Standing near the center of town was a beautiful building made out of dark red bricks that towered above most of the surrounding stores and houses. Perched atop the roof was a large owl, carved from a massive tree and placed here many years ago to represent the goddess of wisdom. Big heavy doors marked the entrance to her temple which consisted of two parts. The front of the building was open to the public. It’s here that townsfolk would come to pray and ask the priests for advice on problems in their daily life. The priests would use their wisdom to help the people out. Beyond a second set of heavy doors was the rest of the building, which served as a sort of private library. Priests of Owlana prided themselves on being knowledgeable on many different topics and always willing to share that knowledge. But to prevent damage to the scrolls, the place was only open for the priests and any accepted visitors. If you wanted to access their library, you would have to first make an appointment. The design of the temple also felt very different to that of the one in Arana due to it serving different functions. This was much more of a practical place where people came for advice and less of a holy place. But Cobal knew – having visited the temple before and being allowed to visit the back of the building – that the church of Owlana spent much of its time researching history and ancient artifacts and it didn’t share this knowledge with just anyone. It was their deity’s mission to make sure that dangerous artifacts were kept away from dangerous people and many young priests joined their town’s temple for this reason. Traveling the world hunting for treasures sounds pretty appealing to adventurous young boys and girls after all. Cobal and Mana were greeted by a young woman wearing simple but well-made dark gray robes. “Good afternoon your highness and Lady Mana. My name is Nashita. How may the Lady of Knowledge be of service to you today?”
“We’re actually looking for a certain priest, Otus,” Cobal said. “My mother knew of him and said he might be able to help us with something we’ve been stuck on.”
“I can go see if Otus is available, please wait here for a few moments.” She smiled and bowed politely before turning around and shortly disappearing through the doors leading to the back. Cobal watched the comings and goings of the temple, with Mana doing the same next to him. There were all sorts of people sitting at desks asking for guidance or advice. Books were stacked on desks and many of the priests were writing things down in ledgers. It almost felt more like one of the merchant halls in Jasodar than a temple. One thing that caught his interest was that a lot of the priests seemed to be dwarven men and women. Seeing dwarves in town was not a rarity by any means, but there seemed to be a lot of them working here. While waiting, Cobal overheard a woman talking to a priest about her son’s health. He didn’t seem to have anything visibly wrong with him, but he kept talking to himself and insisting that somebody was trying to mess with him. The priest was writing everything she said down and asked questions from time to time. The boy seemed to mostly mind his own business, letting his mother do the talking. The conversation ended with the promise that one of the healers would come over to their home to check on her son the next day. As Cobal was listening in on this conversation he didn’t notice that Nashita had returned. She smiled. “Otus has time for you, your highness.” She motioned towards the large door. “If you’d please follow me.”
They followed the tall woman through the center of the temple and past the desks before walking through the large doors into the back half of the temple. The library of the temple of Owlana was known for its depth but after visiting Marsolin it seemed so disappointing in Comparison. “It’s a decent collection,” Cobal remarked.
“We take a lot of pride in collecting knowledge.”
“Mana and myself spent some time studying in Marsolin recently,” Cobal explained.
“Then this must pale in comparison.”
“It’s like you read my mind.”
Nashita chuckled. “Our collection is much more focused on specific information whereas Marsolin’s three grand libraries provide knowledge on all sorts of topics and – if I’m not mistaken – allow people to submit their own books for review. That’s a great way of building up a broad collection but it might not get you the most rare and interesting books.” She pointed at a door that was slightly ajar. “That is where you will find Otus.”
Greeting them was a surprisingly decorated office. As businesslike as the front of the temple and the library were, this felt much more like someone’s home and less like an office. Covering up the singular window in the back was a set of thick brown curtains that drowned out all of the light that might come peering in. The room was instead lit up by a set of four lanterns that had these beautiful metal frames that made them look like flowers with colored glass filling in the rest. The room smelled of incense and dust. A wooden desk in the shape of a crescent moon was the centerpiece of the room, but several chairs and small desks and cabinets lined the walls as well. Sitting behind the desk, head slumped forward, was a dwarven man who looked to be as old as the world itself. Crumbs of something littered his beard as well as the open book in front of him and a collection of empty coffee cups filled much of the space on the desk. At least the parts of it that weren’t covered in books and paper. Right as Cobal was starting to get worried about the man, the sound of snoring filled the room. Nashita’s head poked in from behind them. “Feel free to wake him up something fierce, he’s been napping all day.”
Mana walked over to his desk and gently tapped the old man on his shoulder. When no response came she shook him a little bit. No response. She shook him a little bit more, but still no response. Lost for ideas she looked at Cobal.
Cobal looked around and saw a quill laying on one of the half rolled open scrolls. He took some of the hairs and adjusted them a little bit before gently putting it under the dwarf’s nose. A few moments later he sneezed himself awake, temporarily disoriented before composing himself. “Ah, I see that my visitors have finally arrived. You took so long I almost fell asleep.” He got up, displacing many of the crumbs in his lap and beard. Upon noticing the remains of his breakfast he had the common decency to wipe off the rest as best as he could before reaching out his hand. “Name’s Otus, pleasure to meet you.”
“I’m Cobal.”
“Mana.”
