[Three Goddesses] Melinda's Archive

[Kalirren]

This thread is private, containing transcripts of important conversations related to the 3 Goddesses game sent or received by me.

My PM box is full no longer.

[Kalirren]

"Cassandra is not terribly interested in obtaining the 10th cup for Tishtina, she's more concerned about getting all 10 in the first place."

"Dalcar..." he pauses as he says her name. "She would most assuredly like the 10th cup for Nocticula. And honestly, don't you think she truly deserves it?"

Melinda blinked for a long second of disbelief. "No," she finally winced. "What precisely makes you think she does?" How could I have been so stupid, sending a man to talk to Dalcar Sontin and expecting a useful answer to come out of that interaction? I'm lucky he came back at all...

"Let me guess, she was second in the room?" continued Melinda, trying her best to drag out the conversation. The longer she had the more damage she could undo. "Did you ask Zanthia too?"

"...I didn't speak to Zanthia, you said you would..." Arcaneus shakes his head and puts a hand to his forehead. "I feel strange. Wonderful, but strange. Did you do something to me, Melinda?"

"No, not unless someone else also did," said she, stepping into the space in front of him. She put her hands on his shoulders and centered her own face in his gaze. "And you know who my money's on for having done that." An annoyed and slightly sheepish smile. "But go on, you were saying something about Dalcar deserving the last Cup? Or was it Nocticula? I couldn't tell which. Look at me?" Two long fingers held up like an angel delivering the word of the Goddess herself spontaneously came from her left and crossed the space between them to his left. Her eyes remained tensely fixed on his, tracking their movements.

Melinda breathed a sigh of relief. "Oh, good, you're fine, blessed be her Name. I'm so sorry, Ark. It's all my fault, I should never have sent you to Dalcar," she apologized, her face visibly distraught. "I never caught Zanthia alone. Dot and Lil were leaving, and I wanted to save a few extra hours of windwalking." [read OOC: I've been too busy to post.] "Honestly, I think that's all right, I'm not worried about her anyway. She's one of us. I expect some mighty haggling and trading of favors if we just bring the Cups back to them. I just wanted to know if any of the other two had any ...grander plans."

"Yes, well, Dalcar did a number of things to me--some quite unlike anything I've experienced before--not the least of which must have been clouding my judgment. Sabrina! Forgive me for thinking anyone else could ever deserve the tenth cup, my beauty." Arcaneus rubs his neck and looks Melinda in the eye.

"Thanks for setting me straight. If Dalcar has a plan to obtain the odd cup, she isn't sharing with me. Honestly, though I think all of them are more concerned that we get all ten cups in the first place. Though I don't know what they're worried about." Arcaneus gives a sly smile.

"I wish I had your confidence," remarked Melinda. "You know I'm not one for mysterious towers and the like. That's why I took up dancing with this here blade instead of the real stuff, even after you taught me how to swing it properly." A sideways glance. "And Dot says her conjurations will be of no use either. That's why we need you." Arcaneus had seen this act from her more than once, the serial attempts to deflect attention from her own blushing.

You've got him here right now, no temptation necessary, said that voice again.

Surprisingly, the act just fell apart this time. With her outburst came a hug, and then a kiss planted straight on. "Oh, I'm just glad to have you back, Ark..." A wink. "Show me Dalcar's moves some other time. Come on," she quipped, dragging him out of the alley by his hand she still held. "I've got another marvelous idea for you to shoot down..."

Arcaneus briefly embraces Melinda and, after the sudden kiss, is left almost speechless. Almost.

"Another plan, eh? Sounds like fun." Arcaneus grins as he allows himself to be dragged along by Melinda.
There followed a bright-eyed confession wherein Melinda expressed her hopes to actualize the prophecy, which she has been cognizant of before the competition. Luckily, that came to pass.

But later, Dalcar had this to say about the entire incident:


"I do have to thank you for sending that interesting young man, Arcaneous, to me. We had such a nice time together. A bit of pity that the goddesses already had a plan for the division of the Cups, seeing as I had him ready to vote in our favour for the last one, but whatever, it was good practice anyway."

[Kalirren]

Zanthia takes Melinda aside. "What is troubling you about the outcome of this mission?

