Arialla had learned a lot of things on her first day in Caido. Most of them were about the new world itself, of course, a dizzying array of information about new gods, new customs, and new environments. She couldn't even begin to sort through all of that, honestly. What she could determine, as her first week in Caido ended, was that she badly needed new shoes.
The cobbler who'd gilded these sandals had never intended for them to be worn outside the temple. Beautiful as they were, with golden laurel leaves curling from the straps, they were neither comfortable nor practical. Already, Arialla's feet ached -- not to mention how filthy they'd become. And a couple of the golden laurel leaves had fallen off ... She badly needed an upgrade.
Walking into the VlamVoed on this fairly deserted evening, she looked around, then approached one of the few people present, a dark-haired individual cleaning a table. Something about their manner made them seem a bit friendlier than the other people present. "Excuse me. Is there a market around here you could point me to? Please?"
Quanil looked up from the table they were finishing to find a lovely young woman asking them for help. They smiled and nodded. "Of course, Miss. Hold on." They glanced around.
It was a relatively quiet night at the VlamVloed, so they hoped Mr. Sunjata wouldn't mind if they slipped away for a bit. In the name of helping a new arrival. They took a moment to head behind the bar, setting their rag carefully on a bar over a tub so it could dry out and removing their apron. Then they returned to the ...well, customer might be a bit much. Guest?
She was like a bright beam of sunlight in here, but Quanil had learned that springing compliments on people tended to make them uneasy, for reasons they didn't really understand. So they just smiled. "I can show you to the market area. It's getting on, so I'm not sure who'll still be open, but I can at least show you the way, indicate some of the more popular merchant houses." Their smile widened and they bowed their head a little in greeting. "I'm Quanil."
Arialla smiled. Everyone she'd met so far in Caido had been so pleasant. At home, she never would have called herself shy, but that was in a small town where she knew everyone -- being thrust into a community of strangers had left her quite nervous and reluctant to open up contact. But she had to do what she had to do.
"Quanil. I'm Arialla. I would appreciate that ..." She glanced around the VlamVoed, realizing only now how she'd interrupted Quanil in the middle of their task. "If it's all right for me to pull you from your work."
"It's fine. Mr. Sunjata is very nice, and I'm only working here to cover my room and board," they assured her. "I can always put in more hours or run an errand for him if I need to, and he'd want to help a new arrival. I mean... I'm assuming, I guess. I mean, you're at least a little bit new 'cause I'd remember seeing you around before, but maybe you're not new new, just new to the Hollowed Ground, and... uh, I'm doing it again."
They cleared their throat to keep the babbling down and gestured to the door. "Let's get started, Miss Arialla. Oh, here." They hurried over to get the door for her, the way Mother had taught them.
Arialla nodded, relieved to hear that she wasn't imposing on Quanil. Their babbling made her smile a little; she thought it was sweet. "I am new to Caido as well as the Hollowed Ground. I've only been here for a week, though I have to say, that week was too long to keep wearing these sandals."
She paused as she walked across the room and raised one of her feet, ruefully, to show off just how unsuitable her footwear was.
"Thank you," she added, passing through the door as Quanil held it. Then she waited for them to come through and take the lead, since she had no idea where they were going.
They headed out of the VlamVloed and turned towards the main settlement thoroughfares. "Oh, they're nice shoes," they said, "but... well, at a minimum, you'll be a bit cold come Deepfrost. Or if you go to Halo. Are they... comfortable at all?"
The sandals didn't look comfortable to them - shiny! but not comfy - but presumably Miss Arialla had found them so at one point. "If they're comfy, my sister might like them... if we ever find her."
"Deepfrost? Does it ... snow here?" Arialla had heard of snow before, but she'd never actually seen it, except on distant mountaintops -- her coastal village stayed temperate all year round, and she'd never traveled.
Arialla chuckled a little. "I can't say they're comfortable, no. They're ceremonial; they're not really supposed to be comfortable. The man who made them told me the pinch would bring me closer to Apollo."
Then she sobered: "If you ever find her? Is your sister missing?"
"Oh yes, it does snow, but not for a couple more seasons yet. You've time."
But the next comment confused them. "Your... shoes were made to be uncomfortable? Why does this Apollo person want you to have pinched feet? That doesn't seem very nice of them."
They cleared their throat. "She is, but I'll find her! And I don't think she'd want pinchy shoes, no offense."