“Ah yes, I know who you are. Please have a seat.” He pointed at a small couch that had a pile of papers stacked on it. Mana gentry removed the papers before both sat down, a cloud of dust appearing the moment their butts impacted the couch cushions. Otus stepped towards the curtains and opened them, letting in a modicum of light through the filthy windows.
“Does no one ever clean this place?” Mana asked.
“It’s clean enough for me,” Otus replied after sitting back down in his chair. “Now, what can I help you with?”
Cobal looked at Mana who sat up straight and said, “We spoke with her majesty about something we’ve been occupied with lately and she said that you might be able to help us.”
Otus smiled. “Marin did? I was convinced she’d forgotten about me a long time ago.”
“How do you know my mother?” Cobal asked.
“She came to Saphestan at quite a young age. Something about her aunt and uncle not being the right place for her to live her life. When she first moved here, she came to our church quite often for advice on what to do. So myself and some of the other priests would regularly check up on her. I would say that she ended up doing alright for herself in the end.”
“She seems like a kind person,” Mana said.
Cobal couldn’t help but smile, hearing Mana say something nice about his mother. He was well aware how complicated her relationship with the royal family was.
“Bit of a demon when she was younger, but she mellowed out with age. Most people do.” He grabbed one of the cups on his desk and put it back before reaching for another. Only once he’d picked up a third cup he found one that still had some liquid in it. Judging by the face he pulled after drinking from it, it was not warm anymore. He put the cup back down and turned his attention back to Mana. “So what exactly do you want my help with?”
Mana took a second to gather her thoughts before speaking. “A friend of ours sent me an artifact that he once received as a gift a long time ago. He told us that this gift – a quill – originally belonged to a poet by the name of Jerech Sez. The quill allows for magic script to be used, but I am having a hard time figuring out how to properly utilize it. The queen informed us that you were well read when it comes to Jerech Sez’s writing and perhaps you could help us out.”
Otus listened intently, nodding along as Mana spoke. “May I see the quill?”
“Of course, I brought it with me.” Mana took the quill from her bag and handed it to the old dwarf who very carefully observed it. A couple of minutes passed as the dwarf meticulously inspected every little detail of the quill before finally laying it down on the paper in front of him. “As a priest of Owlana – who has served her for a very, very long time – I have seen many artifacts. Many have been much more powerful than this one. Actually most of them have been more powerful than this one. This is not a powerful magical artifact by any means. But out of everything I’ve ever held in my hands, this is probably the most whimsical bit of magic I’ve ever seen. From what I can ascertain – and I’m sure you’ve discovered part of this yourself as well – this quill allows the author to do all sorts of fun tricks with their scripts. From dancing letters to changing colors to writing messages that appear to be different depending on who reads them. It’s a magical item that shines more if the user is more creative with it. A boring person wouldn’t be able to use this well.”
Cobal was about to comment that this meant it wasn’t as useful as they might have hoped when he saw the excitement in Mana’s eyes. “That’s incredible.”
Otus chickled. “I’m glad you feel that way, that makes me confident that the artifact is in good hands.” He got up and walked to a nearby cabinet where he rummaged through one of the drawers for a few moments before pulling out a small book. “It would be rude of you to use this artifact without familiarizing yourself with Jerech’s work. Feel free to hold on to that for a while, it’s a collection of some of his best poems and short stories. Just make sure to return it to me when you’ve read it.” He handed the book to Mana and sat back down.
Overcome by a sudden curiosity, Cobal asked, “what was my mother like as a child.”
Otus gave him a curious look and Cobal blushed. “Because you said that she was a bit of a demon when she was younger.”
Otus’ face turned into a big grin. “That’s certainly right. She was a hell of a child. She had a temper that couldn’t be controlled by anyone and had no respect for authority at all. The amount of times she came into the temple running and yelling cannot be counted. Quite the menace.”
“I find that hard to believe,” Cobal replied.
“It’s absolutely true. She came from the countryside after all, and was used to just running around and doing what she wanted. Things are different here, but it was definitely a breath of fresh air to have someone like her running around. She’s changed a lot over the years, but I wouldn’t be surprised if that rambunctious child is still somewhere in there.”
“I’d love to see that,” Cobal said.
“Well, maybe ask her about it sometime. Just don’t tell her that you heard this from me.” They both laughed.
“As for you, lass, did you have a specific question about Jerech Sez’s quill that you wanted answers to?”
“I did, but I feel like my question has been mostly answered. I wanted to know if there were any ways I could use it, since trying to find out what sort of magic something can do with no parameters to go by is extremely difficult. But with your explanation I think I’ve reigned my expectations into an acceptable scope and have a pretty good idea of its capabilities.
“I’m glad to hear it. And if you have any other questions, feel free to come by anytime for some more advice. Just try to avoid naptime.”
“What time is naptime?”
“To be quite honest with you, most of the day is naptime.” He laughed again and both Cobal and Mana couldn’t help but smile at the sight of the jolly old priest.
“Well then, let us not keep you from your nap much longer, thank you for your help,” Cobal said.
“It was my pleasure and make sure to give Marin my regards.”
They left the study and after waving goodbye to Nashita, who was already helping out some other visitor in the library, they made their way back to the palace. The light drizzle that accompanied their walk to the temple had turned into a proper downpour that was only the first signs of a long streak of rainy days to come.
Opal Kaharis 