Presuming you explain what happened, Zanthia listens to your account, but you can feel her also probing your thoughts, so that she "sees" what happened, not only your account. When you finish, she thinks for minute.

"You are not to blame for what happened here. First of all, that was not an avatar of Moradin, or you likely wouldn't have defeated it. It was just a golem, set to guard the necklaces, carved in his likeness. Your tirade did not awaken it, the moment the group passed, it would have animated. The shades were in the wrong, the gods of the dwarves had no right to deny us those necklaces, and they didn't 'create' them themselves. Remember the history, they were only gemstones until magic reforged them into necklaces. At that point, their claim to ownership passed to a higher authority, that being Sabrina, Tishtina and Nocticula, who caused that to happen.
Nonetheless, I feel you're upset at mistakes you think you made. I assure they were not, but if you wish for atonement I can offer that, although in my judgment, you have done nothing wrong.

"I'm just imagining what's likely to happen. Iron Hall's ambassador sends to King Gorvan as soon as the celebrations start. King Gorvan sends his own men to check on the morrow. They find the gems gone and the wreckage of our intrusion. The shades are absent and they have no account but their own senses and whatever angry tirade their gods are likely to reveal to them. Honestly, they'll probably assume the same about the statue, a hidden sentry. The details of the rubies' protections must not have been recorded for their own security. But until I hear otherwise I must still assume that I am a marked woman, and this is a marked Fellowship."

Melinda kneels, and kisses Zanthia's hand. "I appreciate your absolution, Your Holiness, and receive it with my most sincere contrition. But it is Her Majesty and her nation of whom we are guests whom I have wronged, who shall most likely bear the brunt of whatever befalls this joyous occasion. How would you advise that I proceed?"

Started a war, my child? You have prevented a war, not started one.

"Consider. If you hadn't gone and gotten the necklaces, Cassandra would have had no choice but to invade to take the necklaces back. The loss of amazon life, invading the dwarves in their land, in their tunnels, would have been horrific. No one invades the dwarves, it would have been a blood bath.
Now, you have gone and liberated the necklaces. First of all, the dwarves aren't going to know about this for a long time, if ever. They dont have an ambassador here, that's not the dwarf way, so any celebration won't be reported on, and if the dwarfs hear about a celebration, they won't care, because amazons celebrate constantly. Some one finds a new color bird, and they have a party for it.

"Remember too that the necklaces weren't in the dwarf hands any more, but had been gone for a long long time, stolen by the orginal smugglers. The fact that Rockbelly had been looking into things would cause a stir, but the dwarves still would not have known what happened, because they had long ago lost track of them. Those shades, that golem, they were carrying orders issued thousands of years ago, and they wont be around to tell what happened. Even if, somehow, the dwarfs learned of the theft, they wouldn't invade the amazon lands, because then they would fighting on the amazons' turf. Just like the amazons wouldn't win in an invasion of dwarf lands, having to fight dwarf tactics, so too the dwarves wouldn't be able to win on amazon lands. The amazons would melt into the forest, cutting down the dwarves one by one, and never be seen.

"Go, fear not for what has happened here, for nothing will come of it.

Pride starts to leak around the edges of Melinda's countenance as Zanthia argues on. "All right, I confide in your judgement," she concedes at last, with a slightly forced yet very sincere sigh of relief. Still in a state of emotional upheaval, she seems very eager to put most of the day's events behind her. Having a solid train of logic coming from Zanthia makes the situation very much easier for her to swallow.

[Kalirren]

"Thank you," said Melinda as Tali accepted her hand. Melinda's fingers were long, but her palm was small. Even with a good fraction of Melinda's weight on that hand, the bardess was tiny, the sort of tiny that had suffered malnutrition as a child. "Do you know this place well yet? All we need is some soft bandage and a little privacy..."

One question and two hallways later they had both. A small meeting room, probably for a decently large smoking crowd, with a cushioned, raised table of ambiguous function for the circle leader. Melinda supported herself up onto the table with her good hand, and once she was seated, she immediately began to unfasten her top with her other hand. It was unusual to see motions this devoid of emotional intent from someone who was otherwise so sensual.

She pauses abruptly. "Did I do well today?" the bardess asks, out of the blue. "I mean, with their Holinesses. I wouldn't have said anything to them if I hadn't seen the way you bit yourself back," she clarifies. Her chat with Zanthia had clearly resolved some doubts, but only some.

