Zorlon - Bashkher

[Malchik]

The Temple is large and tall with a cupolaed (ooc is there sch a word?) roof supported on a large number of thin ochre columns. From you vantage point in the street you can see many people inside. The edifice is large and airy and seems rather new. Your eye is caught by a tall man standing just inside the main door. He wears a striking robe of white and scarlet and a conical gold cap that trails scarlet ribbons down his back. He is looking for someone or something. Wherever he moves people move out of his way.

[Kethruch]

"Excuse me, sir." Auriel says as he comes up to the man. "You seem lost. We have a map, could we perhaps help you find what you are looking for?" He reaches out to him, trying to take his hand as he does so. More quietly, in a voice only he and the gentleman can hear, he continues. "I am used to people not wanting to be around me, too. Maybe we can be alone together."

[Malchik]

The man takes a moment to focus on Auriel and then sees the rest of the party struggling with the map.

 

"Well, well - the travellers. I had intended to speak to you tomorrow. Somehow I did not think you would come here today but it serves my purpose."

 

He takes Auriel's hand and jumps a little as Auriel's innate energy is transferred to him.

 

He strides quickly to the others. "I am Bharat, minister for internal security. You will not understand the rituals here unless I explain them. Please follow me and will inform you of the cult of the city temple. It means little without knowledge."

 

Still holding Auriel's hand he turns back to re-enter the temple.

[Greywolf]

What an odd man, thought Dion, then so was life. The warm rays of the sun left his neck as he followed the man inside. He would miss them. He felt much better out in the sun, and preferably in the water.

 

The warmth of the sun seemed to course through his viens sometimes. The heat unbearable, scorching him from the inside out so that for one instant of one moment in time he felt pure as living fire. Unfortunately, such times were brief and fleeting. Dion sighed slightly and entered the cooler shade.

 

Then again, being here was like being in the water, a sense of security and home. Dion almost wish they had gone to the Sea Temple, how he would have loved to slip into the canal waters and feel there flow over him. Like life flowing around him, a part of it yet seperated ... alone. His thoughts turned back to his syblings.

[Emry]

Tikita pauses for a moment as Auriel and Bharat walk away, looking intently at the two retreating figures. Hurrying over to Top and Dion she whispers,

 

"Doesn't it seems strange to you that the Minister of Internal Security was expecting us? How does he even know of us? I mean, don't we look like the other visitors around here? I don't know if I like this..... but he's got Auriel so we better follow him."

[Malchik]

OOC>I assume Top follows Tikita's advice.

 

The inside of the temple has no ornamentation or statues, no altars or incense, very unlike other temples they have seen. It has several tiered pits, each of seven levels, crowds are milling around them and standing or sitting on the levels. There is in each a line of men dredded only in white skirts one at the bottom, one on each level and one at the top, forming a change. Periodically a number of them would start to whirl at incredible speed.

 

Bharat starts talking as you walk up. "This cult, like its temple, is new. I am not a believer. I am here to meet an acquaintance. He is late so I will instead talk to you. The bones of the dead are interred. These people believe that the spirit needs to be released into the air. This happens when the priests all begin whirling together. It takes a long time. Most journeys take a long time."

 

Suddenly his tone hardens. "Except yours, it seems. You were in Veejani five days ago. It takes a minimum of two weeks to travel here from Veejani and yet you have been here three days at least. How is this possible?"

[Kethruch]

"I do not know," Auriel begins. "I know that I go through life at a pace that always seems the same to me. Maybe it's that people go through their lives at different paces, so that what is normal to one seems abnormal to everyone else." He shies away a second. "I'm not sure about you. In a lot of ways you are comforting like my mother and father, but in others you seem like the ones who attacked us." Quickly, he changes topics back to the one the man had been talking about. "Bones interred?" He laughs. "Mommy told me not to eat the bones, so they never wound up in mine. Perhaps people here should be more careful when they eat, then they wouldn;t have to spin around like that all of the time."

[Peregrine]

"You say you're internal security..." Top says to Bharat. "Is there some problem with our friend? Perhaps there's just someone in Veejani that looks like him?"

[Emry]

Tikita leans over to Dion. "Veejani?" she whispers, "We were in Veejani? I don't remember that.

 

She looks over at Auriel and Bharat and scowls slightly. "I'm liking this guy less and less. And I don't like the way he's hanging onto Auriel. And why would he be wanting to talk to us anyway?"

[Kethruch]

Auriel attempts to pull his hand away, feeling more and more like the man is more townsperson than family. "Excuse me, sir." He says respectfully. "I would feel more comfortable with my friends. If you have any questions, I am sure they will be answered before someone does a dance for you. I am sure that we can find the tip of the iceberg - the thing that keeps us from seeing the hidden whole, and we can break through any fences that remain. After all, a fence without a gate somewhere is not a fence, but a wall."