Chapter 33 - Preparations

“Why am I here again?” Andrew asked for the fifth time.

They were standing across a plaza from where a Temple devoted to nature was. The Temple complex was currently undergoing reconstruction. Several spots were being cleared out and rebuilt a new.

Mila noted a few statues depicting beautiful men and women that appeared newly added. She nibbled at the freshly baked pastry bought at the nearby bakery.

“Because I need you to translate what Mr Crow scouts out.” Mila patiently explained. She now studied the buildings that surrounded the Temple complex.

All in all, it wasn’t as bad as she feared. It had been three days since they arrived at Ocheon, and this was the first time she had left their temporary home.

“And why is our dear Teacher pretending to be a drunk beggar and harassing that woman?” Andrew now looked at Silinth in disgust. “He could have done without the smell, right?”

“No.” Mila disagreed. The smell did a great job of making the disguise authentic. “And he is here because I might need help with what I plan to do.”

The man’s condition had not improved. It was hard to say if he was getting worse just yet, but Mila didn't hold high hopes for it not to.

“Right, help to rob a temple. Very cool.” Andrew now looked towards the approaching Nordly. “And why is he here?”

For once, Mila was stumped. “I am not sure?” She looked at the boy who was bringing her even more pastries. Nordly had attached himself to them once he saw them leaving, claiming to be their guide. Which was fair enough.

“And why isn’t Isabel here?” Andrew raised another valid question. “I thought you would jump at the chance to spend time with her. Did you have a fight?”

Mila wondered how he had managed to not ask it for so long. “No. We didn’t.” She shook her head and finished her treat while recalling the position of the guard station. It was quite a distance away. “Tiff needed a company, and I didn’t want any distractions. This is a serious matter.”

“Right.” Andrew nodded. “And why are we walking around checking out every possible dating spot? I'm pretty sure you are not taking me on a date. Is Nordly taking us on a date?”

“Just a coincidence.” Mila waved his accusations away. She wouldn’t admit to planning a date with Isabel and taking advantage of Nordly’s knowledge.

“Here!” Nordly finally joined them. He handed Mila bread with some kind of filling. “You too.” Andrew got one as well. “So, how do you like the city?”

“It’s nice.” Mila complimented. “Do you know any more spots we could visit?” The boy had a knack for picking up places that could be interesting to visit with Isabel.

“Of course!” Nordly beamed a smile. “There is a nice river flowing through the city a ten-minute walk away from here.”

“What about the temple?” Mila once again studied her target. The presence of the mysterious rock was goading her to take action.

“Well, normally we could visit it, but it’s closed because of revonation. Or something. It wasn’t really clear why the Temple started changing things.”

“I see,” Mila bit into the bread. It was filled with meat. “Then, how about we take a walk around the Temple? The way it’s built is quite fascinating.”

“You can count on me!” Nordly exclaimed. “But, uh, how about we-” He looked at Andrew just as Mr Crow landed on the nearby building and chirped.

Mila waited for Andrew to translate, but there was nothing of importance that the bird had seen. “You were saying?” She returned her attention to Nordly.

“No, nothing.” He shook his head. “This way.” Nordly led them towards the Temple.

The place turned out to be full of holes. The Temple of Nature was not built with deterrence in mind. There were several side entrances. Guards seemed to be inattentive. There were a few spots where Mila could vault over the surrounding wall if she needed to.

Mila was not ready to intrude upon the Temple’s grounds just yet, but now she at least thought it possible.

It was then that Mila noticed a group of armed men led by a woman in a fancy robe marching across the plaza. They vanished inside the temple, leaving behind only murmurs of the common folk.

“Huh?” Nordly gaped as well. “Wasn’t that the insignia of the Pillar of Eternity?”

“Was it?” Andrew tilted his head. “It’s hard to tell from this far away.”

“Yes, I am sure. But-”

Before Nordly could finish, another group of armed people headed towards the temple. Only this time, they wore the coat of arms of the city.

“I wonder what they are up to.” Nordly wondered.

“Probably nothing good.” Andrew stuffed the last piece of his bread in his mouth.

Mila felt Silinth vanish from the range of her senses. The man had followed a bit behind them, but after noticing the new arrivals, he had chosen to retreat.

It was a sentiment Mila shared with the older man. She let Nordly lead them a bit further ahead before claiming to be tired.

It had been a fruitful outing. Mila had found several places to bring Is-

- From which she could infiltrate the Temple.

Once they slipped back into the Obron’s residence, Mila found herself facing the housekeeper, who brought her to Hanna’s workroom.

“Oh, so you are back.” Hanna nodded to Mila. “Just a second.”

Mila nodded and waited by the door for the older woman to finish. Hanna was currently hunched over a table, mixing several powders and liquids. An itchy aroma filled the room despite the open window at the back.

The room itself was filled with various measuring tools, vials and boxes. The walls were covered in shelves holding numerous different ingredients.

It took another five minutes until Hanna was done making her concoction. She swirled the vial containing a suspiciously green liquid. “I have a question for you.” Her eyes bore into Mila’s. “Silinth is not entirely forthcoming with answers, and you seem to hold large sway over this small party of yours. Even that old grouch.”

“I suppose,” Mila allowed. “It is complicated, but Silinth will at least consider my opinion when faced with a choice.”

Hanna sighed and put the vial down, then started to clean her table. “It’s frustrating, you know? I had not met with Silinth for ages. I had a crush on him once.” She reminisced. “Well, I was a foolish young woman, and he was a mysterious, grim warrior facing terrible odds.”

