[Temple] #001 - Incipit

[Eleos]

Junctior 23, Era 14 PF

A temple. An organized place of worship, housing dedicated members of the clergy for one or more members of the Pantheon. In Eleos' experience, there was a higher probability of finding a Thaumaturgist in such a place than anywhere else. Eleos was not very familiar with Natura, never having been sent on a mission in these woods - and on the other hand, forests were not its ideal battlefield, either. It still managed to find its way to the Temple in the Henges, and while the Grace knew nothing of architecture and had never paid too much attention to what temples looked like, the stained glass windows were enough of an indication.

Clearly, Eleos silently criticized even this bastion of goodly forces. It did not approve of antropomorphic representations of the Planetars being allowed side-to-side with those of Ioannes himself, who incidentally should not have had an explicit depiction in the first place. Lax. Lax and complacent. While not strictly a crime (yet), this was the impression the albino got from inspecting the temple through unblinking eyes.

The creature entered the temple and wandered its halls and corridors. Its arms hung by its sides as it walked, each step equal to the next. One could get the impression that those light pink eyes were scrutinizing everything, searching for flaws, the tiniest flaws. Its very nature was that of an inquisitor, except far more inquisitive than all but the most obsessed of mortals because it had been quite literally created that way. Perfection was of little interest to Eleos as it made the Grace superfluous. It was an unforgiving eye, made to pass judgement... and right now, that was pretty much all it was able to do.

If and when Eleos encountered any living presence, it would address them as follows in an androgynous voice. "I am Eleos. I want to meet the highest-level Thaumaturgist available within this location. If several are available that share the same level, I want to meet the one with the longest seniority of service. Should this be difficult to determine, I want to meet the one that is most readily available." The casual observer might have noticed that this line was deadpanned. In fact, this was incorrect. Eleos did not have facial expressions at all when it spoke. All this interpreting moods depending on the contractions of facial muscle groups was extremely new territory for the Grace.

[Fox]

The Temple of the Blessed Hands was a place that had seen many strange and hopeful souls pass through its doors. It was a place of happiness and sadness, worship and work. It was a place that had seen much, and should the walls and windows be able to talk, they would tell a story that would be an amazing and epic tale....

... but they would tell any who were willing to listen that they had never seen anyone.. anything like this before.

The first living presence that Eleos encountered was a young Priestess in training. She had been at the Temple a matter of a few months, no more than that, and she was unprepared for this... strange person in front of her.

"I... I will.. that is, please wait here and I'll see who's available to see you.. yes. Please, wait and be comfortable!" the poor young girl stuttered and motioned to the long benches that were available, should Eleos be prepared to sit.

Whether Eleos sat or not, the young girl scuttled away nervously and was gone a few moments. After a short wait, a woman walked in through the door that the young Priestess had left through. This woman was a Telera. Her skin, brown as a nut, was slightly wrinkled with age, and carried a soft jade green undertone. She was wearing a long, simple smock of white, although there was a panel across the front and it buttoned neatly up the side, and her arms were covered by long, smooth sleeves. Her hair was a snowy, pristine white that comes only with old age, and her face was as brown as her hands, and her eyes were of the glossiest gleaming black all over… even the whites.

She walked up to Eleos and smiled slightly, not perturbed by the Albino in front of her. "Vedui and Serale. How may I help you this brightning? I am Lhyllis, and I understand you are in need of a Thaumaturgist?" she asked, looking interested as she waited for a response. She had a calm about her that spoke of her age, her wisdom and her experience......

But even she wondered just who this... woman? man? ... being was and what it was that... it wanted?

[Eleos]

Eleos did not sit, recognizing the effort as useless as it would then have to stand up again. These little gestures mortals made were rather pointless. The albino stood there motionlessly, arms hanging limply by its sides as they were unneeded at the moment. It possessed the patience of ages, though it did not take lightly to its time being wasted, not when it could be doing something useful instead... such as eradicating evil.

When the senior Thaumaturgist apperared, Eleos stared at her for a long moment, deciding to believe what it was seeing, and assumed that the Thelyri woman was indeed the best white Mage available at the Temple. Its unblinking pink eyes scanned her face and added to Eleos' growing repository of faces. It was part of its training, to distinguish these mortals that might all look alike at a first glance. One could not go about killing the wrong target, after all.

As the priestess asked the white-robed figure what she could assist it with, the Grace replied mechanically. "I am Eleos the Grace," it spoke clearly, its common devoid of inflections or dialects, its speech coming straight out of the textbook. Grammar was Law, too. "Fourteenth Circle, Judicator type, enforcer of the Sacred Three. My mandate is to eradicate evil in all of its forms, anywhere, at any time."

"The abilities of my natural form have been sealed," Eleos explained, trying to provide the minimum of information that this mortal might need in order to be of help. "It is reasonable to assume that the nature of this lock is permanent, but it is severely impacting my ability to carry out my duties. In cases such as this, our directive is to contact practitioners of Thaumaturgy as our preferred contacts in the world of man. My highest priority at this time is to master the workings of this shell of flesh, and secondly to resume full service as a Judicator." It did not ask please or say thanks. Such social niceties were still lost on Eleos right now, not because it wanted to be rude, but simply because they were superfluous.

