Fict:A Conversation with Devora

The conference with the Bishops of the Tharch had just ended. Ardyn had summoned for each of them a flaming steed to ferry them back to their home churches. They had all arrived by the Gates, but they went home the slow way because he wanted them to think on their way home. He was finally beginning to get a handle on the responsibilities that his position required. "A few decades more and I might actually be good at this."

He motions to Devora to follow him into his personal study and take a seat as he lights his pipe and takes the seat opposite her. "Devora, do you know why I chose you to aid me in running the church here in Eltabar?"

"Honestly, no. Not really. I'm not good with people, I don't know a thing about church politics, and I don't have the patience to deal with money. I've consistently pissed off every priest I've worked under, firstly for being loose-lipped, and secondly for becoming more powerful than them without really trying. I think they didn't like how I understand the nature of Kossuth just lighting fireworks than they do with years of study.

She gazes at something invisible beyond the stone walls, lost in thought for a moment. "And yet I still can't explain it. I can't imagine how I would help an acolyte who didn't understand the contradictions of sacred texts. Hell, I can't even sit through a reading of most of those texts. I'd probably just tell her to go outside and get some fresh air."

She sits down, and looks sullen for a moment. "I honestly wonder sometimes why I'm still here, and why I have the power I do. I mean, could what I'm doing be right, and everything that they tried to teach me for so many years wrong? Or is it just too big a mystery for anyone to sort out through tireless hours of boring research?"

She seems to mull over the thought for a few seconds, then continues.

"Maybe it is. Maybe we should all go out and get some fresh air. Maybe actions can speak louder than words. I can sure think of some things I'd do if I only could...well, I guess I can, but if it were...you know, my job."

She finds a greater meaning in her own words, and seems satisfied in her conclusions.

"So you're thinking you want someone who actually has the balls to go out and actually do all those things the priests say we should do behind closed doors? Hmm. Well I guess in that case, I'm your girl."

Ardyn smiles at the young priestess as she works through her personal dialog. "That is a very good reason, though not one that I had thought of, but one that I am glad to have. I have never been a person of secrets, and now I hold a position where the entire job is little but secrets and soothing falsehoods. I will not run this church like that. Someone who will disagree with me, or take a stand against what they think is wrong will help me in this. You have differing priorities to my own, and I know that they may prove equally valuable to my own. Your first complaints to me back in Bezantur were about the orphanage and the hospital, correct? I want these to be your first line of concern here. Both of these are very public services that the church provides; this make it important that these are things that we do well."

Ardyn leans back into his chair, bringing his pipe to his lips and taking in a mouthful of smoke and exhaling out a smoke cloud that takes on the brief aspect of a fiery bird before dissipating. As he begins to speak again, his gaze is lifted skyward, looking through the balcony to stare into the setting sun in the window.

"But, as I have said, that was not my first reason for raising you to this position. You and I are perhaps unique inside of the structure of the church, both of us have an innate sense of the Flame that rivals any other member of our faith. Both of us need to explore our understanding, and I'm sure that having us both work together will ensure that neither of us is limited in our search. I have always believed in the existence of the path of the inferno, a sharp and difficult path to become one with the fire. But this path is not something that can be walked by everyone; in truth, perhaps this path can only be walked by the select few. But this understanding of Kossuth may hold great insights into life that should be brought back and given to those who are looking for guidance."

Ardyn then rises from his chair and walks over to where Devora is sitting and takes her chin in his hand and brings her gaze to meet his own. "As well, I have another, perhaps more base reason. The Dark Fire has sought you out before. I would know why it wants you and to protect you from it. We are the bringers of the torch, we do not walk into the darkness but to scatter it.

Also, I have my own suspicions about why it may want you. You are an orphan, and my father has always make it very hard for orphans to discover who their parents are. His reasons for doing this are rooted in politics, as are his reasons for all his actions as Bezantur's Eternal Flame. He offers the orphanage as a place for the powers that be to place children who they do not want to take accountability for. But, I wonder if in your case, he may have made use of those services himself. If you are my father's child, you were conceived during the Salamander War. This might present political problems, as the relationship of your conception to the time of my mother's death may damage my father's poltical relationship with the Tharchion of the Priador.

Simply put, you may be my sister. A Flameborn that could not be acknowledged or given legitimacy. That would limit your ability to become anything inside of the structure of our church. But you have too great a connection to the Flame to be shunted into powerless positions, regardless of you birth."