“I thought him dead. But then, one day, he returns with a bunch of kids in tow and asks for help.” Hanna shook her head. “Well, I couldn’t exactly send him away. Not for the old time's sake. Even if he mostly dealt with my mother.”

Mila waited patiently for the woman to get to the point.

“And I wholeheartedly help him. Put my family in grave danger, and the fucker doesn’t even tell me what’s wrong with him.” Hanna spat out in anger. “Just that he messed up and needs help.” She picked up the vial again and studied it.

“And then he pays me a bunch of money to help heal his mysterious condition.” Hanna shook in anger. “It’s humiliating. I would have done it for free. For old time's sake.” She calmed down. “But it does help. The stuff he needs does not come cheap.” Her breathing calmed as well. “Well, that’s that. What I wanted to ask is, do you know what happened to him?”

“I-” Mila considered her words. The warning Silinth had given rang strongly in her head. “I don’t think I can tell you. I did not see it myself. Just-” She hesitated. “He seems tainted somehow. It started after his fight with Kaldior, I think was his name.”

“The ‘Torch’, huh? Anything else?” Hanna took out a notebook and wrote something down.

“It is getting worse.”

“How can you tell?” Hanna lifted her head to study Mila. “And is it happening even now? Even with my treatment?”

Mila ignored the first question. “It does not seem to be getting better.” She slowly admitted.

“Shit.” Hanna cursed and wrote down another few lines. “What else?” She asked.

“As I said, it is not something I can speak about.” Mila was careful. “But his mood seems to have some strange swig sometimes.”

Another few lines were scribbled down. “And that’s all?”

“As much as I dare to say.” Mila nodded. “Is there anything you would feel free to add?” She was curious about the healer's opinion.

Hanna stopped. She ruffled her hair, messing up her blond locks. Her shoulders sagged before she spoke. “I- I don’t- I don’t think I can help him.”

Mila took the news stoically.

“Of course, I’ll try.” Hanna resumed writing. “But it’s nothing I have seen or felt before, and it’s-” She frowned. “Unpleasant. Like it’s something I shouldn’t touch. It eludes me, not letting me touch upon the true nature of the ailment. If it’s something the ‘Torch’ did, I can’t even imagine what it would take to cure it.”

“Can you estimate how much time Silinth had left?” Mila asked the morbid question.

“I don’t know. Not more than a year. Maybe much less. I just don’t know.” Hanna’s voice filled with despair. “I am not affiliated with any of the Temples. If it’s ‘Torch’s’ fault, then it would be the wisest to seek out their help.”

“But that is impossible,” Mila noted.

“It is.” Hanna fell down on a chair behind her. She looked at the ceiling in thought.

“Why?” Mila finally asked. “What happened between Silinth and the temples?”

Hanna looked at her in confusion. “Do you not know?” She wondered. “I mean, clearly not, but- Well, it is not like I know a lot.” Another sight escaped her lips. “Where did Silinth even pick you up?”

“What did they call themselves?” Hanna began. “Keepers of the Knowledge? Something like that. It was pointlessly grand. My grandmother married one of them, and it wasn’t anything special. They just clung to some old customs and secrets. Most people called them Heretics anyway.” She reached behind her, grabbed a vial and uncorked it. Then took a swig from it.

“Don’t tell anyone about this, especially Harry,” Hanna warned. “It’s nothing like my Mama took, but it’s still not something I should be using. It does help me to relax, however.”

“Where was I?” She took another swing. “Yeah, so my family supplied their group with medicine and some other stuff.” Hanna waved at the shelves. “It was lucrative. They didn’t lack money, at least back in the day. It was dangerous, too. But Grandma loved Grandpa, and so we helped.”

“It all came crashing down one day. Grandpa was killed by ‘Torch’. Some kind of cleansing, or so the Temples claimed. They ‘cleansed’ a whole city.” Hanna shuddered. “Not many survived, but some did. Grandma was devasted. She made our family stop going to the Temple. Not that we needed it, but it’s not a common thing.”

“And then, well, we kept helping the survivors. Silinth was one of the people who frequented us. Bought a lot of medicine. Told us he needed it for his pupils. After seeing how he works my sons, I can see why.”

“There were others too. Old Packmule, well, that wasn’t his name, what was it? Trud- Trug-, I don’t remember. Then there was Ratlo, Papleir and others. I didn’t even get to see most of them. I was too young.” Hanna reached for another vial. “And they slowly stopped coming. “Sometimes news reached us of executions. Executions of people I mentioned. They slowly died out.”

“I thought Silinth met the same fate. Just that we didn’t hear of it. Apparently not.” Hanna drank her self-made poison. “But after Silinth stopped coming, no one else showed up. We still kept the old passage open. It is useful sometimes. But-” She shook her head. “Well, that’s how it is. I can imagine Silinth does not like to talk about it. He is probably one of the last surviving members of that group.”

“Thank you.” Mila bowed her head. “Thank you for telling me.”

“Bah!” Hanna scowled. “Someone had to.” She drank even more. “Now leave me. I have an old friend I need to save.” Her fingers found the pen, and she started to scribble down more lines.

Mila bowed once again and left Hanna to her sorrow. Outside, she heard Silinth shout at Nordly. They were training again. There were also Isabel’s and Andrew’s voices mixed in. After a bit of hesitation, Mila decided it would lift her mood to see others working hard.