[Fox]

"Eleos the Grace?" she said, and a whirlwind of thoughts and fears and emotions ran through her all at once. There was a range of these on her face, in her expression. She wished, momentarily, that Lin, the young girl who had met with this.. Grace?!...had found someone else. Anyone else, in truth.

However, such thoughts were unbecoming and she paid attention as the Grace ... as Eleos continued to speak. "I am sorry... but you will need to just give me a moment to understand this. So, you are a Grace who has had your abilities sealed?" she asked, frowning gently "Why and how did that occur?" she asked, looking at Eleos calmly. It might be that this was a delusional albino, although Lhyllis somehow had the feeling that she was not that lucky. Since it was unlikely that this was a delusional Albino, she considered, this was going to be difficult. There was a significant amount of politics involved here, and it was not something that could be ignored.

"If the nature of this is that it is permanent, you will need to...master the workings of this shell of the flesh, as you put it, and learn to be a mortal being" she said, wondering just where on Telath to start. She had the feeling that this was going to be a very long brightening indeed.

[Eleos]

"Affirmative," Eleos said. It had noticed that most people tended to accompany confirmation statements with vertical motions of the head, whereas negative sentences often came with horizontal shakes. While the Grace literally didn't have the foggiest why people did this, it attempted something similar in order to increase its likelyhood of being understood. It turned out to be a sharp thing, more like a headbutt on an imaginary opponent than a nod.

Evaluating an answer to the Thaumaturgist's question required a few seconds of unblinking computation. One thing about the albino was that it was unafraid of making eye contact, and in fact it could come across as rude or threatening when it was, in fact, simply oblivious to such social conventions. "The reason why, I am not allowed to disclose without explicit permission, but it involves differences with my superiors in the policy against sinners. Mine was deemed too rigid, despite being the logical conclusion stemming from its premises." Eleos chose its words carefully - as a creature of Law, Order and Justice it was simply unable to lie and everything it said must necessarily be true. It was significantly harder to keep confidential information under these constraints.

"As for the how, there is no actual seal, simply an order to keep my abilities dormant. My orders are absolute - they take precedence over my own survival. From a practical standpoint, it is as if my powers had been taken away." Eleos wondered why the woman needed so much information - operatives were supposed to be able to manage with the least amount of data they needed in order to carry out their missions. Perhaps these mortals just lacked mental discipline. "This is what I am requesting assistance with. I need to become familiar with warfare, bladed weapons, tactics as well as the ability to mix with mortal beings as seamlessly as possible. I used to be the most efficient Judicator in the Fourteenth Circle, and it is my hope that I can climb back to that position, given enough time and help." And with that, Eleos had given away just what 'learning to be a mortal being' was in its eyes.

[Fox]

Lhyllis blinked twice as the Grace seemed to headbutt someone that he..she... it couldn't see in front of it. There was no one there, Lhyllis was quite sure, but that didn't stop the Grace from...she frowned slightly, unsure of just what this being was doing.

"So, your a Grace who had too much of a rigid translation of the remit of your... your duties?" she said. Quite frankly, that thought scared her a little as she felt that perhaps all Grace's were rather.... fundamentalist, and so this one must have really taken it all too far.

"I see" she said, when Eleos explained what it was that it wanted to learn. She frowned slightly and crossed her arms, looking at the Grace with consternation in her eyes. "How can I trust that you will not take your remit too far once again? If I teach you these things, those that I can teach anyway, and your behaviour echoes what previously happened, then it will be, to a small extent, my responsibility as well as yours. I will teach you how to blend in amongst people, but I tell you now that we have laws and rules here and if you do not follow them, I will not teach you at all. Is that acceptable?"

She sighed, starting to feel a slight throbbing behind her right eye. It seemed that this was going to be one of Those brightenings where things were not the easiest they could be. She sent a silent prayer for strength as she smiled politely at the Grace who had fallen and wished to regain its place in the Fourteenth Circle.

[Eleos]

"No," said Eleos after hearing what Lhyllis had to say.

This was definitely one of Those brightenings for the poor Thaumaturgist. Eleos was a very straightforward creature in that it gave direct answers to direct questions, though the answers often differed from what one might expect, or even hope. And the real trouble usually started when Eleos felt inclined to justify the reason for a given statement - which it did right away. "Not in its current formulation."

"You are asking me to follow unknown directives in exchange for explaining a set of notions that include those very directives. I cannot blindly agree to such a contract." Eleos was simply unable to get annoyed at this woman, though a vague sense of helplessness at the slow and obtuse nature of these mortals was starting to wade its way through the Grace's mind. "Words are a powerful tool, Priestess, for they are the tool by which the Law is written. Mortals tend to make an imperfect use of their own language. Ambiguous language and misunderstandings lead to incomprehension that only favor the Enemy's entropic crusade. Hence, accuracy in speech is of the utmost importance."

