Tymora's Luck - Kate Novak [30]
Holly's voice wavered uncertainly as she explained. "Lathander sent me a vision telling me it was all right that I didn't fight my friend for the hand. I would have lost anyway, but that wasn't what stopped me. I owed my life to both Joel and his god. Bane was almost resurrected, which would have been a great evil, but then Walinda, a priestess of Bane, learned she couldn't trust her own god. So not only wasn't he resurrected, but Walinda also ceased worshiping him. So a greater good came out of not fighting Joel and Finder. Lathander said that it was more important to follow the spirit of his orders so that greater good is accomplished than to just follow the letter of the law."
"But even though it served goodness, you still felt guilty that you couldn't obey Lathander's instructions to the letter," Aurora guessed.
Holly nodded. "That's what I had to explain to the asuras when he asked me if I felt guilty about anything. The riverboat captain told me that the asuras was barmy, that he asked everyone that question before he let them pass. The asuras helped me clarify how I thought and felt about it all, though," the paladin explained.
"So an irrational asuras can also serve the cause of good," Aurora suggested.
Holly smiled. "I hadn't thought of it that way, but it's true, isn't it?" Aurora took up Holly's hands in her own. "You are a quick learner. That is good."
The paladin's blush was evident, even beneath her dark brown skin. She grinned again.
At Aurora's bidding, they resumed walking, and Holly spoke in greater detail about her most recent adventure trying to thwart the resurrection of Bane.
The orchard gave way to a meadow, through which flowed a small stream. They crossed over the stream by way of an arched bridge. Birds twittered excitedly in the meadow, flying low over the grass to catch insects. From somewhere downstream came an odd hissing noise and an annoying clanging. Aurora directed Holly to travel in that direction.
There was a clearing where the stream intersected a second stream. In the clearing stood a great complex clockwork machine constructed of metal, marble, glass, and gemstones. The hissing came from steam escaping from a valve at the top of a huge brass barrel. Beneath the barrel burned a fire so hot its flames shimmered with white and blue. Attached to the barrel were pieces that moved up and down or back and forth, causing the clanking. The moving pieces disappeared into a giant sarcophagus mounted atop a pedestal. Rising from the sarcophagus were chunks of glass and crystals, which glowed and sparked.
"What is it?" Holly whispered to Aurora.
"My gift to the Morninglord," a deep voice answered. The voice rang throughout the clearing, but its source became obvious when a figure stepped out from behind the sarcophagus. The figure was that of a tall man whose beard and hair were flames and whose robes shimmered with the colors of fire. Holly was a tall girl, as tall as some men, but the fiery-haired figure towered over her. He had piercing green eyes, which for some unknown reason made Holly feel uncomfortable.
Aurora bowed respectfully toward the man, and Holly followed suit.
"My Lord Sirrion, allow me to present Holly Harrowslough," the priestess said. "Holly, this is Sirrion of the Flowing Flame. He is an ally of Lord Lathander's and a god of a people on a world in a sphere far from your own. Lord Sirrion is building a machine to help with a magical spell so that Lord Lathander can right an ancient wrong."
"What will the machine do?" Holly asked the foreign god.
Sirrion's fiery eyebrows raised in surprise. "Your people speak whenever they choose, don't they?" he asked Aurora.
Holly felt her blood rush to her face as she realized she'd just addressed a god so blithely, but Aurora came immediately to her defense.
"Holly Harrowslough is an honored knight of the Order of the Aster, Lord Sirrion," the priestess replied. "Lord Lathander encourages his followers to question what they do not understand that they might learn and so better serve the Morninglord."