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Sophia smiled. “If you do ever feel like I'm taking up too much of your time then tell me, please. I want you to make friends here and I think that spending too much time with me might stop that from happening.”
“People don't want to be friends with me very often.” Conall smiled, even though he hated being thought of as strange because he had learnt how to be a healer. “They look at me and see...” He sighed. “I don't know exactly. I've never bothered to ask. I just know that they think that a male healer is something that shouldn't exist.”
“The Tein-Igni have male healers.”
“Really?”
Sophia nodded. “I think it's different for all the races, but as we don't talk to each other very often it's not something that's common knowledge.”
“Sometimes I wish I was something other than Uisdro.” Conall shook his head. “I want to live somewhere else, somewhere that isn't Thear, because I hate all the division there is between the three races and how everyone believes that their race is the better of the three.”
“I feel like that too, but I think that some day Thear will be a better place to live. It may not be during our lifetime, or ever our children's lifetime, but eventually people will realise that we can't work well separately. The three races will work together, sharing their expertise without acting as though one race superior because they can do something that the other two can't.”
“Maybe you're right, Sophia.” Conall looked back up at the moon and thought about what Thear would be like if Sophia's vision did come true. “I can't imagine it ever happening, but I hope it does.”
Sophia looked at him. Even though Conall knew that she couldn't actually see him it felt as though she was looking into him and seeing everything. Sometimes it seemed as though she did know everything about everyone, but that was because she listened more than anyone else. People didn't seem to realise how good her hearing was.
“Aisling is working on something,” Sophia said, almost so quietly he couldn't hear her. “There's a town called North Square and she's been told to look for it by Persephone, because the time will come when we need somewhere safe.” She sighed. “Things could never stay the way they are now, the larger groups all want control of Thear and they will attempt to get it, so something will happen to change everything for good. Aisling doesn't know exactly what it is yet, and I'm not entirely sure that Persephone does either, but they know it's coming and they're planning for it.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“I trust you, Conall.” She smiled. “I did from the moment I met you, but Aisling told me to wait for a while before I told you anything. She said you needed time to settle in, and time to understand that things are really no different here to what they were like in your village.”
Nodding, Conall looked out at the square. The priest of Poseidon was stood in a large group of people, who all seemed to be interested in something he was saying, and Conall almost didn't want to know what exactly it was. Priests and priestesses had always made him feel uncomfortable, but he never quite knew why they made him feel that way.
“It is slightly different, because your ruling deity is Poseidon rather than Persephone.”
“Unfortunately the priest isn't truly a priest of Poseidon. Very few of the priests and priestess who exist now are connected to the deity they profess to be a priest of, because I'm not entirely sure that most people even believe that the deity exist.” Sophia sighed. “Aisling saw it happen at the training temple. People chose the deities they were meant to choose if they weren't a true priest or priestess.”
“Why do people follow him then?”
“He's charismatic and people want to believe that he's passing Poseidon's words on to them, even if they're not entirely sure that Poseidon, or any of the other deities, really exist.”
“I don't think he's charismatic.”
“Then you're one of very few people. If I didn't know that he wasn't a true priest, and I wasn't blind, I might be someone who believed that he was passing Poseidon's words to me. I feel sorry for those who do believe him, because it's so easy to be fooled by someone like him.” She sighed. “Everyone wants to follow him, and the leaders of the other groups, which leads to them looking at people like me and seeing someone who shouldn't exist. I'm almost as bad as a mixed heritage child.”
“It's strange to think that the people who follow Persephone and the people who follow Poseidon are actually very alike, but they don't want to believe they're alike because they have different deities.”
“If they're each given a chance to become the type of people they feel they should be, rather than having to be careful because they're trying not to make it obvious that they exist, I think they will turn into very diferent groups.” There was a few seconds of silence. “The groups who follow the female deities will become more matriachal while the groups who follow the male deities will become even more patriachal than they already are. I know that our priest is in favour of arranged marriages for all the Uisdro women, and it's entirely possible that it might happen.” Sophia sighed. “Things will change and I can't imagine that life will be easy for a very long time, because each of the different groups is going to have to work out how to live alone. Both the Uisdro and the Tein-Igni rely on the Dorma for much of their food, so I hate to think what will happen to the two races.”
© K A Jones 2011
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Read the second part of this story (LJ link).
Sophia smiled. “If you do ever feel like I'm taking up too much of your time then tell me, please. I want you to make friends here and I think that spending too much time with me might stop that from happening.”