Taleira seems less nervous now; her half-smile has returned, though now it seems less cocky and more friendly. "You did fine. I can't imagine it's easy to convince them to change their plans, but you did. Saving some of the necklaces for newcomers is a good idea for unity's sake. Big changes are bound to happen when we fulfill this prophecy and the Goddesses join. Our churches are different enough that something's going to have to give and somebody's going to end up on top when that happens. With that kind of thing looming, it's easy to get caught up in the power struggle and forget that we're all on the same side here. Even looking at our little bunch, you can see that sort of thing in play. Nocticula's shown her hand already with Lildorrinene, and I suspect that somebody else is an emissary, too. Lildorrinene's basically running the show here, and I can't see the Goddesses who don't like her position letting that last."

"You think there's more than one Emissary?" She sounds paradoxically relieved. "Yep, I'm pretty sure. If you've got any idea who, I'd love to hear it. Having it all secret is driving me nuts."

"Well, Elise and Leanne both left. (Curses, I forgot Leanne. Zanthia won't, I'm sure.) Szer and Pauline too. Lystara was giving me hope until Cleon got himself jailed. She's hardly spoken since. Consolation bet, I wager she's gone by morning." The bardess shook her head. "Not taking that bet. You're probably right."

"Whatever Dot thinks, she'll let me know last for my own protection, that's how we work. And that leaves you, me, and Lia. I think we both know what to think of that, hehe -cough, cough- ugh, hold this for me, please, will you?" Melinda had finished disrobing her outer layer, which she handed Taleira, and was down to a surprisingly monastic-looking tunic.

Tali takes the clothes, folds them, and sets them off to the side. "I don't think Lia is friendly with anyone. So that leaves just us, hmm?" "Yeah. You know, I've wondered before whether or not I'm the only one of our initial band who -actually- believes in the Triune anymore, and doesn't just have plans for it, or despair. Thank you for removing my doubts about it." Tali shrugs. "Glad I could help."

The curtain rattled. A young attendant girl promptly entered, bearing bandages and a jar of honey to bind them. "Apologies for my intrusion. I was told to bring these here," she said without nary any hesitation, presenting them to Melinda and setting them beside her on the table. The bardess was left with only a "Thank you," in that suspicious way that indicated she was vaguely uncomfortable. "My pleasure to serve," responded the girl. She bowed and left.

Melinda gave Taleira a very unsettled look. "That was creepy," Convenient, but creepy. "They're fast here." Taleira nods. "Probably one of the queen's spies as well."

Taleira looks down at the floor for a moment. "As far as biting myself back goes, you shouldn't read too much into it. I'd hoped nobody would notice, but I'm not too good at keeping my thoughts to myself, as you probably just noticed."

"You can be frank with me, I promise," responded Melinda, taking off her tunic with a wince. "That's all I want, that's all I've ever wanted. I've got a song about that too, but I'll sing that one another time." She unrolled a bandage. "You'd never heard the Seasons before, Tali? It's a song for women only slightly older than me," she quipped, "the ones in the big cities, Aunts like me who can't quite make Priestess, and find decent husbands instead before they go bankrupt. It's always sad, because once they leave, we can't really help them anymore. We just have to hope they've found a decent match. Someone who will be happy wearing them like a fancy necklace and won't resort to abusing them to keep themselves occupied in their old age."

"Want help with that?" Taleira stands, indicating the bandage in Melinda's hand. "As for the song, no. I'd not heard it, and it sounds depressing knowing what it's about. Why were you singing it, and here of all places? The City of Gardens isn't exactly the place to go looking for men to marry. I doubt you've got a thing for dwarves, and I don't think Tallesin's the marrying type. Nevermind the trouble you'd have fighting off the other girls to get to him ." Her last comment is delivered wryly, clearly meant as a joke to lighten the mood a bit.

"Hahaha...Sure, just help me measure this out. Take this end here, hold it to the back of my spine." Melinda requested. She raised her left arm, rested her left hand upon her head and turned her bare back to Tali. The bandage passed around the bottom of her ribcage to her sternum. "Higher? ...perfect." She gave herself about an extra handbreadth on each side and proceeded to rip 5 or 6 strips from the roll, folding them over for strength. "Healing is a lot like seduction. It's always better to set things right before you apply the magic." She smiled.

