Tales of Midbar: Religious Intolerance
The Storm - Part 1

Do I have to go over the next bit? It’s really pretty awful. Quiet honesty I don’t think I can give a blow by blow account, I was traumatized, confused and getting very tired.

Iandris kept screaming and moaning for a long time.

Lishrashic started arguing but it was difficult to understand what he was saying. I think his point was that the Winemakers were infringing on his religious freedom until Veran said that he should keep quiet for legal reasons.

Veran said that we should try not to change things before his forensics team could get there.

Ice said that Cloud and Irvis had heard a scream from the Conservatory and decided to go and get help. They’d been found by Veran who didn’t believe them and had just escorted them out the park but that’s when Ice, Rainbow and River had arrived and did believe the boys.

River got back quickly and said that other people were on their way. "Other people" turned out to be my parents, the resident Haprihagfen men, I think all the Minris police, Poslit and some medical people. The police decided that they should get everybody out and that me, Breeze, Lishrashic and Iandris should go to the hospital. At that point, Ice insisted on getting the tube off Breeze and putting her shorts back on. It occured to me that the picture of Breeze and myself in the Conservatory that had been displayed by Yoldasia’s Old Magic seemed to relate to this incident.

The hospital was fairly chaotic. The building was fairly small, with a small staff and they wanted to keep me and Breeze away from Lishrashic and Iandris. There were some people, who I think were reporters, who I was also kept away from. There seemed to be a lot of arguments, I think between lawyers, police and doctors, but I didn’t hear much. A doctor looked me over, including my private parts, which I didn’t like. That was worse than anything Lishrashic had actually done to me! I finally managed to go home with my parents at about nine in the morning. Mum and Dad said that I should try to catch up on my sleep and not bother going to school for the day.

I think I managed to get to sleep, partly because I found it comforting to feel Tianamet’s presence. It occured to me that as Breeze had basically saved me and she was a Winemaker, I should keep my promise to become a proper Winemaker. Also I didn’t like what I’d learnt about Temple Prostitutes and really couldn’t follow a religion that did that sort of thing. I decided that I could worry about that when I was feeling better.

I don’t think I’d been asleep long when I was woken up, it was still blue day. A police mage I didn’t know had come to talk to me. He said he was from Taunbrit. He was a nibey and wore a visor, which I’m sure was a magic detector. Yes, I think he must have been that one. He asked me about how experienced I was with magic, he must have been able to tell that I didn’t have associates. Then he started asking about Old Magic. Of course I don’t know much about Old Magic, I think Yoldasia is the only person who does. He also seemed very interested in Iandris’s fortune telling spell and Yoldasia’s spell that had showed me with a Temple Prostitute.

“What was a prostitute of Derlgar doing with normal teenagers in Minris?” he asked.

“I don’t know. One of the teenagers was Breeze, one was me and we’re Winemakers so we’re not exactly normal.”

He probably knew that Breeze was a, well probably the, anavah magis and must have known that I was a nibeyah.

“You are apart from being a Winemaker,” said Mum, crossly.

“... and I didn’t recognise the other two, they may not have been normal. The girl was a bennis. I don’t want to sound racist but it’s just that there aren’t many bennis, not round here.”

“Why would the temple of Derlgar let a prostitute out?”

“I don’t know!”

“You and Breeze are Winemakers, why would you be with a prostitute of Derlgar?”

“I don’t know. It hasn’t happened yet! We’re going to be teenagers when that happens, if it happens! Old Magic’s notoriously unreliable!”

“Doesn’t Yoldasia combine it with associate magic?” asked the mage.

“I think so.”

“Wouldn’t that make it more reliable?”

“Possibly.”

“She’s not a mage!” said Dad. “Ask Poslit!”

“He’s just a level one mage,” said the police mage. “I’m level three and I don’t know much about this.”

“Ice probably knows more,” I said.

“Or you could ask Yoldasia,” said Dad.

“I’m going to do that. I just thought you might know why two people foresaw something to indicate that your daughter is or will become a Temple Prostitute.”

“No,” said Dad.

I think that was a lie but I wasn’t in a good mental state.

“Anyway,” said the mage, “I think I’ve done my job here.”

I went back to bed. The idea that I really should do something about making myself a real Winemaker was bugging me more. I didn’t think I could talk to my parents about it. I could hardly just march over to the Vineyard and demand that Cloud or Irvis marry me, besides I was fairly sure that they’d have to marry anavot and I didn’t feel I was in love with one of them anyway.

Then two more police arrived with a lawyer and questioned me. We ended up going over the whole thing from when I’d first met Iandris to when Veran, Ice, River and Rainbow had arrived at the conservatory. My parents were unhappy about this and I had to scrub round things that involved people’s korbarim. You don’t want me to go over all the going over this stuff do you? It was really horrible! Particularly as they also seemed interested in Iandris’s fortune telling and Yoldasia’s Revelation spell.

“Do we need a lawyer?” Dad said eventually.

“It looks as if part of Lishrashic’s defence will be that there were two magical predictions that indicated that Eleprin was, or would become, a prostitute,” said the lawyer.

“I’ve kissed men in temples and I’ve never been a prostitute!” said Mum.

“The only Winemaker temple is surrounded by Nuharas who don’t let Winemakers go there,” said one of the cops.

“Winemakers can visit other temples,” said Mum. “We’re not very strict Winemakers.”

“Eleprin’s never been a prostitute,” said Dad. “She’s a Winemaker so she won’t become a Temple Prostitute and, if I have anything to do with it, she’ll never be a street prostitute! She doesn’t know much about magic! She doesn’t know what’s going to happen in the future! I’ve no idea why a prostitute of Derlgar will be in Minris and I’m sure Eleprin is just as mystified! If you insist on this line of questioning, I’ll have to call a lawyer!”

The others all stared, as if he’d just claimed to be an avatar. Then they packed up their notes and portable computers and left.

Doctor Uldrien came to our apartment.

You know what he looks like!

A quippa nibey with tattoos of Trulist gods all over his body. I instantly took a dislike to him, which is strange because I should like nibeyim. It wasn’t his race, or his religion or even the fact that he had Astrigis prominently tattooed on the back of his left hand (which had six fingers so presumably he must have had some faharni ancestry). I felt that he looked on me the way a bounty hunter looks at a wanted criminal. I also felt that he was very manipulative (unusual for a nibey) and couldn’t be trusted. I don’t know who had arranged for him to come. He started by explaining that he was a psychiatrist who specialized in treating victims of child sex abuse. He was treating the Night Leaper Victims and Breeze. He wasn’t allowed to talk to me about what had actually happened as that may cause legal problems if they wanted me to testify in the trial.

Mum and Dad sat in the living room with me. They seemed to think this was OK, which somehow made the whole thing worse.

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