Doubts

Shiro sat staring into the stew they had ordered at an inn several blocks away from the church.

Apparently it was a pretty popular spot for the worshipers to gather after a service, as demonstrated by both the crowd and the server's familiarity with many of the patrons.

All that however, was for Willow to observe with Shiro lost in thought.

Shiro had received a basic introduction the the beliefs of the Holy Kingdom from Lily while they had been on the trail to Dawnwall, in addition to having experienced the privilege of sitting next to the king during services in the capital.

Take at face value the teachings were great:

Tremendous wealth to those who were dutiful to their employers and lords, Health and beauty as a reward for honest dealings, and if both those combined there would be a great reward when they die.

Pretty basic points for a religion of course.

Yet, between the lines there were cracks:

The women in the assembly keeping their eyes on the floor for the entire service, tiny jabs and pokes and the lesser-ness of other races, and an unpronounced doom on anyone who does not get everything just right.

All that was BEFORE adding what she seen of how Lily had been treated by her own people.

Right as Shiro was about to pass this all off as the masses being brainwashed and that once free of the clergy and nobles they would revert to being decent individuals, a young boy of about ten years reached out his foot and tripped the serving lady.

The platter of food and drinks went crashing over a table, coating the patrons in both.

The boy snickered and as Shiro watched started mouthing a few words. The owner of the tavern arrived and with apologies to the diners proceeded to pick up the serving tray and cock it back for a blow to the server's head.

Two things crystallized for Shiro in that moment:

Firstly, that she could not in good conscious do nothing.

Secondly, the serving woman's mouth was making the same words the boy had, and with a voice behind them Shiro recognized the prayer Lily had uttered every day that they had known each other. A prayer of penance and taking whatever blows were deemed just.

The tray splintered upon the barrier Shiro raised as close to the woman's skin as possible. No self doubt in this moment to shake Shiro.

Whispers of "Miraculous," and "Elf magics" circulated the crowded room.

The surprised woman looked around and met Shiro's eyes, then flickered to Willow.

Willow and Shiro had barely a fraction of a second to realize the woman's vantage point on the floor allowed her to see straight into and under Willow's hood, before he woman started screaming.

"Elf! Spy! Demon!" The woman wailed.

Shiro and Willow bowled over several confused patrons before the hood tumbled down and the whole eating room erupted into chaos.

Fortunately, no one in the inn had the combat sense or foolhardiness to charge them and they were outside hoisting themselves up onto a horse that caught Willow's eye just as the local guards started arriving to investigate the commotion.

"So much for our fact finding mission eh?" Willow jokingly yelled into the wind of their passage.

"I just hope this does not make things harder for the other groups." Shiro retorted.

                                                                      ***

"What the hells happened to you four?" Hassium asked as they and Aspen arrived at the arranged meeting spot at the specified time, laden with the bundles of supplies that needed divided among everyone's packs.

The other two groups look relived that their suppliers had arrived back safely.

When Shiro and Willow had arrived at the rendezvous with in a matter of moments of the goblins, Ezma and the new addition, they had started getting nervous about what had happened to the last group. A feeling that only compounded when both groups related the misadventures which warranted a hasty exit from the city.

They were never sure afterwards how they managed to hold it together long enough to wait for the appointed time to reconvene.

With everyone together again and the events of the day told and retold Willow quipped "Well looks like we need to move saving Conch up the schedule."

Aspen and Hassium chuckled at the joke while Shiro, Ewan and Lorna all looked askance.

Ezma did not see the humor but knew the name "What is funny about saving the Champion of the merfolk?"

"you would have to know them to get the joke." Hassium chimed.

Lorna frowned at the pronoun "Them? I understand yea be using such, you being neither male or female as most ken. But even us gobs be hearen of the beauty of em merfolks. Yet never ken them as shifterns."

"Hassium sighed "Even among more standarized races it is not uncommon to find individuals who cannot or will not conform things like an 'either or' choice between how they are most comfortable to expressing themselves.

In the case of myself and Conch though since we are so far from those races in both culture and physiology the closest words in common speech to reflect things like that often end up being they and them.

While many of my race shift pronouns as they change shape it is more common for us to use neither where we can help it. Though I can only speak for myself and generalizations of my people. I would say ask Coral here, but she is to young to answer the questions in ways that you would want them to be."

The young merfolk looked up at her name,.

'she definitely looked like her namesake' Shiro thought to herself and looked her over again,

Coral was mostly a deep green, somewhere between forest and emerald, with irregular lines of bright orange patterned across her skin to give the impression of her skin being cracked and dry, despite Hassium's assurances of good hydration.

What appeared to be Coral's gossamer shift of iridescent blues and purples was in fact a part of her, making Shiro wonder what it would look like when Coral was submerged in water.

Ezma cleared her throat "In all seriousness Shiro what do we do next? Hurry on to save Marble champion of the dwarves or spend some more time avoiding getting kicked out of cities trying to figure out which ones we would be comfortable invading later?"

Shiro sighed, she had expected this question, "Willow, Hassium if we get the rest of the Champions free the balance should restore?"

The pair nodded.

Shiro went on "What does that look like? Is it like getting rid of an annoying sound that is making everyone pissy with instant positive results? Or are we looking at some sort of power up for those fighting against the kingdom?'

a disturbing thought occurs to her ' what if none of the above and it turns out the balance has been against the Holy Kingdom and by restoring it we give them the power up?"

Hassium holds up their hands in a 'slow down' motion "These are indeed all possible outcomes I will not deny that, but we wont know for sure until we save Marble and can access the Dwarvish Library.

They are the only race that lived with the Giants and as such have the best idea of how they thought, lived and believed. Meaning also that they are the ones with the best grip on how the balance works.

Most of the time us Champions do just fine with our instincts and the teachings we have received from those who preceded us. In the times neither of those is enough, the Dwarves have always streered us right."

With that the conversation switched to more mundane things before everyone settled into their bedrolls, Ezma, Willow and Aspen slinking off after they thought everyone was asleep was barely noticed by Shiro as she lay there.

She hoped that the other Champions were right and that all the answers they needed would be revealed in the Dwarven fortress.

She could not shake the feeling that was not going to be the case, or at least if it was it would not be that easy.