"And you end up alone with somebody and your clothes off either way," Taleira quips. Tali follows Melinda's instructions while the bardess measures her bandages. Even with that done, her hand lingers a moment longer than really necessary, then pulls back as if bitten. Taleira backs away, a bit too quickly, and averts her gaze a moment before returning to normal.

"Right, but seduction usually also involves not putting your clothes back on afterwards." "Fair point."

"Well, I don't think I have a chance with Tallesin at all, because I'm fully expecting one of his girls tonight to be Lil. I think she'll do it just for the giggles. Now, is that a bet you'll take?" Melinda let her rhetorical question hang mischievously.

"I'd take it. What's the stake? "Hmm. One read through your journal? ...that seems a bit much, since I don't keep one." Melinda's eyes narrowed. "I'll settle for the story behind the electrum piece. And for my side?" Taleira raises an eyebrow thoughtfully. "Hmm, you're making this hard. I don't know all that much about you to ask about. How 'bout telling me a little about yourself, maybe where you come from or how you got involved in all this?"

"Sure, but I'll end up telling you that for free one of these days. I don't want to cheat you." Melinda considered for a moment. "But if you win I'll sing you the song, too. Deal?" Taleira laughs lightly. "Deal. A song against a story on whether Tallesin and Lil get together tonight."

The bardess took her time folding, and for an ephemeral moment the bardess seemed completely at peace. "The song was for the necklaces, Tali, the necklaces," she lamented, her smile fading. "Who won today? Who did we win these necklaces for? To whom will they be given? Will they be appreciated, traded, abused, doctored, counterfeited? That song isn't so much depressing as it is dreadfully uncertain," Melinda commented, "which is just about my mood right now. Lil was all ready to give them straight up to Their Holinesses. Dot, for all her virtues, is not one to contest power. Even in the best case, you know exactly as well as I that any necklaces we gave up to them, we're not likely to see again until this is all over and done with. And I might easily be an old lady by then." Melinda bit back a sigh. "Thank you for giving me the impulse to beg for them, beg on their behalf. Praise the Ladies it worked."

"You get used to uncertainty when you live by the sword as much as I do. At some point, you just accept that some things are out of your hands and focus on doing what you can. There was no way the high priestesses would not use them, so it's a wonder that you talked them into conceding what you did."

"Yes, yes," concurred Melinda. "That is the way, one thing at a time, always more. Lady guide our footsteps." Melinda opened the honey jar and began smearing the strips with it. "Lia surprised me there with her support, actually. For some reason I can't bring myself not to suspect her least action of having ulterior motive," the bardess confessed. "Probably a good instinct. Did you catch Dalcar's comment about Lia knowing one of the Sisters of the Sword better than most? You want my guess, either she or Darya is another Emissary. I'd suspect Tallesin, but knowing my own church, it's just so much more likely that he owes Zanthia personally to have been sent on this quest."

"I caught it, and I wondered what she meant then. It did seem strange. Another Nocticulan Emissary, though? That implies that She doesn't have enough faith in Lil to trust that she'll see this through. If Lildorrinene found out that there were another one here to keep an eye on her, I can't even begin to say how she'd react. Darya, I can believe. She's the last Tishtinian that we can count on staying for the immediate future. Tallesin certainly appeared suddenly enough, too, so I won't discount him entirely. "

"I was just putting it down to a two-man con," offered Melinda. "Lil and Lia certainly seemed close from the beginning." "So they did. I'll keep that in mind.

"Anyway, so now the game's changed," Melinda continued, gritting her teeth as she dipped the brush back into the jar. "This little fellowship is one thing. At this point each of the high priestesses still wants their own champions to be strong. But when the cards come down, the Triune needs all three of the old faiths to be more or less equally weak. As much as I hate the idea of working them against each other even as they each work for our benefit, I'm sure they've seen it coming. That began today already."

"They're already set against each other. Tishtina's people have nearly dropped out of the quest, and Lildorrinene set herself up as the leader about as soon as she met us all at the Cup. Not to offend, but the pecking order I see emerging from our merry little band is Nocticula->Sabrina->Tishtina, barring something changing things dramatically."