"Consider this paradox," Eleos continued, its tone of voice never changing. "'If a man has a hat, then every man has a hat,' or, rephrased, 'there exists a man such that, if this man has a hat, then every man has a hat'. At a first glance, you would dismiss this sentence as false, yet an accurate analysis will reveal that it is a tautology under most logical frameworks - a universal truth. Two cases are possible, either all men have a hat or there is at least one who does not have a hat. If all men have a hat, then any of them can be the trend-setting man and the sentence is satisfied. If at least one man is without a hat, then one of them can be the trend-setting man and the sentence is still satisfied since he is without a hat. This is but an example of how words can be misleading, assuming logical implications where none exists."

"In view of this, I must ask you to list, clearly and in unambiguous words, the laws and rules I ought to follow while in this town. I will answer as to my willingness to do so on an individual basis, and you can make your decision based on my response." What a waste of time, Eleos considered. It was making hardly any progress, and there was no guarantee that this woman could even help at all. One had to pity these beings, eternally confused over the simplest things.

[Fox]

"No" she said, echoing Eleos' earlier statement "I do not have a list and I will not give you one even if I did. Because mortality is a shifting place, full of uncertainty. I will not lie to you and provide you with absolutes to tell you that I can teach you of this uncertainty."

"If you wish to fit in here you will have to follow the law" she said, simply "I will teach you the laws first, as the foundation, but to be mortal is to accept a degree of flexibility and uncertainty. If you can not accept that, then there is no point you trying this. I can not give you a list because I am not like you" she folded her arms across her chest and adoped an expression of stubborness "I will not remember everything in a list, because I am mortal, and fallible. And so, I am likely to forget. And that would not be fair. I tell you now, you come to me for help, and so you need to either accept my terms or go elsewhere"

She looked at Eleos sincerely "I will not trick you, and I will not lie to you. You are free to leave at any time, but I am free to insist that you leave at any time, and you must agree that if that happens you will go. In order to be a mortal, you need to learn many many lessons, and I will do my best. But the first lesson is that mortals live with uncertainty. So if you can not do that, if you can not accept that I will do my best for you whilst being unclear as to what that is, then you will not find what you seek here"

She looked at the Grace and her expression was determined and unwavering. Because, at the end of the brightenig, she had to be true to herself and her beliefs. If Eleos wouldn't submit to the basics, then Eleos was, she considered, on It's Own!

[Eleos]

There was a pause in which Eleos looked at the Thaumaturgist with something akin to mild curiosity. Behind the ever-open pink eyes, complex computations were taking place. This was the first time the Grace found itself in such a predicament as having to choose among many different priorities stemming from the same directive - to enforce Good. Usually, its work consisted of planning, entering the scene, dispensing justice and leaving. This, it reasoned, added countless layers of complexity, though Eleos was still confident it was just a matter of time. Logic could not contradict itself. Eleos could figure everything out.

The Grace knew that, with high probability, the woman's reaction was not very different from what it would receive elsewhere, or maybe even better than most. It may be frustrating, but collaborating with these mortals seemed to be the only way to proceed, short of committing suicide. Eleos had discarded that last option as a waste of potential, though. Until it clearly emerged that continuing the mission was impossible in this form, it would keep living and doing What Must Be Done.

"So be it," it said at last, "I will build the list myself as we go. I should point out that my purpose is not to deceive mortals into thinking I am one of them. I am made of Truth, and Truth is the only thing I speak. I just seek to understand, so I can make correct choices. Mortals may live in uncertainty, but that is no excuse for not striving for certainty. Progress towards purity in an impure world is the core of my duties as a Judicator."

Eleos stopped and seemed to follow a different train of thought. "Over the few brightenings I have been in this form, I have attracted more attention than the average mortal seems to get. I cannot understand why." The unblinking, pink-eyed, white-haired albino stood rigidly, with its arms limp by its sides and its gaze fixed on the Thaumaturgist.

[Fox]

Lhyllis sighed and sent a silent prayer in apology for the thoughts that were running through her head. But she listened to what Eleos had to say and she thought... although she wasn't sure.., but she THOUGHT that it was saying that it didn't want to live here.

"I understand that you do not wish to strive towards uncertainty" she said, carefully, and then continued "But you have been put here for a reason. Here rather than anywhere else. I would think perhaps it is to understand the need for ... a little flexibility now and then. Uncertainty does lead to flexibility of approach. Maybe it is a lesson that your... your Superiors thought you should learn?" she asked, wondering if Eleos was truly comprehending her. She hoped that he.. she.. it did, but she couldn't tell.

And then there was the consideration of why it had attracted more attention than the average mortal. Lhyllis sighed, and answered carefully, trying to make it clear.

"You look different. Your skin and eyes are different, your hair is too. You do not blink and you do not.. well, frankly, you do not act like a mortal would. That is where the uncertainty could lead to you fitting in more, learning from us and teaching us more too. That's just my thought. However, the choice is yours. What are you going to do?"

She asked, afraid of the answer.