[It's early in the morning. Tiffany is, strangely, already gone, in spite of being more tired than anybody else. The others are still asleep. It occurs to you that the early morning may well be the best time to visit this Feld at his temple.] * Harold is making his way slowly to the temple, pausing sometimes to ask rather shamefacedly for directions. Still, he shouldn't take too long finding it-- it ultimately has to be kind of hard to miss, even for him. * The temple itself, once located, doesn't look much like a temple, especially to a Christian. It looks rather more like a farmhouse, and, in fact, there is a fertile garden surrounding the small cottage that is apparently the temple. * Harold seems a little overwhelmed by the garden, and will make his way slowly toward the door while he looks around to take it all in. * The garden itself bears many plants, none of which appear to be decorative, though many are beautiful in their own way. There are patches of many of the more common spice herbs, along with a great many medicinal plants, and patches of vegetables. * The door itself is closed, and is very simple, something you'd expect any random villager to live in. * Harold frowns, wondering if he was misdirected, but knocks on the door anyway. * A soft voice comes from behind the house. "I'm in the backyard." Oh? Ah, sorry... * Harold tries to find his way around to the "backyard" as best he can, without stepping on any of the garden plants. * As Harold steps out into the neatly maintained garden, it seems almost to open up, and there are suddenly well defined paths that weren't apparent from the front walkway. ... * Harold goes _very quickly_ toward the backyard. Something isn't right about all this and he'd rather not think about it more than he has to. * The side yard is much the same as the front yard, but the backyard is dominated by a large field of corn, incongruous though it is to have in the middle of a town. * A young man is kneeling next to patch of herbs, carefully picking out weeds. The smell of freshly bruised mint dominates the air, overwhelming all the other plants in the yard. * Harold pauses, and stopped initially by the strong smell of mint. Once he looks down, he finally sees the person who most likely spoke with him, and sighs with relief at how normal-seeming the young man is. "Ah... hello... you wouldn't happen to be Feld, would you?" * The young man turns around, revealing his pretty, almost beautiful face. You've a feeling that Sophie might well faint if and when she meets him. "That I am. Can I help you, stranger?" * Harold suddenly seems a bit uncomfortable. "Pretty" and "man" are not concepts he's used to associating. "I, ahm-- eheh-- the mayor s-said I should see you...." He did? I wonder why he'd do that. Well... I'm new, here, and I have this mark, you see... * Harold pauses in his rambling to show Feld the Auryn on his hand. "So, he said we had to be adventurers, but I probably wouldn't be very good at anything to do with adventuring..." ... and then he said I should come here for divine guidance, and I thought this might be a Temple for _my_ God and I was kind of disappointed when I found out it wasn't, but _then_ he said I should come here anyway and see you because it would be important. ... so. I'm here. * Harold finishes with a big, nervous grin as he realizes how incredibly stupid most of that must have sounded. * Feld nods knowingly. "Your god... which god is it?" Um... you probably don't know him. ^^; We call him, ah... God. Just... 'God'. * Harold seems to be having a sudden realization about how inconvenient that is. * Feld looks confused for a moment, but then nods knowingly. He's... um, good.... Oh, I don't doubt it. I'd imagine you're having trouble dealing with the idea of multiple deities. Well... not exactly. I'm just not supposed to believe in any of them. I don't want to give offense, but it's just... a rule of ours? Does that make any sense? Well... it's somewhat difficult to not believe in them, all things considered. The first thing you need to know is that deities have power, and are not at all afraid to invest it in their faithful. Magic, you mean? * Feld smiles. "Precisely." * Harold 's nervousness seems to ratchet up a notch. "Oh... really...." I take it this is not true in your land? Well... sort of, now that I think about it... Ordained priests have the power to do some things that ordinary people can't... give the blessing to sacraments, and absolve others from their sins... All of the saints were supposedly able to work miracles, and there's stories like that for other Earth religions, too... although I'm not supposed to believe in those, either... ... hmm. I guess things aren't so different here. Miracles? Like what? Like... healing the sick, raising the dead... hearing messages from angels, seeing prophecies about the future... * Feld nods. "But these are just legends?" Well... most people think of them that way, but we're _supposed_ to believe in them... But you've never seen them for yourself? I've been to Mass before, and confession... but no, I haven't actually seen any of the other things. But... who heals the sick? What do you do when a child breaks his head? Oh, that's what doctors are for. And medicines, and surgery... we don't have any sort of magic for dealing with those sorts of problems, we do it ourselves. * Feld spits. "Doctors? The peddlers of pills and salves? You trust them?" Well, at least where I'm from, they actually save people's lives. No one dies of diseases where I'm from until they've very old. * Feld looks skeptical. "It may be as you say. But why do the priests of your god not help them?" A lot of them try! They help open hospitals and give charity to the needy... But if you mean magic healing... well, I guess priests where I'm from don't know how to do that. Maybe God wants us to solve problems ourselves. Perhaps. And perhaps your clergy have simply forgotten how. Well, that's... hmm. I suppose it's possible... they say the apostles used to be able to work miracles... I tell you this. The power of magic is the power of faith. If you have faith, true faith, you can learn to weild power in the name of whatever deity you choose to worship. ... really? I have known wandering priests who weilded power in the name of no deity, simply through faith in the innate goodness of the universe. Nobody knows whether it was the gods who created man, or man who created gods. The simple fact is, faith is power. If you are true in your faith, it will give you power. That... sounds completely reasonable. * Harold sounds entirely surprised to be saying that, too. How do I know if... ah... if it's working? Does it just... happen? You will learn that in time. Each night, before you go to bed, and each dawn, when you awaken, meditate. Picture your faith as a fire in your heart, warming and sustaining you. Perhaps, in time, you will come to realize the power of your own faith. So... pray... like I should be doing anyway! Alfred was right to send you here. I should have known his senses are never wrong. * Harold seems to have had a great weight lifted off his shoulders, and would reach out to shake Feld's hands if he thought the other man would have any idea what the gesture meant. "Ahh, thank you so much! I think you may have helped me figure out what I need to do to begin adventuring!" * Feld chuckles. "Adventuring is a difficult path, especially for a priest. You will find your faith tested often." Just being here and talking to people like you is a fairly huge one anyway... I'm mostly worried about getting through it alive. * Feld reaches out one dirty finger and pokes Harold in the center of the forehead. "Just remember one thing, young man. No matter what your god may teach, gods are real, and faiths other than yours have power. Telling a priest of another deity that his god has no power is a good way to find yourself in a heaping pile of manure." Eheh... I understand... * Harold suddenly seems a bit uncomfortable. This garden of mine blossoms through hard work, but I am entirely capable of making it bloom through the power of my goddess. I wouldn't dream of saying you couldn't! Don't worry. I'm not saying you would. Just be careful. Some faiths are not so... easygoing as mine. Yes... I understand how that can be. I'll try not to give offense if I can help it. Exactly. You don't want to be caught as the only combatant on your side in a holy war. * Feld smiles brightly. "But I'm sure you'll do fine." ... you really think so? Absolutely. I'll do my best! I'll start tonight! Good. * Feld kneels down again and begins picking weeds from his garden. "Have a nice day." I will... thank you for your time. That's what I'm here for. Divine guidance.