"Wait, you didn't know Lil either?" Melinda backtracks, surprised. "So much for my presumption that you were all old acquaintances." remarks the bardess as she launches forth into another explanation. "All the Sabrinites know each other, and have known each other. You've seen me and Dot. I've performed for Elise before on many an occasion. Arcaneous used to show up there too every once in a while. Leanne I know least well, but I'm fairly sure she's another one of Dot's. I think Dot's actually quite prolific as a mentor. She'll just never admit it."

Tali shakes her head. "I didn't know anybody else personally when I got here. The only ones I even recognized right away were Dalcar and Casandra."

"How do you know Cassandra?" Melinda's appetite for stories was voracious. "I thought I saw you bow differently to her."

Tali nods. "You did see that. I'm an amazon, remember? I was born here in the City of Gardens. I don't know her personally, but I knew who she was from seeing her while I was growing up."

"Oooh, I see," acknowledges the bardess. "I was never sure. Always suspected you were from your accent, I should have trusted myself. You'll have to tell me more about this area some time."

"And of course I saw that," Melinda added as an afterthought. Her eyes wandered, as if enjoying a memory. "Of course I pay attention to the way you move."

"As we grow beyond about a dozen or fifteen people it starts being about blocs, not single leaders," Melinda expounded. There's going to be five dozen of us eventually. Us, the Sisters of the Sword, nine novitiates over whom we had better exert our due influence, and 10 to be recruited from each faith, whom we are in a rapidly fading position to lead. But we still have momentum," insisted Melinda, waving the honeyed brush in the air with determination, "and while we still do, we have to gather the largest bloc we can. We'll probably need to eventually leave at least one of the High Priestesses behind as a leader of the old bloc if this Triune is to have a truly new future." Melinda shuddered at the scale of the very task she was proposing. "Lady knows, we need our own base of operations."

"A base, certainly. We can't keep coming back here for too long; Casandra will make sure that our successes get parlayed into her own while we stay in the City of Gardens. Same thing if we stay in either of the other home cities." Taleira looks up at the ceiling a moment, then back at Melinda. "New Kroy isn't ideal for us politically, but there's a certain symbolism to making our base near Cassiopia's home. It might be worth considering."

"I'm glad you agree about the need. And also about New Kroy," Melinda replies with a growing smile, the inverse of nostalgia. Up went her arm again. She starts to move her bad shoulder around, and winced once or twice. Finally she ran two fingers down the countour of the injured bone. "Good. Help?" came the expected request. She was holding one end of a sticky bandage fast to her breastbone with her other hand. "Just lay them on snugly, in parallel, to that spot on my back again. Don't worry if the first one doesn't stick, just layer on top of it."
"Sure." Taleira nods and sets to work. "The trick now is just convincing the rest to go along with it."

She continued to speak as Taleira worked. "I like that place for its potential. Especially given current events, Cassandra certainly won't want to ship anything west anymore."

Before addressing the next point, Taleira checks that nobody is listening in on their conversation from outside the curtains. "As for leaving Their Holinesses behind, well, that's going to be a hard thing to convince the others of. If we're right and Lystara drops out of the hunt, I think we'll have the easiest time distancing ourselves from Casandra. I don't know what the internal politics of your church are like, so I can't judge how much trouble it will be to convince the others to abandon Zanthia. For mine, I think Dalcar will hang on tooth and nail. Lia's support tonight was encouraging, but I don't know that we can count on her; Lildorrinene will do whatever she thinks will put her in the best position."

"It's really too early to think about this personally," Melinda shook her head. "Not useless to speculate, but I wouldn't bet on anything we say here now." She let the subject drop. "Thank you so much, Tali. You have a wonderful touch. Some final touches, and..." Two fingers ran across the bandage, and the tiny movements underneath her skin showed that flesh and bone were knitted. Her palm passed across the other way, and everything that wasn't set just right suddenly was as well. "...All done," Melinda said with a proud sigh. "Still smarts, but it will heal correctly. I'll endure penance for insolence but I won't let myself be punished for it."

A hint of amusement creeps into Taleira's voice. "First time I've heard that in this context. Insolence, of course, I know all about."

