There was no information on what the Temples actually look like in the Vayal information booklet, so I don’t know what to expect, and I’m surprised when I’m blinking my eyes in idyllic, buttery sunshine.
A separate pocket dimension?
The Diligence compound is a huge pasture blanketed in soft, bright grass. Fluffy cows dot the field, and in the centre is a huge, beautiful mill. Diligence students turn it idly while reading or chatting. Encasing the space is a massive stone wall (I can make out a few devotees walking along the parapets), which itself is ringed by lush gardens overflowing with colourful produce, which the cows help themselves to.
I stand in a small group of other new devotees, breeze ruffling us. I see Katarina in the front, and she sees me too, comes to join me, but a voice from behind interrupts.
“Hey, good game.”
I turn to find Mathilde and feel a rush of pleasure, like she’s a friend and not someone who I’ve only thought about as a target to kill. “Thanks. You were a really tough fight.”
She laughs. She’s got a soft, classic sort of face, but her smile makes her seem wicked.
“Please. Before Syrene pulled the moon stunt you were wiping the floor with me. I was limping down to that basement to die.”
“Believe me, I wasn’t feeling good either.”
She rolls her eyes. “Whatever, at least I know one person here. I was hoping to land a place in Drive, I’ve heard they get up to crazy shit over there. Guess I wasn’t hungry enough.”
“I actually wanted a place in Drive too,” I say. Not until Mae turned her wrist to reveal a little red hare, but still.
“I’ll pretend I didn’t just hear that blasphemy on sacred grounds. Oh, Hattie.” Vila says my name with something approaching loathing, looking very official with a clipboard levitating before her. She regains her composure, and her voice is cheerful when she says “all new devotees, welcome to Diligence!” A wide smile shows off her canines. “How you spend your time here is up to you, as long as you remember that we believe in effort above all. We are not a Temple of shortcuts. We understand the road to hell is the shortest one, and only by travelling the long path can we attain true mastery of magic. The sedulous mage is the successful mage. Now, if you’ll all follow me, we’re doing a tour.”
We fall in behind her and she starts in on the gardens, going on about how the Diligence temple is the last place in the Empire where crops are grown without the use of magic.
“We do things slowly here,” she says, eyes closed importantly. “We believe in the value of ritual and routine. Our connection with our work strengthens our soul — which strengthens our magic.”
“Psst!” Katarina’s pretty lisped voice from behind me. I fall back, and Mathilde sticks to my side like glue. The vampyr speaks in a whisper, huge parasol bouncing on her shoulder. “You two are fools. Reason is clearly the superior temple. I thought for certain I had secured my place there, but alas.”
Mathilde tilts her head, “I heard they just had a big library. Kinda lame.”
Katarina actually hisses. “I suppose you prefer useless chores? At least I’d be out of the sun.”
“I mean I’m not about the chores,” says Mathilde, “but the big wall is cool. Wonder what’s outside?”
“First Years are under no circumstances to venture outside the walls,” says Vila in a tone so sharp I wonder if she heard us talking. Mathilde flashes the mountain lion a flirtatious smile that she definitely does notice, causing her to frown, unimpressed and unroused. “Spirits are drawn to our little demiplane here — ones who have led particularly diligent, assiduous lives. Many are sources of wisdom and aid — this is why you are allowed to venture beyond the compound once we know you can be trusted.”
“She’s cute,” says Mathilde, dimpling as she eyes Vila, who rolls her eyes along with Katarina.
“Would you girls stop talking during the tour? This is vital information. Klara Ovali died last year, outside these walls. Any more and it’s a black mark.”
I know that Mathilde could call this bluff, but she contents herself with the vampyr. “Heard your plan got your team killed. Whoops.”
“We faced impossible odds and performed admirably-”
“You lost forty-one players.”
“Their trick-”
“A good leader anticipates tricks.”
“And that was you, was it? I won’t hear any more taunts from a lap dog.”
“I know what I like, and what I’m good at. I don’t embarrass myself playing leader when I don’t have the fangs.” She touches her own canine tooth (barely extended at all in her human form) and smiles.
I try to break them up. “The tour’s moving on.” It’s like they don’t hear me. “We can’t miss the tour, we’ll-”
Katarina breaks away, sheltering from the sun under the shadow of a sturdy storehouse, jars of preserves visible through the narrow window. “I can’t listen to any more of this, not under the blasted sun.”
Mathilde follows. “Need a nice cave to crawl into and cry, bat?”
Stupidly I stay with them, thinking I can keep them out of trouble.
“By the Gods, you’d think the last word is some bone you can sink your teeth into,” Katarina complains.
“Not all I’d like to sink my teeth into.”
“Puerile mutt.”
“Mutt? I guess people always said I’m a different breed.”
“Gods, who is this for?”
“You, by the look of your cheeks.”
“I’m burning up!”
“Excuse me.”
I turn away from their argument and towards the new voice. Svelgi stands with her eyes darting side to side. “You shouldn’t… it’s- the tour-”
I’m so happy to see her alive that I rush forward and hug her. After a moment of stillness, her whole weight collapses into me.
“I’m sorry, Svelgi,” of all the deaths I saw in the Temple Games, the sweet rabbit’s is the one that stuck with me. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone look so afraid.
“Oh- no! It’s not- you didn’t-”
Mathilde bolts for a side gate and settles into its little alcove, hidden from the watchers on the walls. Katarina follows, tutting.
“Going to smash down the gate, brute?”
“Would you like that?”
Katarina drops her parasol in irritation. “You are far too confident.”
Mathilde pushes her against the wall, arms either side of her head. “You like that. I can smell it.”
Katarina gapes. “You’re the only one here with such filthy intentions, dog.”
“Hmm.” Mathilde tilts her head, smiling. “You’re not my type. Too uptight; no fun.” She pushes away from the wall and cocks a hip, surveying the gate as Katarina fumes. “You know what could be fun, though? Seeing what kind of cool shit they keep hidden from us firsties.”
“Okay, m-maybe we should leave them be,” Svelgi says.
I’m inclined to agree when Mathilde creates a fist of tight white fire and slams it into the gates latch, knocking it loose. Svelgi and I scurry after the tour group as Katarina says, “Mongrel, you’ll die in there!”