“People don't want to be friends with me very often.” Conall smiled, even though he hated being thought of as strange because he had learnt how to be a healer. “They look at me and see...” He sighed. “I don't know exactly. I've never bothered to ask. I just know that they think that a male healer is something that shouldn't exist.”
“The Tein-Igni have male healers.”
“Really?”
Sophia nodded. “I think it's different for all the races, but as we don't talk to each other very often it's not something that's common knowledge.”
“Sometimes I wish I was something other than Uisdro.” Conall shook his head. “I want to live somewhere else, somewhere that isn't Thear, because I hate all the division there is between the three races and how everyone believes that their race is the better of the three.”
“I feel like that too, but I think that some day Thear will be a better place to live. It may not be during our lifetime, or ever our children's lifetime, but eventually people will realise that we can't work well separately. The three races will work together, sharing their expertise without acting as though one race superior because they can do something that the other two can't.”
“Maybe you're right, Sophia.” Conall looked back up at the moon and thought about what Thear would be like if Sophia's vision did come true. “I can't imagine it ever happening, but I hope it does.”
Sophia looked at him. Even though Conall knew that she couldn't actually see him it felt as though she was looking into him and seeing everything. Sometimes it seemed as though she did know everything about everyone, but that was because she listened more than anyone else. People didn't seem to realise how good her hearing was.
“Aisling is working on something,” Sophia said, almost so quietly he couldn't hear her. “There's a town called North Square and she's been told to look for it by Persephone, because the time will come when we need somewhere safe.” She sighed. “Things could never stay the way they are now, the larger groups all want control of Thear and they will attempt to get it, so something will happen to change everything for good. Aisling doesn't know exactly what it is yet, and I'm not entirely sure that Persephone does either, but they know it's coming and they're planning for it.”
“Why are you telling me?”
“I trust you, Conall.” She smiled. “I did from the moment I met you, but Aisling told me to wait for a while before I told you anything. She said you needed time to settle in, and time to understand that things are really no different here to what they were like in your village.”
Nodding, Conall looked out at the square. The priest of Poseidon was stood in a large group of people, who all seemed to be interested in something he was saying, and Conall almost didn't want to know what exactly it was. Priests and priestesses had always made him feel uncomfortable, but he never quite knew why they made him feel that way.
“It is slightly different, because your ruling deity is Poseidon rather than Persephone.”
“Unfortunately the priest isn't truly a priest of Poseidon. Very few of the priests and priestess who exist now are connected to the deity they profess to be a priest of, because I'm not entirely sure that most people even believe that the deity exist.” Sophia sighed. “Aisling saw it happen at the training temple. People chose the deities they were meant to choose if they weren't a true priest or priestess.”
“Why do people follow him then?”
“He's charismatic and people want to believe that he's passing Poseidon's words on to them, even if they're not entirely sure that Poseidon, or any of the other deities, really exist.”
“I don't think he's charismatic.”
“Then you're one of very few people. If I didn't know that he wasn't a true priest, and I wasn't blind, I might be someone who believed that he was passing Poseidon's words to me. I feel sorry for those who do believe him, because it's so easy to be fooled by someone like him.” She sighed. “Everyone wants to follow him, and the leaders of the other groups, which leads to them looking at people like me and seeing someone who shouldn't exist. I'm almost as bad as a mixed heritage child.”
“It's strange to think that the people who follow Persephone and the people who follow Poseidon are actually very alike, but they don't want to believe they're alike because they have different deities.”
“If they're each given a chance to become the type of people they feel they should be, rather than having to be careful because they're trying not to make it obvious that they exist, I think they will turn into very diferent groups.” There was a few seconds of silence. “The groups who follow the female deities will become more matriachal while the groups who follow the male deities will become even more patriachal than they already are. I know that our priest is in favour of arranged marriages for all the Uisdro women, and it's entirely possible that it might happen.” Sophia sighed. “Things will change and I can't imagine that life will be easy for a very long time, because each of the different groups is going to have to work out how to live alone. Both the Uisdro and the Tein-Igni rely on the Dorma for much of their food, so I hate to think what will happen to the two races.”
© K A Jones 2011
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported License.
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Date: 2011-12-31 09:36 pm (UTC)That should say "even" above.
>>The priest of Poseidon was stood in a large group of people<<
Delete "was" above.
>>Very few of the priests and priestess who exist now are connected to the deity they profess to be a priest of<<
That should say "priestesses" above. Also, "profess to represent" would be more representative and elegant.