"And you? What are you planning on doing with your newfound celebrity, O Victrix of the Cups?" Intent was beginning to creep back into her speech. "Pick some fool ambitious warrior-king wannabe, seduce a nation, conquer yourself a kingdom, oust him with his own army? You really needn't bother with a rat's nest like New Kroy. That place is scraps for a fool like me to pick up. I barely even jest."

Tali shrugs. "I hadn't really thought about what I'm going to do after this. Being queen of somewhere doesn't sound like a bad idea, though."

It would suit you marvelously," encouraged the bardess. "You could even set that old electrum piece in your crown. Show the world that this is what it's all about." With her knuckles Melinda bumped Taleira through her armor, once on her sternum, once over her heart, once in the space over her necklace. "Power, passion, wealth...? These three are every woman's destiny and due. Civilization itself is a means to this simple end." She repeated the gesture on her own body. "And everything else in civilization simply stands between us and our birthright." Melinda's eyes glinted for an instant, as if illuminated by a naked, mystical fire. They stared straight into Taleira's eyes and past them at the same time.

And as quickly as it happened, part of Melinda pulled back, as if burnt. Her palm covered her necklace, pressed it to her own bosom, and she seemed nervous, almost contrite. "You've heard so much of what I believe. Do you still like me, Tali?"

"Of course I do." Taleira encircles Melinda in what's meant to be a comforting hug, though it's a bit awkward as the fighter tries to avoid the bardess's hurt rib. "We've seen eye to eye this whole time. You're smarter than me in half a dozen ways, you're passionate, you're beautiful, what wouldn't I love?"

Reflexively, Melinda sends her bad arm sliding underneath Taleira's as it comes towards her, which instead sends the amazon's embrace quite comfortably, and far closer, over her own shoulder. Her other arm snakes over Tali's, pinning her elbow to her own waist. Smiling as she returns Taleira's hug, Melinda takes advantage of the brief moment when their weights were joined to let her hips slide forward just an inch. Suddenly the two of them are moving as one mass pivoting on the edge of the table.

"Then why are you afraid of me?" came the bardess's damnably calm whisper, no louder than it needed to be to reach Tali's ear with electrifying clarity. Yet down her neck Tali could feel the warm impulses of Melinda's short, deep breaths. Some things never lied. "You needn't be..."

Taleira stiffens involuntarily for a fraction of a second and opens her mouth to say something, but then she relaxes and lets herself lean slowly back onto the table. As she does, she pulls Melinda's lips to her own and locks the bardess into a kiss with one hand while her other hand slides down Melinda's back to keep her close. When she breaks off the kiss a few moments later, Tali looks up into Melinda's eyes and whispers her answer to the bardess's question. "Not afraid of you. Afraid of hurting you."

[Kalirren]

Melinda feels a telepathic bond between herself and Lia strengthen, excluding all others.

[Lia casts Telepathic bond (hidden by Sleight of hand as posted in the IC thread)]

A moment passes and Melinda hears Lia's mental voice, "I will always find time for my sisters. What did you wish to discuss?"

"Couple of things. First I wanted to thank you for following my suit yesterday with the necklaces," Melinda begins. "I was really in no mental shape then to open a debate with them about their allocation. I couldn't have won it if any single one of their Holinesses had fought it. Or Lil, for that matter. It would have been Dalcar, since it was my suggestion, but you swayed her. That won them for us."

"The second thing's related. Your having arranged for the guardian reminded me to ask you about this all. Dalcar mentioned you had maintained contact with one of the six Sisters of the Sword. Which was it? And do you know if she's remained close to any of the others? I'm looking for a way for us, or a Triune Fellowship, to make or validate recommendations about the last nine necklaces, moderate the immediate influence of the High Priestesses. I think better that the six of them do than that the seven of us do. But you know more. How do you feel about this?"

While nothing she has said has been false of heart, Melinda is clearly not as good at hiding her own motivations in telepathy as she is in speech. An uneasiness of thought persists in her tone that she never betrays out loud.

Lia considers Melinda's words for a moment, and then responds with a question of her own, "Before I answer, I need to ask you something ... and it is a question of faith: How do you feel about those who are, or will be called to serve the Trinity who do not currently worship Nocticula, Sabrina or Tishtina?"