Arialla nodded, though she frowned. Snow ... it was yet another mark of how foreign this place was -- she found reminders of it everywhere she looked. And yet there would be some novelty to it, she supposed, some interest in such a new experience.
"Oh, Apollo is my god," Arialla explained. It felt strange to have to tell someone a fact that had simply been common knowledge all her life. "Lord of light, healing, and music. I don't believe he actually wanted my shoes to pinch; I think that was just the cobbler's excuse for doing a poor job."
Another frown. Gently, she asked, "How long has your sister been missing?"
Quanil snorted. "If any cobbler tried to blame a god around here, they'd probably be next in line at the landshark banquet," they commented as they walked along. "Freina's been missing for most of Longheat now, though I've been looking for her. There was an... incident at the Fiat Lux festival, end of Flowerbirth, and... well, I don't know if your Apollo can hear you from here, but I'll take any help from any quarter, really."
They thought about that: light, healing, and music. "I bet Apollo would like Provost Silversmith. He can heal and play music! And, as the guild master of the Loreseekers' Guild, he represents the Light of Learning!" They pulled the pin out of their pocket to show her, with the open book and the rays of light shining forth from its pages. "Sort of. I might be stretchin' it a bit there."
Arialla smiled. "Yes, that excuse didn't sit very well with me, either."
Then, again, she grew more solemn. "I will pray for you, and your sister."
She didn't know if Apollo could hear her either, and she had to imagine that if he could, she had quite enough problems of her own to lay at his door without adding others -- but she was a priestess. Her role was to pray on the behalf of others, to intercede with the gods for them.
"Whether Apollo hears me or not, my hopes go with you as well," she added. She returned to smiling as Quanil went on: their goodwill and eagerness to aid her was obvious. "I believe Provost Silversmith and I met, briefly. He was kind to me, and I appreciate his advice. The Loreseekers' Guilt ... what lore do they seek?"
Quanil just smiled for her thoughtfulness. "Thank you, I'd appreciate that. Just maybe don't let all the other gods around here know it."
They weren't at all surprised to hear her good words about their guild master. And while Quanil was well known for asking questions, few people yet knew their thrill for being able to answer them.
"Oh, the lore of the world!" they replied cheerily. "For three hundred years, we were trapped in the Barrier, and the Hollowed Ground was the whole of the world to us. Now that it's gone, we have to discover anew things our forebears may have taken as common knowledge. And there's the whole rest of the world out there, waiting to be explored!
"The most important part, though, is using what we've learned to help others. It's most helpful to Outlanders like yourself, but even those of us born on Caido have lost touch with a lot of our history." They beamed, squared their shoulders and tried to look as Loreseeker-y as possible, eyes narrowed as they stared ahead into the middle distance, chin raised just slightly, chest puffed out. This mostly had the effect of making them look inflated and in need of glasses. (Not that they knew this.) "We're unearthing the past to explain our present and inform our future!" That was something they'd been trying out in their mind, workshopping it a bit, and they were pretty proud of it.
"Your gods are jealous?" Arialla asked. The concept struck her as unusual; at home, one might offer one's highest devotion to a single god, but would still be expected to respect others, and pray to them for matters of their own domain.
At Quanil's "Loreseeker" expression, Arialla had to smile, though she managed to suppress a laugh. She could tell that they greatly valued the guild and truly believed what they said; she didn't want to point out that their pose wasn't exactly conveying the noble solemnity they wished. Instead, she said, "Trapped in a barrier for three hundred years? I don't think anyone mentioned that. What kind of barrier? What caused it?"
Quanil had been trying to find a way around the whole "jealous gods" question when Miss Arialla went straight to the heart of things, basically.
"Oh, I stayed away from the Barrier when it was up; made you sick if you were near it too long. But... see... well, we had the gods, originally, and then some of the people who could do magic somehow figured out how to make themselves into gods, and they became the New Gods, and the ones we already had are the Old Gods, and they weren't real happy about all of this 'New God' stuff, so... Barrier. To seal the New Gods in. It, uh... sealed a bunch of us in, too, until some people figured out how to bring it down, but that just let the New Gods out again, too, so..."
They shrugged. "It was kind of a mess. But, judging by all of that, I think it's probably safe to say the Old Gods don't want anyone else horning in on their territory."
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