally yes, but this will give everyone a better view, like an amphitheater.”

“Poor Garvin, I hope he isn’t subject to stage fright, with all those people staring down on him.”

“Oh, I hope not,” Maria said, frowning slightly. She led them over to more foundations, these barely more than turned up dirt marked by stakes and lengths of string. “Here’s where the novice’s school will be. Next door will be one for common folk who wish their children to be educated by the temple’s teachers.”

“That’s… ah, a more traditional activity for the Lifebringer’s temples, isn’t it?” Andrea asked carefully.

“Maria’s opinion is that they could use some competition,” Tez told her.

“Quite right!” Maria agreed. “Why should families be stuck with only one choice for their children’s education? Oh, there’s Mason Starrel! I need to talk to him. Andrea, hold onto this for me, would you?” She tossed Tez’s leash to the startled leathercrafter and hurried off.

“Enthusiastic, isn’t she?” Andrea noted, sitting down on a marble block which awaited to be placed.

Tez sat crosslegged on the ground in front of her. “You have to remember that she’s only nineteen in mind, if older in body. Worse, fourteen of those years were under the yoke of her master, whom I gather had no patience for youthful energy. All of that pent up enthusiasm has been set loose with a vengeance I’m afraid.”

Andrea tugged at her ponytail. “Yes, but how long is it going to be before she strikes a wall with it? This lovely temple of hers is going to inevitably come into conflict with ones that are already established, whose administrators aren’t exactly going to like seeing the balance of power shifted. Now she’s also going to try and infringe on the traditional responsibilities and revenue sources of the Lifebringer priesthood? That can’t end well.”

“Do you want to be the one to tell her she shouldn’t follow her dreams? Maria has little enough time, Andrea. She deserves to live every moment of it to the fullest of her reach. Anyone who attempts to thwart her will have to answer to me.” He paused, realized his face had become flushed with anger. Then he drew in a long breath through his nose, trying to regain his center. “Anyway, I believe with the support of Garvin and the spreading knowledge of her miracle, the gainsayers will find it to be a difficult fight against her.”

Andrea merely raised an eyebrow at his vehemence. She pulled up the slack from his leash, turning him about so he faced away from her, and wrapped her legs around his chest. Then she reached down and began rubbing the tension knots in his shoulders. “Were you feeling this righteous when you plucked me out of the path of that mob, Tez?”

“Well, I’ll admit at the time it was more Arthur’s doing. Even though you bit him, he couldn’t figure out how such a small child as yourself had earned the wrath of such a mob. He insisted I take you with us.”

“You’re such a damned liar.”

“It was either that or give in to his demand for a kitten.”

Her strong thumbs dug into his shoulder blades. “Do you remember when he found that bag of kittens by the river, that someone had tried to toss in but missed? The sight of all those little blobs of fluff crawling over him while he tried to feed them milk…” She laughed and he couldn’t help but smile in return.

“There wasn’t a mouse to be found on the grounds for a nearly a decade after that.”

“I’d say Maria should have a kitten, but I think you’ll do just as well. You’re nearly as lazy and certainly as obsessed with pleasure.”

He made a demurring noise but didn’t argue with her.

TBC