Lia mental tone is very serious, and unlike normal, she doesn't seem to be hiding her thoughts or feelings.

"Lia, I'm an evangelist," Melinda responds reflexively. "I sell ideas. I sell novelty to the powerful, traditions to the lay, and true love to those who are willing to admit that it can be bought. If the old faiths were all I were interested in, I'd just add some more traditions to my repertoire and peddle them. But that's really nothing special," she dismisses.

Melinda gestures with flick of the eye. "Look at Alyssa's shrine. She's got her own Trinity set up, to show what she is, what her Love means. That's something special. That right there is Faith at its purest, straight from a single heart, I know it when I see it. Ailena, Endolin, Tishtina. Wife, mother, lover. And all of us put together are really only one of those three." She thinks that with more than a twinge of guilt, but recovers. "If we really are going to build the faith of one Goddess of Love, then our fellowship has a lot of spiritual growth to do. And a lot of it is going to come from outside the three old faiths. The sooner we admit that, I think, the better."

"Assuming for the moment it were feasible, do you think inviting the Sisters of the Sword to mediate between the High Priestesses would emphasize Tradition, with a capital T, a little too much?"

Lia considers Melinda a moment, and then nods to herself. Almost immediately following, Melinda hears Lia's mental voice again, "To answer your question then, I am still in Contact with the sisters, and in particular Shendala and myself are already attempting to organize a group, including the other two sisters who were in the earlier cup of the gods, to keep an eye out for those touched by the Trinity, within the faiths or outside of them."

Lia pauses, "There is a lot more going on within the older faiths than I believe our companions are aware of. Change is good and in this case I intend to encourage it where I can. In that vein I do believe that if the Sisters, or indeed we ourselves make a recommendation as to the allocation of one of the remaining rubies, that that recommendation will likely be sufficient for the three high priestesses. I don't see any necessity for a 'Formal' mediation role."

Lia grins and Melinda can hear the humor in Lia's voice as she comments, "Love is an ever-changing constant. It endures, it changes, and very much like our own natures, it is a chaotic force. I envisage that the Trinity could well be described as such, and hence I can understand why many of the other gods fear her coming. As a force of chaos and change, she will ... unsettle things."

"'Fear only the other faiths,' our Lady said," replies Melinda. "You know, that's the second time I've been reminded of that today. I have to admit I really don't understand what there is to fear about love," the bardess remarks. "It's always seemed to me that the people who are most afraid of love are afraid of losing some element of themselves that they don't even know they hate. But I've often turned a blind eye, sometimes willfuly, to what goes on in the real centers of power even in my own Fellowship. Institutions just don't feel, like people do."

"I think I understand now why you've been so secretive about this. You're getting something real done, not just chasing after silly prophecy," Melinda reflects with a wry twist. "Yet Dalcar knows, doesn't she? You know, my turn to ask you a question of faith. How do you feel about men? What place should they have in the future of our faith?"

Lia responds, with a warning of sorts, "A word of advice: I wouldn't underestimate any of the high priestesses, or indeed any of those high up in the power structure of the three faiths. In particular don't underestimate just what they do or don't know. They have much more resources at their fingers than we do, and they have sat in seats of power for a long time."

[Note- by 'high up in the power structure of the three faiths', Lia is obviously referring to those whose personal power is of epic proportions]

Before answering Melinda's most recent question, Lia is quiet for several moments, "For the sake of the Trinity, I will answer you honestly, even in this... I have no reason to love men, and my past experiences have given me many reasons to hate them. Thus, excepting only the commands of the goddess, I will not suffer a man in any form of true intimacy. That said, you needn't have any worries that I am as shortsighted as Lil, which is I suppose what has prompted your question is it not?"

"Still, you asked on the basis of Faith, and I have answered only on a personal basis. As far as Faith goes, I know and accept that men will have a place in what is to come, Lil's Vrock ... or should I say Lil's Trial, is evidence of Nocticula's opinion in this matter were I to need such. Further yet, I can and will work with men as equals ... though the situation is easier when they are capable and show me the same professional respect as I show them. Take Cleon, the dwarven sage, for instance, he is an irrepressible lecher, and yet he shows respect for skill regardless of the form in which that skill is placed."

Although there is some physical distance between you and Lia, you can see Lia watching your expression carefully, "Does that ... satisfy your concerns?"

"Satisfy?" Melinda's presence seems slightly taken aback. "I didn't intend to present you with a dogmatic hurdle, Sister. I was asking for your perspective upon our mission, just as you asked for mine."

"The issue of men comes up as soon as we move outside the three faiths," Melinda states matter-of-factly. "Men love differently. A pessimist might say they love truly not at all, but I'm an optimist. If we're seeking to find and incorporate Love from outside the faiths, then sooner or later it will be this Fellowship's place to advocate for their interest." That thought is clearly distasteful to the bardess. Melinda had been using her walking stick rather civilly as a walking stick, but at that thought it comes off the ground. She is holding the stick close to its top, so it trails behind her some feet, but it doesn't hit the ground. Lia sees that Melinda's grip on it is tense.

"I'm deeply conflicted about this. It goes against centuries of Sabrinan tradition alone, and those are just the songs I know. Some individuals are fine," she goes on, "But give men an inch collectively, and they'll stick their collective pricks in it and beat you o'er the head for more. What do we do? Does it fall to us by virtue of our holy mission to compromise the integrity of the victories our faiths have won for our fellowships?" She seems unwilling to pursue that thought any further.

"I actually wasn't thinking about Lil and her mystic sage slave," Melinda changes course, her tone brightening. "Love transcends the flesh. It frankly boggles my mind that outsiders can be tractably male or female at all. It would take me, a silly mortal, all of five heartbeats and a whistle to change into a male form. Many of my clients enjoy it. Does my adoption of that form, or any form, impede on the spiritual exaltation I enjoy in the Temptress, in practicing Her sacred vocation? I would hope not."

"So the idea that power should be held over outsider 'males' by right of their bizarre 'maleness' for centuries, entire human lives, speaks to me of a certain paucity of spirit, and imagination. Honestly, it reeks of the stagnancy of power. Now, there's something all churches have in common. That's why I shut myself from it." Her tone darkens again. "That may be a luxury I don't have anymore."

Lia smiles softly as she strokes the Sword, "I didn't mean to be so defensive, but men are still somewhat of a sensitive point to me."

She pauses a moment before continuing, "... there is much in what you say and one might contemplate whether 'maleness' is something that transcends form, and if so then what precisely it would mean to be 'male' or 'female'. However in response to your thoughts on our path, I do see a middle ground. Consider a moment our newest companion, Tallesin, chosen by Sabina to join us, at least according to the high priestess. There are men with whom I can work, men like him who do not continuously think with their pricks - or at least who hide it well if they do. With such men we might build something that would not sabotage all that has been achieved thus far."

Lia muses, "Now that I consider it, it might be that a part of that which is to come to the Trinity will be male, and I would be tempted to bet that that might be an area of recruiting that could well have been overlooked or underepresented in the current expansion of the faiths .... How ironic!"

"Oh, I understand the touchiness," Melinda responds. "Forgive me for judging by appearances, but you do seem rather young. I think you're the youngest of all of us remaining. And all the more impressively accomplished for your age, if you are. Pauline was younger, but also far more sheltered. The shock every girl gets when she realizes just how badly some men are willing to treat women wears off after a while. It wears off quicker with good fellowship." She nodded like a doctor giving a prescription.

"The idea of maleness in the faith is definitely worth thinking about. We need to have a message to sell to men, if only to get them off our backs and stop them from cheering for the misogynists at the Cups. I don't have one yet," she admits.

"The traditional way of the Sabrinites is that all men who worship Sabrina are lay worshippers. And some of our most fervent zeal comes from the lay. Of course, they organize themselves into a lay hierarchy all their own that receives privileges from the people in the main hierarchy. It's almost like a church within a church, whose existence we tolerate by default because of its disproportionately immense utility," Melinda muses.

"Individual attitudes differ, of course. Some people hate them and don't think they belong in a women's faith, some people use them, some people laugh and largely ignore them. I'm of the opinion we should take responsibility for the men we shape, and we do shape them heavily. In return they become assets, not just resources, both to themselves and to us." A telepathic laugh, very well auditorially conceived. "Now that I think about it, that is institutional Love if I've ever seen it. What a strange idea."